Upgrade to LibreOffice 5.3 wants to remove ubuntu-mate-desktop

rpr · 4 February 2017 14:03

Hi! On Ubuntu Mate 16.04 amd64 I have LibreOffice 5.1.4 from native ubuntu xenial repositories.

I’d like to install LibreOffice 5.3 from LibreOffice Fresh ppa (https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/ubuntu/ppa):

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
$ sudo apt update
$ apt-cache policy libreoffice
libreoffice:
  Installed: 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1:5.3.0~rc3-0ubuntu1~xenial1
  Version table:
     1:5.3.0~rc3-0ubuntu1~xenial1 500
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/ppa/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
 *** 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/universe amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:5.1.2-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 Packages

$ sudo apt dist-upgrade
....
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libreoffice-sdbc-firebird libreoffice-style-human ubuntu-mate-desktop
The following NEW packages will be installed:
....

As you can see, the upgrade wants to remove ubuntu-mate-desktop package.

$ apt-cache show ubuntu-mate-desktop
Package: ubuntu-mate-desktop
Source: ubuntu-mate-meta
Priority: optional
Section: metapackages
Installed-Size: 16
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <[email protected]>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 1.154.1+1~xenial1.0
....
Description-en: Ubuntu MATE - full desktop
 This package is the Ubuntu MATE desktop environment.
 .
 It is safe to remove this package if some of these packages are not desired.

If ubuntu-mate-desktop metapackage was removed, would it cause any issues in Ubuntu MATE later on?

– rpr.

elcste · 4 February 2017 14:10

See this comment:

samuvuo · 4 February 2017 18:21

To confirm: I’m tracking Fresh as well, using the same PPA as you. I upgraded to LibreOffice 5.3 yesterday. Meta-package ubuntu-mate-desktop was removed but as pointed out in the post @elcste linked to, no real packages were removed and my system functions just as before. So go for it!

terzag · 4 February 2017 21:23

Removing the -desktop metapackage won’t remove anything but if it’s missing, it can lead to issues when upgradng to a newer Ubuntu version (e.g. 16.10 or the future 18.04), as it’s used to remove obsolete packages or add new ones that the distro maintener has chosen.

That’s a bit surprising that upgrading LO wants to remove the package, though: it’s because of either libreoffice-sdbc-firebird or libreoffice-style-human, that would have a dependency on the desktop package. I can say for sure that libreoffice-style-human is not a dependancy of ubuntu-mate-desktop on 16.10, so I’d be surprised if it was the case on 16.04 (though it’s possible). I’m not sure what the other package is.

It’s also possible that it’s a matter of dependancy order. Before upgrading to LO 5.3, what happens if you try to remove the libreoffice-sdbc-firebird package? Does it want to remove ubuntu-mate-desktop?
Or, if you’ve already upgraded LO, what happens if you try to reinstall the ubuntu-mate-desktop package? Does it trigger a dependancy issue (broken package or such)?

alpinejohn · 5 February 2017 05:35

Hallo

I performed this procedure on 05.02.2017 - upgrading to LibreOffice 5.3 works easily.

Open the “Welcome” centre (System > Welcome)
Choose “Software”

####Note your system must be “set to retrieve the latest software listings” see:
https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/instaling-programs-with-the-terminal/9720/5
.

Go to the section “Office”
Scroll to LibreOffice
There you should see a yellow “upgrade” button - click it and wait until the procedure finishes
Scroll to LibreOffice Base
There you should see a yellow “Reinstall” button - click it and wait until the procedure finishes
Go to the section “Fixes”
Click on “Update sources list” and wait until the procedure finishes
Click on “Upgrade installed packages” and wait until the procedure finishes

You can now close “Welcome”

Your LibreOffice should now be updated.

samuvuo · 5 February 2017 07:08

The culprit is libreoffice-style-human. I’m guessing this problem is present for only those of us who use Ubuntu Mate 16.04 and have upgraded Mate to 1.16.1 using the PPA @wimpy has provided.

I allowed ubuntu-mate-desktop to be removed when upgrading to Libreoffice 5.3, so install candidate now is 1.154.1+1~xenial1.0 (fom the PPA). It lists libreoffice-style-human as a package to install. The problem is that Libreoffice 5.3 does not cointain such package.

Mate desktop 1.16.1 installed from PPA

$ apt-cache policy ubuntu-mate-desktop
ubuntu-mate-desktop:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1.154.1+1~xenial1.0
  Version table:
     1.154.1+1~xenial1.0 500
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/xenial-mate/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
     1.154.1 500
        500 http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/universe amd64 Packages
     1.154 500
        500 http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 Packages

Ubuntu-mate-desktop depends on libreoffice-style-human

$ apt-rdepends -r libreoffice-style-human
libreoffice-style-human
  Reverse Depends: ubuntu-mate-cloudtop (1.154)
  Reverse Depends: ubuntu-mate-desktop (1.154)
ubuntu-mate-cloudtop
ubuntu-mate-desktop

Libreoffice 5.3.0 is installed from a PPA:

$ apt-cache policy libreoffice-common
libreoffice-common:
  Installed: 1:5.3.0~rc3-0ubuntu1~xenial1
  Candidate: 1:5.3.0~rc3-0ubuntu1~xenial1

Libreoffice 5.3 does not contain libreoffice-style-human

$ apt-cache policy libreoffice-style-human
libreoffice-style-human:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1:5.2.5~rc1-0ubuntu1~xenial0
  Version table:
     1:5.2.5~rc1-0ubuntu1~xenial0 500
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/ppa/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/ppa/ubuntu xenial/main i386 Packages

samuvuo · 5 February 2017 15:31

Since no package depends on ubuntu-mate-desktop, am I right in assuming that it’s only needed in case I want to re-install the packages listed in the metapackage - using said metapackage as a “shortcut” (“precompiled package list”)?

In plain English: ubuntu-mate-desktop is not needed and won’t be missed?

Nope · 5 February 2017 19:16

Thanks alpinejohn,

worked well for me!

elcste · 5 February 2017 19:45

It definitely isn’t needed at the moment. Some report problems when upgrading to new Ubuntu versions (like 16.10 or 18.04), but others have said they’ve had no problem without it. You may need to remove the PPAs when you upgrade anyway, so you could always reinstall the metapackage again before upgrading.

rpr · 5 February 2017 23:06

It seems that the latest version of libreoffice package from LibreOffice Fresh ppa fixes this issue.

$ dpkg -l libreoffice ubuntu-mate-desktop | grep '^ii'
ii  libreoffice         1:5.3.0~rc3-0ubuntu1~xenial1.1 amd64        office productivity suite (metapackage)
ii  ubuntu-mate-desktop 1.154.1+1~xenial1.0            amd64        Ubuntu MATE - full desktop

samuvuo · 6 February 2017 08:02

Ran the updates, then reinstalled ubuntu-mate-desktop. It pulled in libreoffice-style-human, which was removed earlier. All is well.

@elcste: You are right about upgrading; I will need to remove the PPAs anyway. I’m not actually tracking LTS, just had so many little problems with 16.10 that I decided to skip it and went back to 16.04. I’m currently testing 17.04 Alpha2 on a spare laptop and it looks really good, runs stable (and fast!). I’m really looking forward to the release and will most likely upgrade my main rig from 16.04 to 17.04.

skidmark · 10 February 2017 20:45

From the MATE 17.04 Welcome Center the Software app did an automated update of LibreOffice 5.2.2 to the latest LO 5.3.0.3

No user intervention was required. Nice work to the MATE team !

LibreOffice 5.2.2 that is preinstalled with MATE 17.10 had Page Format feature functionality problem, which prompted the LO update to see if the problem had been resolved by a more recent release of LO. The problem is not present in LO 5.3.0.3