Lost xserver (solved)

[oneself]

Hi,


I was stupid and did not read the output from apt-get autoremove carefully and now have lost my xserver and I cannot reinstall it.  It seems everything depends on a package named "xorg-input-abi-19" that has maybe disappeared.  How can I fix this?  Can I install an older version of xorg?  Please, I am desparate.  I'm flying on a business trip tomorrow and I need my computer working!  Please help!

Code: [Select]


> apt-get install xorg
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:


The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 xorg : Depends: xserver-xorg (>= 1:7.7+5) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

> apt-get install xserver-xorg
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:


The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 xserver-xorg : Depends: xserver-xorg-input-all but it is not going to be installed or
                         xorg-driver-input
                Depends: xserver-xorg-input-evdev but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

> apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-all
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:


The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 xserver-xorg-input-all : Depends: xserver-xorg-input-evdev but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

> apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-evdev
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:


The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 xserver-xorg-input-evdev : Depends: xorg-input-abi-19 but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

> apt-get install xorg-input-abi-19       
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package xorg-input-abi-19 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source


E: Package 'xorg-input-abi-19' has no installation candidate

[sunrat]

You could try again later. Maybe it's just not uploaded yet.
I just got total xserver removal flagged in d-u, so cancelled it for now.

Code: [Select]

The following packages will be REMOVED:
  xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev xserver-xorg-input-mouse xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
  xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
  xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-qxl xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
  xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware

[oneself]

How long does this usually take to get fixed?
Is there anyway I can install an older version which works?

[GoinEasy9]

I don't know if, or, how much damage pointing your sources temporarily to jessie/testing and pulling the files removed from there would do, but, I do see that xserver-common and xserver-xorg-core were allowed to be updated.  They weren't removed.  Mixing the old and new may be a problem.

Usually these problems get resolved quickly (a day or two), but, I'd wait to see if someone with more knowledge of xserver chimes in and gives you some specific advice.  It really depends on how urgent getting your computer up and running is. 

BTW - I can see new xserver-xorg packages in http://incoming.debian.org/ , so, it shouldn't be too long.  Hopefully,  just reinstalling the packages listed by sunrat, after they're pushed, will be the fix.

[oneself]

Alright, thankfully, this is now fixed.  This was a very close call for me.  I need to be a lot more careful with autoremove.


Thank you for you help.

[GoinEasy9]

Read the Upgrade Warnings here in the forum and watch what apt says when upgrading.
I think we all have made the mistake once. After that, it stays with you.  It'll be a while before you make that mistake again.

Ok, have fun.

[ReinerS]

Seems to be ok now here too.

regards

Reiner