Hello Folks,
Asking the forum to get me out of this problem with Siduction.
Been using Siduction (Shoulder of Giants) for almost a year. Mostly no problems. However, near the beginning of Dec 2024 when using Discover UPDATES, I get the error message below that stops ALL update downloads. In the past, for the rare instance of upgrade problems, using the standard command line interfacee (sudo apt update/sudo apt upgrade) was my work around. This time...my work around doesn't work and throughly screws up my install. Luckily I have a copy of my Siduction Virtual Machine in a fully operations state from early Oct 2024 so I can bork my system with upgrades and still get back to a fully working (albeit outdated) Siduction.
I stumbled upon this link where a NEW line is needed in debian.list to get the proper upgrades.
https://forum.siduction.org/index.php?topic=9476.msg75461#msg75461
Is it possible I have a similar problem of Siduction needing a NEWLY added software source and my machine never got the memo?
Any help appreciated as I truly enjoy Siduction.
Error message from DISCOVER upgrade - began early Dec 2024 and continious to this day:
<html>Dependency resolution failed:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libkf6konq7: Breaks: libkf5konq6 but 4:22.12.3-2+b4 is to be installed
libreoffice-core: Breaks: libreoffice-kf5 (< 4:24.8.3-3) but 4:24.8.2-2 is to be installed
plasma-workspace: Breaks: plasma-workspace-wayland but 4:5.27.11.1-1+b2 is to be installed
libkdecorations2-6: Breaks: libkdecorations2-5v5 but 4:5.27.11-1+b1 is to be installed
plasma-workspace-wayland: Depends: plasma-workspace (= 4:5.27.11.1-1+b2) but 4:6.2.4-1 is to be installed
libkf6baloowidgets6: Breaks: libkf5baloowidgets5 but 4:22.12.3-1+b4 is to be installed
libkscreenlocker5: Breaks: kwin-common (> 4:5.27.70~) but 4:6.2.4-1 is to be installed
libkscreenlocker6: Breaks: libkscreenlocker5 but 5.27.11-1+b1 is to be installed
kgamma: Breaks: kgamma5 but 5.27.11-1+b1 is to be installed
libksysguard-data: Breaks: libkf5sysguard-data but 4:5.27.11-1 is to be installed
kate-data: Breaks: kate5-data but 4:23.08.1-1 is to be installed
libkscreen-bin: Breaks: libkf5screen-bin but 4:5.27.11-1+b1 is to be installed
libreoffice-kf5: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 4:24.8.2-2) but 4:24.8.3-3 is to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-qt5 (= 4:24.8.2-2) but 4:24.8.3-3 is to be installed
libbaloowidgets-bin: Breaks: libkf5baloowidgets-bin but 4:22.12.3-1+b4 is to be installed
</html>
Modify message
Did you try sudo apt --solver 3.0 full-upgrade yet?
I have not tried that yet but I'm certainly willing to give it a go.
What do you recommend for sequencing the use of the command line you've suggested?
For example shall I go to the command line and enter what you said, then
Go to DISCOVER updates and hit the refresh button and then hit the UPDATE ALL button ?
or
Do you recommend me using the command you recommended and then continue on with the update via the command line interface?
As an aside where in the heck did you learn about the command you're suggesting? I never got any kind of a notice that such a command might be needed in the past or present.
At any rate as soon as I hear back from you on recommenced sequence I'm gonna give it a try and report results. Thanks again.
well, we are here with debian unstable and we don't recommend to use a graphical tool to full-upgrade a system like debian sid/unstable, because that tools are not able to handle it in the long term.
It is recommended to learn and use upgrade commands in the terminal.
For a little overview
https://manual.siduction.org/sys-admin-apt_en.html#why-use-apt-exclusively
Our manual is really good to start with.
https://manual.siduction.org/sys-admin-apt_en.html
I (like to) use Discover for firmware upgrades. It works really nice for that.
Thus for curiosity, I shall regularly have a look into it.
What I see lately (about two(?) weeks ago) is an offer to "upgrade" to "Debian 9" - yes "9", nothing newer.
Does anyone else see this?
[By the way: I do not upgrade with Discover; always use a combination of apt(-get) and aptitude. This way I'm often even more "up-to-date", than with the 'd-u', alone. I am not using the 3.0 resolver, though, yet.]
Also by curiosity - I wanted to get rid of that Disovery-"offer" in my installed system -, I tried to "install" it by running "our (KDE-)live-system". I did not succeed, hmm.
Does anyone know, what or "which package" triggers this offer?
Thanks.
@ro_sid I think it is apstream, take a look at the dependency.
The problem with "offer to "upgrade" to "Debian 9"" is the missing Version: string in /etc/os-release.
All you need is a DeLorean! 8)
Thanks to @hendrikL and @towo.
I shall have a look at the respective proposals.
For Your Information: The (installed) system is (just) a regular updated one installed from the MoW-KDE-Live.iso of Siduction.
To make a long story short: I received a brief explanation of apt and dpkg 2001 from a colleague (around 30 minutes). I learned the rest myself.
