dpkg: need an action option

Question

Installing Google Chrome On Backtrack 5r3

but i m getting error dpkg: need an action option

root@bt:~# ls
Desktop  google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb
root@bt:~# dpkg .i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb
dpkg: need an action option

Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages [*];
Use `dselect' or `aptitude' for user-friendly package management;
Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values;
Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options;
Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files;
Type dpkg --license for copyright license and lack of warranty (GNU GPL) [*].

Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through `less' or `more' !
root@bt:~# dpkg .i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb
dpkg: need an action option

Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages [*];
Use `dselect' or `aptitude' for user-friendly package management;
Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values;
Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options;
Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files;
Type dpkg --license for copyright license and lack of warranty (GNU GPL) [*].

Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through `less' or `more' !
root@bt:~# 

now this error

root@bt:~# dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 266492 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace google-chrome-stable 33.0.1750.152-1 (using google-chrome-    stable_current_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement google-chrome-stable ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of google-chrome-stable:
google-chrome-stable depends on gconf-service; however:
  Package gconf-service is not installed.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libasound2 (>= 1.0.23); however:
  Version of libasound2 on system is 1.0.22-0ubuntu7.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libgconf-2-4 (>= 2.31.1); however:
  Package libgconf-2-4 is not installed.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libgcrypt11 (>= 1.4.5); however:
  Version of libgcrypt11 on system is 1.4.4-5ubuntu2.1.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0); however:
  Package libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 is not installed.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.24.0); however:
  Version of libgtk2.0-0 on system is 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libnspr4 (>= 1.8.0.10); however:
  Package libnspr4 is not installed.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libnss3 (>= 3.14.3); however:
  Package libnss3 is not installed.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libstdc++6 (>= 4.6); however:
  Version of libstdc++6 on system is 4.4.3-4ubuntu5.1.
 google-chrome-stable depends on libx11-6 (>= 2:1.4.99.1); however:
  Version of libx11-6 on system is 2:1.3.2-1ubuntu3.
dpkg: error processing google-chrome-stable (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_US.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for menu ...
Processing triggers for python-support ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 google-chrome-stable

Answer 1

This error can occur when copy/pasting the command from online instructions rather than typing it yourself. So instead of '-' you end up with '–' and you get the error.

Answer 2

Use following:

dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb

Notice the "-" infront of the parameter i.

Answer 3

I had this error even using -i. Then I tried using --install and it worked.

sudo dpkg --install google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb