Why does apt update/upgrade break GUI in PPC MATE 14.04?

Support & Help Requests
#6

Hi,

I just took a look at known issues with PPC 14.04 and there doesn’t seem to be anything about updates causing a system screw-up!:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCKnownIssues#A14.04_Trusty_Tahr

So, what are your software sources download location settings like, do you have them set to “Main”?. I would always choose that first over any other download source!. :smiley:

Can you get Synaptic up and running?, if so, search for this package: “mate-desktop-environment”, right click it and mark for “Reinstallation”, apply that and then restart, see if that helps!. :smiley:

Also, when you run dist-upgrade, bung a “-f” on the end and it will force any missing dependencies!.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -f
#7

@wolfman:

Thanks for the added thoughts, about out of time today on this one, but I
should have synaptic available in XFCE, so I can check that, as well as the
“-f” thing . . . probably going to be a couple days before I can get back
to it. I’ll post back after I’ve looked into these ideas . . . .

e___

#8

On Sun, Apr 5, 2015 at 12:45 PM, wolfman [email protected] wrote:

So, what are your software sources download location settings like, do
you have them set to “Main”?. I would always choose that first over any
other download source!. [image: smiley]

Can you get Synaptic up and running?, if so, search for this package: "
mate-desktop-environment", right click it and mark for
“Reinstallation”, apply that and then restart, see if that helps!. [image:
smiley]

@wolfman:

Sources are set for “main” . . . tried to check synaptic, had to use the
Terminal to launch it. Checked for “mate-desktop-environment” . . . it
showed it was “not installed” so I couldn’t mark it for “re-installation” .
. . when I marked it for install, it suggested other dependencies . . .
then the “apply” icon didn’t highlight, and an exclamation point was now
next to Mate-desktop-environment!! Checking what that meant it showed
“broken” as status??? A couple other mate items are shown as installed
“pluma” “mate themes” a few others. System with MATE was working fine, now
something seems to have broken it. Also when I launched synaptic via
Terminal an error window showed a “GTK message: Failed to load
canberra-gtk-module” ??? Does that mean anything?

e____

#9

Hi e_e_P_,

read here about "Failed to load canberra-gtk-module":

If you can't click on the "Apply" icon, this may be due to the version of Synaptic, try removing Synaptic and re-installing it via the terminal with the following command:

sudo apt-get remove synaptic && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install synaptic

Other than that, I reckon you have a corrupt install due to all the various errors you have, did you try this command?:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -f

The above command should (under normal circumstances) fix a broken install!.

If you used a disk to install, hold it up to the light and see if there are any pinpricks of light showing through, if there are, there is your culprit!. Throw it away or use it as a coffee coaster!.

Hope it helps. :smiley:

#10

@wolfman:

Appreciate the replies, didn’t have time to check the “canberra” thing, but
the replies aren’t too helpful, there, as I have 32 bit PPC.

So, ran the suggested commands and got at the end of the a-g install -f
command, meaning nothing seemed to have been found or fixed:

"Reading package lists… Done
W: Failed to fetch http://127.0.0.1/ubuntu-ports/dists/trusty/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch http://127.0.0.1/ubuntu-ports/dists/trusty/Release.gpg
Unable to connect to 127.0.0.1:http:

W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones
used instead.
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded." I also got
“Unable to LoUbuntuMATE ROM” error in the splash before the log in window.
This “failed to fetch http//127” error has I think been happening for a
while and no problems. I’ve exchanged the synaptic so I’m going to test
that now. It does seem like somehow something has become corrupted . . .
that much is fairly clear. I’ll post back with the results of the new
synaptic.

e___

#11

Top posting: Synaptic foound broken packages that it couldn’t repair:

E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused
by held packages.
E: Unable to correct dependencies
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused
by held packages.
E: Unable to correct dependencies
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused
by held packages.
E: Unable to correct dependencies

I’ve exchanged the synaptic so I’m going to test that now. It does seem
like somehow something has become corrupted . . . that much is fairly
clear. I’ll post back with the results of the new synaptic.

#12

Hi,

looks like you had network failure there also to add to your troubles!. :disappointed:

#13

@wolfman:

A brief network failure? Don’t know, all the rest of the sources list seems to go through OK, and up until recently it hasn’t created any problems for update/upgrade. But, spent some time trying to get synaptic to do its thing, like I said, I have to “su” in Terminal to open synaptic, otherwise it says I have “no admin privileges” . . . but, I’m just in another session, logged in as me . . . so there is some significant “corruption” and also FF doesn’t remember “previous sessions” . . . . Anyway, I came up with the idea to use synaptic to “remove all MATE” things . . . but as I was scrolling through the list of MATE stuff the two mate terminal apps? mate-terminal & mate-terminal-common . . . both had exclamation points in front of them, so then I decided to try to just remove them and see if that “fixed” the problem, but, couldn’t remove one of them because it was “broken” . . . so I fixed it, and then removed them and also apport (which I just recently had to install to try to report to Bug reports) was removed, also “libtve9”??? was removed today. Then when I tried to “install” mate-terminal-common" it said “failure due to dependency, need libtve9, but we aren’t going to install it” . . . . so, I think I just installed mate-terminal via synaptic . . . rebooted, tried to log in via MATE, back to the black screen . . . . So, point being that until today when I ran “dist-upgrade” “two packages have been held back” . . . the libtve-common and the mate-terminal . . . and I was pursuing this idea that one of those packages was “corrupted” . . . . BUt, then it was odd that now libtve9 is “needed” but, was just removed via aptitude . . . . I’m away from the unit now for a few hours, don’t know if anything is going to appear in a flash . . . or, I just have to decide which system I will “nuke and pave into” . . . . I guess if I could find a U-MATE 14.04.2 PPC iso it might be worth trying . . . . System is sort of OK using XFCE, except that I don’t seem to be “admin” & FF doesn’t remember where its been . . . .

Thanks for the attention . . . somebody to bounce stuff off of is helpful . . . .

e___

#14

Hi,

did you check the disk for defects?.

Did you try changing your software sources download location to something else rather than sticking to my suggestion about using “Main”?.

Did you take your headache tablets today!. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

#15

@wolfman: I did check the disk and SMARTReporter in OSX says disk is OK. Hopefully you understand that this appears to be a software side problem? I tried again to “re-install” mate-desktop-environment in synaptic, after running “dist-upgrade -f” a little earlier. After the “dist-upgrade” there were 15 packages to download, and 3 to remove, noticed that one of the ones to be removed was “libvte-common” . . . which was just iinstalled yesterday?

Also, in synaptic, although I believe I just tried to remove and reinstall “mate-terminal” which showed an exclamation point, today, “mate-desktop-environment” showed as “not installed” . . . when I checked it for install there was also an exclamation . . . just like yesterday when I clicked “repair broken packages” there is an error . . . due to “dependencies” . . . yesterday it was “no libvte9”??? Today I checked in synaptic and 'libvte9" is available to install . . . but didn’t seem to show up when checking “mate-desktop-environment” . . . .

Ah, yeah, after doing the dist-upgrade I tried to log into the MATE session, the background image was back again, yesterday it was just blackness . . . no toolbar, etc. Might make “sense” knowing that there is apparently now, no “mate-desktop-environment” installed. Also looking thru the “properties” on the error install of mate-desktop under “versions”?? it showed two, one was a something1.8.0 +9 (trusty1) and the other was an earlier 1.8.0+8~ppal Trusty1(127.0.0.1) . . . which may explain that (127.0.0.1) “failed to connect”??? As it is an earlier version??? The numerous problems continue with needing to “su” in Terminal to open synaptic, and FF not rememebering passwords or history . . . in the XFCE session, etc.

e___

#16

Hi,

I think you are basically wasting your time as you have tried everything and it “ain’t gonna happen”, I would do a complete fresh install starting completely from scratch!.

I don’t have anything else for you unfortunately!. :cry:

Also, see Steve’s answer here, it might mean something to you?:

#17

@wolfman:

For whom the bell tolls? It tolls for thy install of U-MATE . . . .
Thanks for providing the “last rights” . . . I was trying to avoid a fresh
install, since this install is only a couple of months old . . . and had to
do a little tweaking to get it running . . . . But, it does seem like the
“corruption” is bleeding over into the XFCE session . . . making it just
about “not useful” as a system . . . . I was looking to see if there is a
U-MATE 14.04.2 PPC iso that could be freshly downloaded, but still looks
like 14.04.1 is the extant version.

Does it make sense to try a fresh install of the install disk that I used
in Jan? Or, get a fresh download of 14.04.1 and possibly that would be
“different”? I’m on the line about just moving on to another option like
now only Lubuntu is supporting PPC out of the box . . . trying that until
it blows up, etc . . . or doing a fresh download of “Ubuntu Core 14.04.2”
for PPC and then try to add “mate” DE on top . . . and see if that brings
it “back to the land of the living”???

Appreciate the thoughts,

e____

#18

Hi e____,

go for a new ISO and mark the other disk with a "?" mark.

here's the link from the Ubuntu Mate website!.

