dotnet cannot install on Debian Trixie from official MS packages because libicu76 is too new

[mcclure]

I have a laptop installation of Debian Trixie (version 13-- so between Debian's "stable", "unstable" and "testing" channels this is "unstable", it is the next release and it is in a fairly late beta). I want to run dotnet. I go to https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download (I clicked the 9.0.5 button) which links to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/linux?WT.mc_id=dotnet-35129-website which links to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/linux?WT.mc_id=dotnet-35129-website and I follow the instructions, just as they say.

When I get to sudo apt-get install -y dotnet-sdk-9.0 I get these errors:

if I run apt-cache search libicu I get:

mcc@Anthy:~/work/g/other$ apt-cache search libicu
icu-devtools - Development utilities for International Components for Unicode
libicu-dev - Development files for International Components for Unicode
libicu76 - International Components for Unicode
libicu4j-java - Library for Unicode support and internationalization
libicu4j-4.4-java - Library for Unicode support and internationalization

Conclusion

It looks to me like the official dotnet packages support libicu52 through libicu74. However, Debian Trixie has libicu76. This is currently only affecting people using the unstable channel, but in only a few months Trixie will become stable, and it will affect a broader pool. I imagine this is a metadata change only, as surely 74 and 76 are not so different. This is a high impact issue as dotnet currently will not install at all.

Full error text

mcc@Anthy:~/work/g/other$ sudo apt-get update && \
  sudo apt-get install -y dotnet-sdk-9.0
Get:1 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie InRelease [175 kB]
Get:2 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie-updates InRelease [49.6 kB]                       
Hit:3 http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security InRelease                     
Hit:4 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial InRelease                                  
Get:5 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie/main Sources.diff/Index [27.9 kB]                 
Get:6 https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm InRelease [3,618 B]               
Get:7 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie/main amd64 Packages.diff/Index [27.9 kB]
Get:8 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie/main Sources 2025-05-14-2011.58.pdiff [482 B] 
Get:8 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie/main Sources 2025-05-14-2011.58.pdiff [482 B]
Get:9 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie/main amd64 Packages 2025-05-14-2011.58.pdiff [226 B]
Get:9 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie/main amd64 Packages 2025-05-14-2011.58.pdiff [226 B]
Hit:10 https://download.sublimetext.com apt/stable/ InRelease           
Get:11 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian trixie/main amd64 Components [5,155 kB]                
Get:12 https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm/main all Packages [573 B]        
Get:13 https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm/main amd64 Packages [93.6 kB]    
Get:14 https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm/main armhf Packages [14.4 kB]    
Get:15 https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm/main arm64 Packages [24.7 kB]    
Fetched 5,573 kB in 1s (4,636 kB/s)                                                            
Reading package lists... Done
W: https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod/dists/bookworm/InRelease: Policy will reject signature within a year, see --audit for details
W: https://download.sublimetext.com/apt/stable/InRelease: Policy will reject signature within a year, see --audit for details
N: Some sources can be modernized. Run 'apt modernize-sources' to do so.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Solving dependencies... Error!
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 dotnet-runtime-deps-9.0 : Depends: libicu but it is not installable or
                                    libicu74 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu72 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu71 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu70 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu69 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu68 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu67 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu66 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu65 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu63 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu60 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu57 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu55 but it is not installable or
                                    libicu52 but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
E: The following information from --solver 3.0 may provide additional context:
   Unable to satisfy dependencies. Reached two conflicting decisions:
   1. dotnet-runtime-deps-9.0:amd64=9.0.5-1 is selected for install because:
      1. dotnet-sdk-9.0:amd64=9.0.300-1 is selected for install
      2. dotnet-sdk-9.0:amd64=9.0.300-1 Depends dotnet-runtime-9.0 (>= 9.0.5)
      3. dotnet-runtime-9.0:amd64=9.0.5-1 Depends dotnet-runtime-deps-9.0 (>= 9.0.5)
   2. dotnet-runtime-deps-9.0:amd64 Depends libicu | libicu74 | libicu72 | libicu71 | libicu70 | libicu69 | libicu68 | libicu67 | libicu66 | libicu65 | libicu63 | libicu60 | libicu57 | libicu55 | libicu52
      but none of the choices are installable:
      [no choices]

[mcclure]

BTW, I notice that when I installed your deps .deb I downloaded it from

https://packages.microsoft.com/config/debian/12/packages-microsoft-prod.deb

I experimentally tried...

https://packages.microsoft.com/config/debian/13/packages-microsoft-prod.deb

but this is a 404.

[huoyaoyuan]

Duplicate of dotnet/runtime#115274

[Skylandia]

If anyone is looking for a quick fix, you can download libicu72 here
https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/libicu72
and install with
sudo dpkg -i libicu72_72.1-3_{{Architecture}}.deb
Then you can go ahead installing dotnet as usual.

[damnms]

i also found a way to run appimages that require dotnet with:
install dotnet on debian trixie with wget https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh -O dotnet-install.sh && ./dotnet-install.sh --version latest --runtime aspnetcore. then i had to download and install libwebkit2gtk with apt and export DOTNET_ROOT=$HOME/.dotnet , now i can start the appimages with ./myimage.AppImage

[kappmeier]

If you want to install powershell and get this error this helps as well.

At Microsoft: please get your s**t together and prepare a package for Debian 13. It's about time, the Python 3.11 and 3.12 docker images are already on this.

[mcclure]

Debian 13 is now stable; it was officially released 2 weeks ago (Aug 9). The dotnet website still lists only Debian 12 as supported, and the instructions direct you to download a .deb from https://packages.microsoft.com/config/debian/12/packages-microsoft-prod.deb .

Re-running the instructions just now on my Debian Trixie/13 system

Just now on my up-to-date/stable Debian Trixie/13 system I experimentally tried downloading the 1.1-debian12 version of packages-microsoft-prod. Once I completed the instructions for Debian 12, I was able to get a fully working copy of dotnet-sdk-8.0 and a (seemingly) working copy of dotnet-sdk-9.0.

Conclusion: This bug appears to be resolved, however:

• The post two days ago by @kappmeier suggesting that other packages-microsoft-prod packages may still be broken(?)
• The instructions on your website seem to be wrong (do not advertise Debian 13 support when Debian 13 in fact appears to work), and I am confused whether it is expected that debian 13 users run the 1.1-debian12 version instead of a 1.1-debian13 version.

Incidentally, if you handbodge the URL https://packages.microsoft.com/config/debian/13/packages-microsoft-prod.deb this installs a 1.1-debian13 version of packages-microsoft-prod, however, running sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y dotnet-sdk-9.0 with this version results in a claim that no such package as dotnet-sdk-9.0 exists. So although this file is publicly available it appears to not work.

[baronfel]

The canonical link for the debian 13 support is dotnet/core#9649 - this repo doesn't really handle the installers/packages. Please check that one out for more details. It appears we are in-flight with this request, but won't be complete until the September releases.

[hightechie]

The canonical link for the debian 13 support is dotnet/core#9649 - this repo doesn't really handle the installers/packages. Please check that one out for more details. It appears we are in-flight with this request, but won't be complete until the September releases.

Another month has passed. Any updates? October is almost here.

[huoyaoyuan]

The backport work was completed in dotnet/runtime#115376 and dotnet/runtime#115378. Are latest 8.0/9.0 packages working?