You have now learned that tools with a GUI are not the best choice for Debian/unstable and it is also correct that you are looking for support here. Since you are not yet familiar with the command line and apt, a few more hints.
apt moo moo moo - Self-explanatory output ...
apt update - Updates the package information to the latest version. No packages are deleted or installed.
apt full-upgrade - This will upgrade your system, but it may also remove packages, even if essential packages are affected.
apt --solver 3.0 full-upgrade - Solver 3.0 is new and not yet officially declared stable. I have been using it daily since May 2024 and I believe that it protects especially less experienced users from harm, as it only tries to suggest packages for deletion that are no longer needed. Background: https://blog.jak-linux.org/2024/05/14/solver3/ (https://blog.jak-linux.org/2024/05/14/solver3/)
https://laotzu.ftp.acc.umu.se/pub/debian-meetings/2024/DebConf24/debconf24-400-the-new-apt-solver.av1.webm (https://laotzu.ftp.acc.umu.se/pub/debian-meetings/2024/DebConf24/debconf24-400-the-new-apt-solver.av1.webm)
These are the most important commands for everyday use. Update your system regularly. This does not have to be daily, but once a week should be a good choice. Check here first to see if there are any upgrade warnings. Read the output of apt, especially whether packages should be removed. If in doubt, ask here.
To search for packages you can also use a tool with GUI (Discover, Synaptic) instead of apt search <foo>; for installation and upgrades please use apt. The rest can be found in the manual.
My daily commandline:
sudo apt update && sudo apt --solver 3.0 full-upgrade
Since you installed from MoW, please check if you have a line with non-free-firmware in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/***.list. If not, please add this.
Example:
deb https://packages.siduction.org/fixes/ unstable main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
edlin
I've been a siduction user for 12 or more years (KDE/Plasma and LXQt), and I have never looked at Discover. Today I took a look at it, for the first time. Yes, I see where it says I can update to Debian 9. LOL - that's funny!
I still do upgrades daily, unless there's a scary warning. I do them the old way -- shut down "graphical.target" and go to "multi-user.target" and use apt, with this fancy new --solver 3.0 switch, which seems to work flawlessly.
Thanks (again) to the siduction dev team for keeping this outstanding distribution moving into the future. ::)
Bottom Line:
- I am extremely thankful to all who helped me. I myself really felt like I was Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (the people who eagerly assisted me).
- My Siduction was properly upgraded and is working as it should.
DETAILS:
-I needed to make about 6 attempts using variations of:
sudo apt update and sudo apt --solver 3.0 full-upgrade
5 attempts failed and borked the system. I was losing hope but thank god I had VM backup copies of my system when it was working. The procedure that worked was a mixture of luck and perhaps some small variations in my actions. Best of my recollection this is what I did:
-Used Bleach Bit to remove ALL update packages that were sitting in the system, standing by to be uploaded
-QUIT the DISCOVER update notifications app
-Used sudo apt update followed by sudo apt --solver 3.0 full-upgrade
-Rebooted and it restarted properly. Did a cold start and that worked too. Immediately made a VM copy of my revived system, THEN did a sudo apt autoremove and a second VM copy without the cruft that is also fully operational. Was afraid using autoremove might bork the system for reasons I don't have the intellect to understand.
OTHER MISC INFO
- Mouse pointer became a little laggy after the successful...it wasn't before. I'll tweak mouse settings in both the Win 10 host and in Siduction to improve. Had to turn off the "floating pannel" which apparently was a feature of this upgrade.
- From Day ONE... I could never get VLC media player to work properly with Siduction (and Debian 12), but after this update it loaded from Synaptic Package Manager and runs without incident. Bonus for getting this issue resolved.
-SO happy to know some of the experts who replied have affiliations with TUXEDO computer and System 76. HUGE bonus because I have my eye on a new laptop that runs Linux and I'll likely have questions about Linux laptops when a Linux AMD AI 370 is released.
Lastly - I was planning to do this anyway..but because of the GREAT HELP I received, I finally made my first $50 donation to the Siduction program. I wanted to say thanks to the respondents with more than words...and in spite of being in Siduction way over my head, having the experts weigh in made this experience less painful....and *almost* fun! Thanks again to all.
OT:
@onepiece and other, if you have any problems with that forum or our website, dont call the sysadmins that it is not an abuse, please post it here -->
https://forum.siduction.org/index.php?board=78.0
Under the 'bugs' section 'Forum- Website', there you can describe the problem and we can try to find a solution.
As promised, I did investigate on the "Debian 9" "offer" oddity.
And @hendrikL, no ;), you were wrong, appstream was installed as were all(!) packages required or even suggested by Discover.
But @towo, yes, you are right, it is the /etc/os-release file (which is /usr/lib/os-release, actually) that "provokes" this "offer".
[That file is really missing any "digits/numbers" for the release, although otherwise correct (trixie/sid). Now since trixie has not been released, yet, and sid never gets a number, this seems to be OK. In the /usr/share/distro-info, trixie is already marked with release number 13.]
Just being interested, I (temporarily) replaced the os-release file with the one from bullseye. Makes the "offer" vanish. Interesting, since it is the "oldstable" version and Discover could/should have offered me bookworm/12. But it did not. So some more work should be put into Discover by their programmers :).
Thanks, again.
Oh. I thought you want to get rid of that annoying update your system from discover.
First thing I do, is to purge that appstream or what ever discover uses, so that I am not disturbed by that ... discover.
@hendrikL: Ah, I understand, but no, because then I (would) lose my convenient ;) way to do firmware upgrades.