MintUpdate broke my system. [SOLVED]

[optimize me]

Or maybe I did. It's hard to say..

I had a couple updates come through this morning. They were trivial updates - level 1 and level 2 if I remember right. Nothing essential or critical to system operation. But ever since, my comp has been acting buggy: Application windows appear blank until they've been maximized and restored to original size; drop-down and pop-up menus appear empty (scrollable menus are no longer scrollable); and for some reason, every time I try to load a web page, Firefox is throwing a Java Script error at me "Error:Document body is null."

I managed to find mintUpdate.history in /var/log. Here's the updates that I installed this morning:

Code: Select all

]09 Jun 2009 07:46:40   imagemagick-doc   3   7:6.4.5.4.dfsg1-1ubuntu3   7:6.4.5.4.dfsg1-1ubuntu3.1
09 Jun 2009 07:46:40   ecryptfs-utils   3   73-0ubuntu6   73-0ubuntu6.1
09 Jun 2009 07:46:40   libmagickwand1   3   7:6.4.5.4.dfsg1-1ubuntu3   7:6.4.5.4.dfsg1-1ubuntu3.1
09 Jun 2009 07:46:40   libecryptfs0   3   73-0ubuntu6   73-0ubuntu6.1
09 Jun 2009 07:46:40   imagemagick   3   7:6.4.5.4.dfsg1-1ubuntu3   7:6.4.5.4.dfsg1-1ubuntu3.1
09 Jun 2009 07:46:40   libmagickcore1   3   7:6.4.5.4.dfsg1-1ubuntu3   7:6.4.5.4.dfsg1-1ubuntu3.1

So, ImageMagick and cryptfs. I can't imagine how either one of those would be responsible for the problems I'm having, but everything was cool up until those updates this morning.

Anyone have any suggestions? How can I roll back the versions on those packages if those are now the "official" versions?

(I see now that they were all class 3 upgrades.)

[emorrp1]

Having just checked my Update logs, I've installed the same packages, and not come across any problems, but they were level 3 updates (as it shows in your text output), which means "we assume they've been tested upstream, but not guaranteed, so only install if necessary/you accept the risks". You can "Force Version" in synaptic to roll back to a previous version. Personally I doubt it has anything to do with the updates, and is just coincidence.

EDIT: oh, you've realised they're level 3 afterall.

[optimize me]

I never knew you could do that in Synaptic - thanks for the heads up.

Like you, I fail to see how either update could have caused the breakage I have. It must be something else...

I'll leave this thread open for now in case anyone else suffers the same maladies.

[emorrp1]

btw, have you tried disabling compiz (select none in Appearance --> Effects)? It might be a compiz issue, unless it still occurs when compiz isn't running.

[optimize me]

I actually got to looking in that direction myself, and that's where the problem was.

Somehow, between last night and today - maybe me in my sleep, maybe the cat? - under the right click menu on the fusion icon that sits in my AWN notification area, under the Compiz Options menu, the option "Loose Binding" got selected.

I unticked it and all is back to normal.

Thanks for the assist!

[Mintman]

I have stopped accepting level 3 updates. Both my laptops were broken and I had to do a reinstall on both. Both initially booted up but would freeze almost immediately, giving me no chance to revert to a previous version 3 package, even if I knew which one was the cause.

I only accept level 1 and 2 updates. Will this eventually lead to a problem? So, do level 1 and 2 updates ever require a level 3 update to function correctly? If so, then Mint will have been a failure for me, I am afraid. If not, happy days.

Anybody else had issues with level 3 and only accepting 1 and 2?

[emorrp1]

Although not really related to this thread, I'll give you the answer anyway: Yes, lvl 1&2 updates are fine, and they're highly unlikely to need a lvl 3 update (i.e. I haven't seen one yet) I personally haven't seen any issues with lvl 3, but I know others have.