Since the release of version 22.04 LTS unfortunately some programs no longer work: arubasign, gosigndesktop, thunderbird, systemback (fails to burn images). Unfortunately, the various assists cannot come to terms with it. I do not know how and in what terms this forum can also help them since these applications are useful but proprietary (except Systemback). In fact, they make the system much less reliable and interesting for a wide audience. I await your suggestions. Hello.
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tl;dr: The easiest solution is to revert to UM 20.04 LTS and wait until the needed proprietary software catches up.
Allow me to start with a little rant:
The main reason that programs stop working on newer ubuntu versions is this:
Although the father of Linux, Linus Torvalds, is hellbent on not breaking userspace, GTK and Gnome devs are breaking userspace every single time with every update
even their own softwareThis is the real reason why linux on desktops is not popular but strangely enough this seems to be totally ignored when it comes down to 'making the linux desktop more popular'
We don't need a stable ABI as such. But we sure as hell need a stable API before any company will take the desktop seriously.
It is utter ridiculous that with every new GTK upgrade everybody must revise their sourcecode instead of just recompiling.
After 20+ years , GTK and Gnome are still stuck in the "experimental" phase with respect to the API, breaking other people's software as they go along.
This in stark contrast with the Linux kernel API that has been stable for over 20 bloody years !!
This means that desktop-application developers are constantly hunting a moving target and it also means that older software stops working when Gnome or GTK libraries get updated (i.e. newer desktop versions)
Let's see what can be done:
Get the latest version of 'arubasign' here:
https://updatesfirma.aruba.it/downloads/ArubaSign-latest-LINUX.tar.bz2
It is indeed "closed-source" software so we can't provide you much help.
Best to ask or file a bug at 'arubasign' because they claim to be ubuntu compatible.
There is a big chance that their binaries are just not up to date yet.
(which is very common with this kind of closed source proprietary software)
Get the latest version of 'go-sign' here:
It is indeed "closed-source" software so we can't provide you much help.
Best to ask or file a bug at 'go-sign' because they claim to be ubuntu compatible.
There is a big chance that their binaries are just not up to date yet.
(which is very common with this kind of closed source proprietary software)
Luckily Thunderbird is not proprietary (GPL)
I have Thunderbird running smoothly on 22.04
I use the Thunderbird version from the repository (version 102.2.2)
- If you are running a different version, please do update.
- If your version is from another source, please uninstall/delete that version and install the version from the repository.
- If you are in compliance with point 1 and 2 and it still doesn't work, something is wrong with your system.
Systemback: DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT ENDED
You can read this inconvenient message on:
The last version of 'Systemback' dates back to 2016 and is therefore 6 years old. If you really need it, you could try this:
- start Systemback from a terminal and save the errormessages.
It will probably complain about missing libraries.
Hunt down the missing libraries (GIYF), download and install them while keeping your fingers crossed.
If it spits out a lot of GTK/Gnome related errors related to deprecated function calls you will have to edit the source:
- download the last known working source here:
https://launchpad.net/~nemh/+archive/ubuntu/systemback/+sourcefiles/systemback/1.8.402~ubuntu16.10.1/systemback_1.8.402~ubuntu16.10.1.tar.xz
make it compatible with GTK3 (sigh) and compile it (or get someone to do that for you).
The alternative is to ditch the standard GTK libs and go 100% STLWRT although I don't know how far the project has come and I don't have any experience with it.
Also, I can't give any guarantee that it will work without extensive tinkering.
The easiest solution is to revert to UM 20.04 LTS and wait until the needed proprietary software catches up.
Thanks for reading this far and for letting me vent a my GTK pet-peeves.
I really hope that what I wrote is somehow helpful to you 
P.S:
Just one extra thing worth mentioning: Applications that are packed as a snap (or flatpack or appimage) are often much more resilient against update-breakage because they carry their own environment and libraries and are therefore practically only dependent on the kernel and its runtime libraries.
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Thank you for the clarification. I agree with your outburst because it strongly limits investments on linux and from there its diffusion. These choices should be shared by the linux development teams. In fact, with every version change we find ourselves struggling with these problems. Many service centers of the various software eventually make the choice to abandon the development and maintenance of the software rather than taking on hours of work to understand what has changed. In Windows and Mac the variations are more limited in time and when it happens there is certainly a greater audience of users to please. I myself, a passionate User of Linux, having to wait months and months for new realease of which there is no certainty of release often I do not feel like recommending it given the problems. Desktop users need continuity and reliability not only of the kernel but also of being able to work without too many headaches with their necessary programs.
I had two other questions to ask, as part of this tread: If systemback is no longer supported, is there a way to copy and boot your PC from a pendrive, a feature that I used most of Systemback?
As for fingerprint management, why do they no longer work?
If systemback is no longer supported, is there a way to copy and boot your PC from a pendrive ?
Yes, you could use Clonezilla for that:
https://clonezilla.org/
which works a bit like norton-ghost or partition-magic
As for fingerprint management, why do they no longer work?
If you mean really logging in with a fingerprint reader, the problem is twofold:
-
First, recognizing the hardware. Not really a problem but it doesn't work out of the box because: reasons. There are some drivers for different fingerprint-readers but not all of them are supported. Every device has to be reverse-engineered because proprietary etc etc etc. and there are a lot of them.
-
Using the fingerprint to authenticate (which is not really a splendid idea securitywise) means that the output of the fingerprint reader must be fed into PAM (pluggable authentication module, i.e. the code that checks your authentication against a stored hash) which is tricky because one simple securityleak in the setup in this stage could completely compromize the whole system.
Also give the following rule of thumb some thought:
Biometrics are only suitable for identification, not for authentication
One example: Whatever you touch in real life, you'll leave fingerprints everywhere.
It's like scattering your password around wherever you go.
Fingerprints on your laptop are like post-it notes with your password.
Also, if your fingerprint code is breached, you only have 9 more fingerprints to go.
(unless you use your toes, that is 
)
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