Problem installing Additional Themes using Welcome

[rogerharkavy]

Want to see if I did something to break this before I log a bug on launchpad.

Running a relatively new install of 16.04.3 with MATE Desktop 1.16 (installed using instructions here). Welcome has been updated via the link in the application to 17.10.13~xenial1.0.

When I go to Getting Started > Updates and Extras and under Additional Themes, click the Install button, a dialog box comes up labeled Package does not exist, with the message “Package arc-theme isn’t available.”

Here are the contents of etc/apt/sources.list:

[code]# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-MATE 16.04.3 LTS Xenial Xerus - Release amd64 (20170801)]/ xenial main multiverse restricted universe

See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to

newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted

Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the

distribution.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates main restricted

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates main restricted

N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu

team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any

review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial universe

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial universe

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates universe

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates universe

N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu

team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to

your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in

multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu

security team.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial multiverse

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial multiverse

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates multiverse

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates multiverse

N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as

extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes

newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.

Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review

or updates from the Ubuntu security team.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse

Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical’s

‘partner’ repository.

This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the

respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial partner

deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial partner

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security main restricted

deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security main restricted

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security universe

deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security universe

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security multiverse

deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security multiverse[/code]

Any ideas? I don’t get any errors when using Software Updater or apt-get from the command prompt, and other items are installing just fine using Welcome, it’s just the additional themes that are giving me a problem.

[rogerharkavy]

Just a follow-up to this, installing themes doesn’t work even when I don’t update to MATE 1.16. Vanilla install + upgrading Welcome provides the button but it still generates an error.

Should I log a bug for the Welcome program?

[Aquassassinator]

I’d say yes. I have the exact same issue.

[terzag]

I guess that would be a bug in Welcome, as according to packages.ubuntu.com, arc-theme is not in the Xenial (16.04) repos (it was added in 16.10 IIRC). Numix is (main Gtk theme only, not the icons nor the blue variant).

My assumption would be that, as the list seems to be tailored manually, Welcome has been backported/updated with a list of packages made for more recent versions without checking that they indeed worked on 16.04.

You can still install the Numix theme manually:

sudo apt install numix-gtk-theme

If you want Arc theme on Xenial, you can add the repo of its designer: https://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=home%3AHorst3180&package=arc-theme (don’t worry that it’s an OpenSuse address, there’s a repo for Ubuntu there).

If the option from Welcome only installs these two themes, it would then work after adding the repo (don’t forget to refresh your sources list). But as Welcome doesn’t list the name of this “extra themes” package, it’s not easy to check if that’s the case or if it wants to install more themes that may or may not be available on 16.04.

As Xenial is there for a few more years, it might be worth filing a bug on Launchpad so that the extra themes package for Xenial removes the dependancy on arc-theme (or directly ask @Wimpy ?).