LMDE BREAKAGES - tracking TESTING

[typist]

For the past 2 days, with every update via the Mint-Update manager . . . it removes Firefox-4.0

It should be possible to install firefox-4 in a local directory and then simply link to that file. I have not tried this method on LMDE, but it worked on Ubuntu....and that was my first post to LMDE.

Nice distro Clem and team! BTW who is responsible for LMDE distro and packages? It was not clear from the Mint website.

[viking777]

Just got back from a week away from the computer and read about the new Mintupdate which I promptly installed. I was very happy to read about the new dialog boxes that are to warn mintupdate users about newly installed packages or packages which are to be removed:

by clem on Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:11 pm

A lot of code changes were involved here. It's been tested for regressions of course, but if you see anything wrong, please use this thread to let me know. Basically, it checks much more things than before. Overall, compared to what we had a week ago, mintupdate is now faster to check for updates and slower to apply them, because it runs a simulation and warns you of any additions/deletions of packages.

Having been away for a while I had a lot of upgrades waiting for me (124 to be exact). I used Mintupdate to handle these, and saw no warnings of any kind about new packages, so I assumed that there weren't any. Later on I had a look in Synaptic and this is the history I saw for today's date:

Installed the following packages:
libbluray0 (0.2~git20110126-1.1)
libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (2.22.1-1+sid1)
libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev (2.22.1-1+sid1)
libgmp10 (2:5.0.1+dfsg-7)
libntfs-3g80 (1:2011.1.15-0.1)
libqt4-sql-sqlite (4:4.7.2-3)
libqtassistantclient4 (4.6.3-3)
libqtlocation1 (1.2.0~beta0+git3174-2)
libqtmultimediakit1 (1.2.0~beta0+git3174-2)
libqtsensors1 (1.2.0~beta0+git3174-2)
libqtwebkit4 (2.1.0~2011week09-3)
nvidia-common (20110213+1)

So in other words I have had 12 new packages installed without any warning from Mintupdate whatsoever. None of these 12 packages is mentioned in Mintupdate history either (all the upgraded packages are mentioned).

Is it me (or the way my computer is set up)?

Am I misunderstanding the quote from Clem above?

Is it just not working properly yet?

Is anybody else seeing these warning dialogs?

I am using Mintupdate 4.2.6.

[asymmetros]

Just did an upgrade by using Mint update.
A pop-window, warned me that two new packages are going to be installed (libntfs-3g80, libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 ).

After the update is completed, i search Mint Update >history but there was no sign of those two packages there.
But synaptic, shows me that these two packages were installed.

Now, i am running Mint update 4.2.6
The 4.2.2 version, wasn' t notifying me for the installation of new packages, but those "additions" appears even now in MintUpdate's history.

[viking777]

Thank you asymmetros - it must be me then, I saw no warnings whatsoever

[CiaW]

Thank you asymmetros - it must be me then, I saw no warnings whatsoever

It may be that you have to log out & back in to your desktop or reboot or something before the changes take affect. I know I've at least logged out and back in to my desktop since the most recent Mint Update update and I did get notice of new packages being added during update. Or maybe it's you.

[dawgdoc]

Thank you asymmetros - it must be me then, I saw no warnings whatsoever

...and I did get notice of new packages being added during update. Or maybe it's you.

Definitely him, I've been getting such notices for several days now. Sorry Viking.

[viking777]

Definitely him, I've been getting such notices for several days now. Sorry Viking.

You are right dawgdoc, it is me - or it was. Yesterday 12 new packages, no warnings. Today one new package including warning notice

Maybe it needed to be switched off overnight to give it time to think about what to do with this new fangled notification dialog

[craig10x]

it probably needed a good night's sleep

[mads]

You are right dawgdoc, it is me - or it was. Yesterday 12 new packages, no warnings. Today one new package including warning notice

Maybe it needed to be switched off overnight to give it time to think about what to do with this new fangled notification dialog

Hi! Good to see that you guys are having fun.
I just want to use this opportunity and say thank you to viking777. I have followed all the posts since Clem's first post about mintUpdate,
and in my opinion viking777's eager and curiosity (testing & complaining, testing again & complaining again ... ) has contributed valuable insight
into the project.

[viking777]

I just want to use this opportunity and say thank you to viking777. I have followed all the posts since Clem's first post about mintUpdate,
and in my opinion viking777's eager and curiosity (testing & complaining, testing again & complaining again ... ) has contributed valuable insight
into the project.

Thank you very much mads. It is good to know that Clem and his team listen to forum opinion, without their attention a complaint (let's call it a suggestion ) would just be useless noise.
I think the new Mintupdate coupled with the 'snapshot' system he is proposing is going to turn LMDE into a world beater - if it isn't already.

[clem]

Thanks guys.

Just a quick note on mintupdate.. it does update itself prior to updating other packages, but that's just to make sure it downloads any updated rules file. It doesn't actually "restart" itself after updating itself, if you see what I mean. So when you upgraded to mintupdate 4.2.6, you were still running the earlier version of it.

[viking777]

Thanks guys.

Just a quick note on mintupdate.. it does update itself prior to updating other packages, but that's just to make sure it downloads any updated rules file. It doesn't actually "restart" itself after updating itself, if you see what I mean. So when you upgraded to mintupdate 4.2.6, you were still running the earlier version of it.

