Yeah, I have never, ever broken Ubuntu by installing packages. People are talking in this thread like Ubuntu or other distros are super fragile, but they really aren't.
I've found three "hotspots" that break Ubuntu at a pretty high rate of incidence:
1) Upgrading to the next distro release
2) Installing or updating Nvidia drivers using the built-in management tool
3) Changing to a different kernel "series" (such as switching to a hardware enablement kernel)
In all these cases, I've found that the process stands a solid (hand-waving: 20%) chance of stopping in the middle, requiring manual resolution of broken packages.
I've found three "hotspots" that break Ubuntu at a pretty high rate of incidence: 1) Upgrading to the next distro release 2) Installing or updating Nvidia drivers using the built-in management tool 3) Changing to a different kernel "series" (such as switching to a hardware enablement kernel)
In all these cases, I've found that the process stands a solid (hand-waving: 20%) chance of stopping in the middle, requiring manual resolution of broken packages.