Unable to upgrade Plesk or install a component: trying to overwrite, which is also in package

Symptoms

• Debian or Ubuntu is installed on the server

• Unable to install a package in Tools & Settings > Updates & Upgrades or Plesk Update/Upgrade fails. The following error is produced:

  PLESK_ERROR: E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

• The following can be found in the /var/log/plesk/install/autoinstaller3.log:

  Unpacking sw-nginx (1.11.10-debian8.0.17040416) ...
   dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/sw-nginx_1.11.10-debian8.0.17040416_amd64.deb (--unpack): 
   trying to overwrite '/usr/share/man/man1/nginx.1.gz', which is also in package nginx-common 1.6.2-5+deb8u4
   dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe) 
   Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ... 
   Errors were encountered while processing: 
   /var/cache/apt/archives/sw-nginx_1.11.10-debian8.0.17040416_amd64.deb 
   E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

• The following error can be found in the /var/log/plesk/panel.log file:

  ERR [panel] Task failed: id=190, pid=24296, type=pum-update-packages, error=2017-11-25 02:31:12 INFO: pum is called with arguments: ['--update', '--json', '--', 'sw-nginx']
   INFO: updating packages: sw-nginx 
   E:Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) 
   ERROR: installArchives() failed 
   ERROR: Exited with returncode 1.

• Dist-upgrade script from Ubuntu 14 to Ubuntu 16 may fail with:

  # /opt/psa/bin/distupgrade.helper.ubt14-ubt16.x64.sh
  dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/hiera_2.0.0-2_all.deb (–unpack):
  trying to overwrite ‘/usr/share/man/man1/hiera.1.gz’, which is also in package ruby-hiera 1.3.0-1
  Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) …
  Errors were encountered while processing:
  /var/cache/apt/archives/hiera_2.0.0-2_all.deb
  W: No sandbox user ‘_apt’ on the system, can not drop privileges
  E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Cause

Package from the Plesk repository conflicts with the package which was installed from the OS repository.

Resolution

Note: This article may require additional administrative knowledge to apply. If any help required, contact server’s administrator or hosting support.

1. Connect to the server via SSH

2. Review the error Plesk installation failed with

   Note: In the examples above packages nginx-common and ruby-hiera provided.

3. Remove the conflicting packages mentioned in the errors:

   # apt-get remove sw-nginx nginx-common

   # apt-get remove hiera ruby-hiera

   Note: if it is not possible to remove package due to some dependencies, use the following command:

   # dpkg –remove –force-depends libapache2-modsecurity

4. Install the package/finish the upgrade from the Plesk interface in Tools & Settings > Updates & Upgrades or using the Plesk Installer