Set your software sources download location to "Main"!. :smiley:

Good luck!. :smiley:

#19

@wm:

OK, thanks for the response and the link . . . I’ll look into it. I did
read the other thread that you had linked, it didn’t show up in the Gmail
copy I replied from . . . the one where they were talking about the issues
with “meta-packages” . . . in 14.04, and that may be what’s going on, with
aptitude not able to “figure out” how to deal with the problems . . . which
may have been “solved” in 15.04 . . . problem is in PPC 15.04 is a tad
“rough” when I tried out some beta’s . . . seems like other people are
still reporting issues with Vivid in PPC, and it isn’t LTS . . . . But,
now, in terms of this meta thingie, don’t know if that is going to be fixed
by doing fresh install of the same thing . . . .

I’ll post back if and when I’ve done something . . . and then if and when
something changes . . . .

e___

#20

Hi e___,

don’t forget to install this package after your new install and updating!:

sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment

:smiley:

#21

On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 3:20 AM, wolfman [email protected] wrote:

don’t forget to install this package after your new install and updating!:

sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment

@wolfman:

Interesting . . . is that one of the “meta packages”?? I’d still like to
try to figure out what is “missing” in the present install . . . OR, could
I try to “force install” of “mate-desktop-environment” and see if it loads
the right dependencies? Could that “mess things up” more than they are
already?

I’ve sort of been pondering this one, considering the fact that aptitude
seemed to dismantle the MATE aspect, and, then would not re-install the
mate packages . . . ??? If I have some idea of the “why” of it, then maybe
it’s worth the time to do a re-install of MATE . . . but if there is some
“fatal flaw” somewhere that will just get re-loaded . . . seems like a
question mark . . . . OR, would doing the Ubuntu Core install of 14.04.2
and then add MATE . . . DE? could that help or would that again bring in
this meta-package issue that aptitude would begin to dismantle?

e___

#22

Hi,

install the normal Ubuntu PPC version and update the system, restart and then run this meta command making sure you have your software sources download location set to main!:

sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment mate-desktop-environment-core mate-desktop-environment-extras mate-media mate-settings-daemon ubuntu-mate-artwork ubuntu-mate-wallpapers

The above should be all you need for a full Mate desktop, have a look in Synaptic before you start and see if I missed anything but I don’t think I did?.

Once installed, restart again and see if it works!. :smiley:

Because these are all meta packages, if you take out a little, you take out a lot when you try and remove a package or two!.

Maybe Wimpy or one of the mods can offer some advice?. :grin:

#23

@wolfman:

Thanks for the details, very helpful . . . that should give me some guidelines . . . usually in synaptic if you pick one package it usually will list the others as dependencies needed . . . . It’s just odd how in this case aptitude has been making the choice to remove stuff that MATE needs . . . . I feel no responsibility in this, as I didn’t try to “make some moves” with the kernel or whatever . . . I just used apt-get update/upgrade and went with the recommendations . . . .

OK, anyway, thanks for now, indeed if Wimpy or Adam have any insights or comments to offer I would be happy to hear them . . . otherwise I will take a look at what is available or what I have in DVDs . . . and, if the Ubuntu MATE install gets done, I’ll post back letting you know how it went, etc. . . . .

e___

#24

Your problem, I believe, is caused by the mate ppa. You need to uncheck that as a source before running an update.

You can’t get the packages that you uninstalled back (there are no binaries to download), so a reinstall of the whole system is the only way to go if you want Mate.

#25

On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Adam Smith [email protected] wrote:

Your problem, I believe, is caused by the mate ppa. You need to uncheck
that as a source before running an update.

You can’t get the packages that you uninstalled back (there are no
binaries to download), so a reinstall of the whole system is the only way
to go if you want Mate.

Homes:

OK, appreciate the reply and the details on mate ppa needing to be
unchecked. It didn’t seem to be a problem until what might have been the
most recent “dist-upgrade” . . . I did a number of regular upgrades thru
Terminal without having a problem. So, could it be that only for kernel
upgrades the ppa would have to be unchecked? Otherwise how would “normal”
updates for the MATE side of things get upgraded?

Would this be the case for using Software Updater would be better for
upgrading, rather than through the Terminal? One thing I’ve noticed is
that “line items” in a Terminal upgrade can’t be added or deleted, it’s all
or nothing . . . no? Whereas perhaps in SU items might be excluded? I
don’t use SU very much as it used to be the sage wisdom to “not use SU” . .
. . but use console, or, also haven’t checked whether synaptic runs
upgrades, that could be line itemized . . . .

Anyway, appreciate the comments, have to find the time for a fresh download
and/or choosing from the many, many PPC options that are out there
competing for my linux “dollar” . . . . I would walk a mile to see the
GNOME Floating Feet screensaver . . . lots of giggles to be had there.

e___