Cannot open Synaptic Package manager

Support & Help Requests
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1

I just installed Ubuntu MATE 16.04.2 LTS.

First thing I did was to install synaptic package manager.
However, when I try to run it, I get:

linus@mypc:~$ sudo synaptic
No protocol specified
Failed to connect to Mir: Failed to connect to server socket: No such file or directory
Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

(synaptic:3684): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: :0

The same happens if I try to run other programs as sudo like e.g. gedit…
What’s causing this and how can I fix it?

2

You can try open synaptis with gksudo. gksudo synaptic.

3

Thanks. That does indeed work when I run synaptic from the console.

But whenever I run it by clicking “Synaptic Package Manager” in the Mate Menu, I get the “Authenticate” prompt window and after entering the password nothing happens. Is there a way to get around this as well?

4

I’d start all this over from the beginning. The sudo probably created a .synaptic directory in your home directory which isn’t good to leave there. It should be in /root.

The gksu and gksudo should work BUT it’s not the norm. Maybe it’s doing something I’m not aware.

Just plain synaptic-pkexec is the norm these days. No sudo or gksu needed. Look at the menu launcher and that’s what you should see.

I suggest blowing away ~/.synaptic and /root/.synaptic and try again. Does the menu start working?

EDIT: Tried to reproduce this in a 16.04 VM that already has a working synaptic installed. Best I can tell, synaptic seems to be robust when started by any method I tried. Even sudo. So I’m not sure why it is complaining about rights to graphics.

If removing the /root/.synaptic directory doesn’t help, maybe a reinstall or purge/install of synaptic may get it.

5

Hi Bill, there was in fact a .synaptic folder in both my home and ./root. I removed both but clicking “Synaptic Package Manager” in the Mate Menu still only brings up the “Authenticate” password prompt and then nothing happens…

6

Same as synaptic-pkexec in a terminal? Any clues/errors in the terminal?

You can right-click that menu entry and add it to desktop or panel and view the properties there. This should confirm it is, in fact, running synaptic-pkexec.

And here’s a complete reinstall that may help…

sudo apt purge synaptic
sudo apt autoremove

At this point, you may want to remove any .synaptic directories again.

sudo apt install synaptic
7

Yes, the menu entry is correctly set to “synaptic-pkexec”.

When I run synaptic-pkexec in the console (without gksudo), I get again the error message:

No protocol specified
Failed to connect to Mir: Failed to connect to server socket: No such file or directory
Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

(synaptic:3684): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: :0

Following your suggested removal and reinstallation does not change this.

8

Did some googling and found these:

And…
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/1551951

But it’s far from my expertise how one gets there. Permissions somehow.

9

Hm, OK. I found these as well and it didn’t make much sense for my problem.
Thanks for your efforts.

I guess, I will install Linux Mint again. :confused:

10

Hallo

When you installed Synaptic the first time did you install it from the software boutique or from the command line?

Have you tried the “Fixes” (Welcome > Software > Fixes)?

Before giving up on UM, why not try re-installing it? :slight_smile:

11

I installed Synaptic via the Software Boutique -> More Software.

Tried the “Fixes” section of the Software Boutique as you suggested but to no avail.

I guess I might try to reinstall UM but I did not really do anything after the last installation but installing and trying the Synaptic Package Manager. So why should it be different the next time?