Installing Mate over Ubuntu 17.10 caused dependency problem

[Tony_Mansson]

Hi. Sorry for the Swedish below, but the messages should be readable. I could not install Mate 17.10 on a Dell XPS with factory-installed Ubuntu 17.10. sudo apt --fix-broken install and sudo update/upgrade also fails, so I’m stuck. What’s the procedure to get out of this mess?

sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment
Läser paketlistor… Färdig
Bygger beroendeträd
Läser tillståndsinformation… Färdig
mate-desktop-environment is already the newest version (1.18.0+1).
Du bör köra ”apt --fix-broken install” för att korrigera dessa.
Följande paket har beroenden som inte kan tillfredsställas:
mate-session-manager : Beroende av: mint-mate-default-settings men det kan inte installeras eller
ubuntu-mate-default-settings men det kommer inte att installeras eller
debian-mate-default-settings (>= 1.18.1-2ubuntu2) men det kommer inte att installeras
E: Otillfredsställda beroenden. Prova med ”apt --fix-broken install” utan paket (eller ange en lösning).

[wolfman]

HI Tony,

try changing your software sources download location and give it another go, make sure you run updates again before you try to install other packages:

Ubuntu Mate Update Guide

These are my own setting preferences, use at your own risk!. AN IMPORTANT NOTE FOR LINUX BEGINNERS. WHEN YOU ARE IN RECOVERY MODE, THE KEYBOARD DEFAULTS TO US ENGLISH, IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER LANGUAGE KEYBOARD OTHER THAN US ENGLISH, WHEN YOU TYPE "Y" (FOR "YES"), IT MIGHT SHOW UP AS A DIFFERENT LETTER, ON MY KEYBOARD I MUST PRESS THE "Z" KEY WHICH EQUATES TO "Y" AS I HAVE A GERMAN KEYBOARD, JUST PRESS "BACKSPACE" AND HIT A DIFFERENT KEY UNTIL YOU SEE THE "Y" SHOW UP!. Click on "Subscribe…

[monsta]

So mate-session-manager depends on:
mint-mate-default-settings | ubuntu-mate-default-settings | debian-mate-default-settings

The first package never existed, and the third package is inherited from Debian (and isn’t installed in Ubuntu MATE by default). So I’d try installing ubuntu-mate-default-settings manually and check the error messages after that. It might give some further hints about what’s wrong.

Also there’s a way to get messages in English. Place LC_ALL=C before the command, like this:
LC_ALL=C sudo apt-get install ubuntu-mate-default-settings

[Tony_Mansson]

Aha, nice trick with the language setting!

LC_ALL=C sudo apt-get install ubuntu-mate-default-settings
[sudo] password for tony:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
ubuntu-mate-default-settings
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 47 not upgraded.
77 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/17.9 kB of archives.
After this operation, 139 kB of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ... 240990 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ubuntu-mate-default-settings_17.10.24_all.deb ...
Unpacking ubuntu-mate-default-settings (17.10.24) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/ubuntu-mate-default-settings_17.10.24_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/chromium-browser/master_preferences', which is also in package oem-browser-defaults 20columbia1
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/ubuntu-mate-default-settings_17.10.24_all.deb

So now it complains about overwriting a file that I don't even have on my system.

$ LC_ALL=C sudo ls -l /usr/lib/chromium-browser/master_preferences
ls: cannot access '/usr/lib/chromium-browser/master_preferences': No such file or directory

Needless to say it's also impossible to remove the other package that is referencing that file:

$ LC_ALL=C sudo apt remove oem-browser-defaults
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt --fix-broken install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
mate-session-manager : Depends: mint-mate-default-settings but it is not installable or
ubuntu-mate-default-settings but it is not going to be installed or
debian-mate-default-settings (>= 1.18.1-2ubuntu2) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

I am clueless.

[wolfman]

Try the following commands in order:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

sudo apt --fix-missing install

sudo apt --fix-broken install

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade -f

Let us know if that helps?.

[monsta]

There’s no oem-browser-defaults package in repos - is it something preinstalled by Dell?
Try dpkg to remove it:
sudo dpkg -r oem-browser-defaults

[Tony_Mansson]

Aha. Success!
Wolfmans suggestion alone didn’t cut it, but monsta’s advice seems to have cleared the path. I got an updated Mate which is what I wanted.

Now, the 4K resolution on a 13.3" screen suggests a microscope for reading the menus, and perhaps that’s what Dell wanted to spare me from. But that should be fixable. Thanks A LOT guys, you’ve made my day!

[sullybear]

Apologies if this should be a new thread.
Wondering if it’s OK to upgrade my existing Ubuntu 17.10 to Ubuntu Mate 17.10.

Can I do an in place upgrade? If so, is there a post that describes how to do that?

I browsed the Update Guide listed in this post, that seemed to be focused on upgrading Ubuntu Mate to other versions of Ubuntu Mate.

I attempted following the instructions on this post, but packages like ubuntu-mate-default-settings are not found when I apt-get install.

Do I need to manually set my software sources to the Ubuntu Mate repos?

Or is there a different order that I need to install the packages mentioned in this post?

Thanks for the help!
sullybear

[wolfman]

HI sullybear,

try the following:

How to upgrade Ubuntu (Mate) via the terminal

Hi all, this is for anyone who wants to use the terminal to fully update their current installed OS to the next available version, you just need to follow the next few steps and you can update directly without using the on-board update tool (Software Updater). First, make sure that your current software sources are set to your liking, making sure that the "Canonical" repositories are also active if you wish to also update any non-free software you might have installed such as Skype. Make sure…

There is also this:

Install Ubuntu-MATE using the "Something else" method

Hi all, this guide can be used on any Ubuntu based system and is intended for people who have a basic working knowledge of an Ubuntu installation and wish to keep the contents of their home folder after doing a re-install. This guide is also intended for those that already have an existing swap, root and home partition setup!!. If you have not done/never done any pre-partitioning, please see this guide about using Gparted partition editor: See also: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Howto…