AHA!! That would explain what happened to me, I did my 124 upgrades immediately after upgrading Mintupdate itself and hence got no warnings about the new packages. I imagined it would "restart" itself automatically once upgraded. Thanks for clearing that up.

[clem]

Which leads to your next question... why doesn't it restart itself? .... OK, I'll see if I can squeeze that in for Mint 11/LMDE. Such a love/hate affair with feedback...

[viking777]

Which leads to your next question... why doesn't it restart itself? .... OK, I'll see if I can squeeze that in for Mint 11/LMDE. Such a love/hate affair with feedback...

No, not at all, I had no other question on this topic, I am quite happy with it the way it is, I am sure most people are.
Please don't wear out your coding fingers chasing stuff like that (certainly not on my behalf anyway).
The warning dialogue boxes were an important addition that needed addressing but 'instant restart' is not at all important, not to me anyway.

[mads]

OK, I'll see if I can squeeze that in for Mint 11/LMDE.

Ha? Is Mint 11/LMDE going to be based on squeeze? Just kidding!

[clem]

nice one

[mads]

Hi everyone!
Please use mintUpdate and report your experience here.
It can't be improved without your feedback.

[ajt007]

Update 30 Mar 2011- MintMenu v 5.1.7 has a bug in the show recent document plugin, already fixed in v. 5.1.8 viewtopic.php?f=141&t=67502&p=401714#p401735, so please upgrade your system;

Update 23 Mar 2011- the upgrade of kexec-tools to version 2.0.1-4, disabled the ability of reboot into grub, the system reboots, to boot again without going though grub;
Chech viking777 post for more info about the issue
viewtopic.php?f=141&t=67502&start=60#p398542

Update 20 Mar 2011- Attention ATI users: refer to these posts please:
viewtopic.php?f=141&t=67502&p=397378#p397258
viewtopic.php?f=141&t=67502&p=397378#p397374
viewtopic.php?f=141&t=68729

Update 16 Mar 2011- LibreOffice came in today's updates, it will ask you to remove part of OpenOffice (even if in the same process other part of OO will be updated -the process is not so clean as in sid, where the change was made in one move).
Depending on the customizations you made on your system the change should be smooth, ending with a full replacement of OO with LO, if for some some reason that doesn't happen there's a new metapackage called libreoffice that should take care of it.

Update 4 Mar 2011- The vlc/libva1 issue is solved. If you pinned/unmarked libva1 from update, can now proceed safely; if you chose to remove vlc, look in synaptic for the new vlc 1.1.7 and install it; if you didn't update your system at all in these days can now do it.

As stated by some forum members a topic like this is needed in a distribution like LMDE, where breakages can occur often.


And for the ones that come here looking for a help, remember a few things:
1- LMDE is based in testing (wheezy), as it was said in the blog several times

Things are likely to break more often but fixes can also come quicker. For this reason, LMDE requires a deeper knowledge and experience with Linux, dpkg and APT.

2- it's not a good idea, just because something broke or a pkg was removed during an upgrade, to pull new pkgs from sid or squeeze (we are confusing the system) and future updates may not come as smooth as they should;
This Debian tool http://release.debian.org/migration/ can give us an idea why a certain pkg/version is not in testing/LMDE

3- MintUpdate is not designed for LMDE yet; if you want a safe experience during updates, please use synaptic or the terminal.
More info about MU and LMDE can be found in this topic
viewtopic.php?f=141&t=67561

Hi zerozero,
I have used Mint for a long time. I don’t post very often but I visit the forums almost daily. For two years I have followed the talk about Mint being based Debian and not Ubuntu. To me that is a very good thing. Having used LMDE since it became available I have not experienced the problems I been having last few days. A few weeks ago it was Google Earth not working. Solved. Then a problem playing DVDs. Solved. Then the problem downloading a nvidia driver only to be faced with x-config. Not solved. I happen to know how to partition my hard drive but most new Linux users don’t. I’m on my fifth attempt at following remedies from the forum. All involve no less than setting back while one hour or more of updates are installed. After that the Mint Update the package manager is still broken. I just looked at another PC next to me with LMDE installed and after 68 minutes of downloading updates I have just one minute remaining. That is not counting waiting for the updates to install. I’m using the a terminal because the package manager is broken. Several times I have read forum posts that stated “LMDE is not for everyone”. Well it better be very soon or a very large number of current users will not be able to use Linux Mint.
It is now installing the updates so I need to answer the 4 or 5 questions I will be asked. I hope I know the correct answers. I enjoy Mint and sure hope things will get better. Clem and the others have always done a really good job. This may take more time to address. I don’t know the answer. If anyone does please let me know and I will give it a sixth try I’m not giving up on Mint that quickly. It has always been user friendly and I sure it will be in the future. I removed the regular Mint because I figured I had better learn LMDE now if I want to continue. I am currently trying your suggestion. I will let you know. I’m writing this on another system.

[sgosnell]

Today's updates fixed my problem. It now boots normally. No idea what happened, but it's now fixed.

[mads]

Today's updates fixed my problem. It now boots normally. No idea what happened, but it's now fixed.

This thread is about the updates that break the system, not about the updates that fix the system.
Glad that the problem is fixed, but I cannot find which post you are referring to.