repeatable problem with mint-fm2

[slestak]

I have had this happen on two (100%) of my lm fluxbox 8.

What occurs is:

* do install with the live cd. the fm2 menu that one of the top menu items is "Install"
* the install finished with no drama
* do massive patching, updating system with aptitude
* the fm2 menu works well. at this point, the Install menu item is not present (rebooted to hd, not cd)

at some point, the iso menu comes back. the Install menu item is back, and the flyout menus for System Administration and whatnot on the bottom will not work.

I still have one of the machines available for testing or further analysis.

[Kendall]

Check the MD5 of the iso to verify the disk is good, also check to make sure ubiquity or mint-fluxbox-livecd is not present after an install. Also did you do your system updates while still running from the live CD, or did you reboot first?

I'm presuming this is with the final, not the RC? I ask this because the shutdown dialog breaks if you update mint-fm2, but I haven't pushed an update for it since before the final was released.

[slestak]

I rebooted before doing updates. The machine that hosted the iso is having some issues, thats a whole different story. I have the burned iso here. Can I get an md5 from the disk?

I think it has sth to do with the updates. I had good menus and functionality with the 2nd machine for 2-3 days. Machine 1 (M1) had the issue first, and I was thankful that M2 didn't. Within 48 hours, M2 got it though.

[slestak]

I have rebooted the machine on the cd and I am running the integrity check now.

[slestak]

The cd integrity check passed.

[Kendall]

I'm updating my machine one package at a time right now to check for breakages anywhere. I'll do a clean install on my test box here shortly and try to repeat the issue.

Did you look and make sure that packages like ubiquity, mint-fluxbox-livecd, and casper have been removed after the install?

And you should be able to check an MD5 from the disk, though I'm really not sure how as I always use live USB (after this computer it's doubtful I'll ever buy another laptop with an optical drive again).

[slestak]

I have dpkg.log and /var/log/aptitude available if you want to see the order of installation and uninstallation. Want me to attach them? We can troubleshoot this by IM if you want.

[slestak]

Code: Select all

Aptitude 0.4.11.11: log report
Sun, Feb 28 2010 16:23:45 -0500

IMPORTANT: this log only lists intended actions; actions which fail due to
dpkg problems may not be completed.

Will install 89 packages, and remove 0 packages.
192MB of disk space will be used
===============================================================================
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libdns53
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] linux-headers-2.6.31-19
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] linux-headers-2.6.31-19-generic
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] scrot
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] ureadahead
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] watershed
[INSTALL] casper
[INSTALL] libdebian-installer4
[INSTALL] linux-image-2.6.31-19-generic
[INSTALL] lupin-casper
[INSTALL] mint-fluxbox-livecd
[INSTALL] ubiquity
[INSTALL] ubiquity-casper
[INSTALL] ubiquity-frontend-debconf
[INSTALL] ubiquity-frontend-gtk
[INSTALL] ubiquity-ubuntu-artwork
[INSTALL] user-setup
[UPGRADE] bind9-host 1:9.6.1.dfsg.P1-3 -> 1:9.6.1.dfsg.P1-3ubuntu0.3
[UPGRADE] cryptsetup 2:1.0.6+20090405.svn49-1ubuntu7 -> 2:1.0.6+20090405.svn49-1
ubuntu7.2
[UPGRADE] cups 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.1 -> 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.2
[UPGRADE] cups-bsd 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.1 -> 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.2
[UPGRADE] cups-client 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.1 -> 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.2
[UPGRADE] cups-common 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.1 -> 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.2
[UPGRADE] dnsutils 1:9.6.1.dfsg.P1-3 -> 1:9.6.1.dfsg.P1-3ubuntu0.3
[UPGRADE] firefox 3.5.7+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1 -> 3.5.8+build1+nobinonly-0ubu
ntu0.9.10.1
[UPGRADE] firefox-3.5 3.5.7+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1 -> 3.5.8+build1+nobinonly-
0ubuntu0.9.10.1
[UPGRADE] firefox-3.5-branding 3.5.7+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1 -> 3.5.8+build1+n
obinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1
[UPGRADE] firefox-3.5-gnome-support 3.5.7+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1 -> 3.5.8+bui
ld1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1
[UPGRADE] flashplugin-installer 10.0.42.34ubuntu0.9.10.1 -> 10.0.45.2ubuntu0.9.1
0.1
[UPGRADE] flashplugin-nonfree 10.0.42.34ubuntu0.9.10.1 -> 10.0.45.2ubuntu0.9.10.
1
[UPGRADE] foomatic-filters 4.0.3-0ubuntu2 -> 4.0.3-0ubuntu2.2
[UPGRADE] libbind9-50 1:9.6.1.dfsg.P1-3 -> 1:9.6.1.dfsg.P1-3ubuntu0.3
[UPGRADE] libcups2 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.1 -> 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.2
--- more after that, left it out---

[Kendall]

I know exactly what it is now. Upon installation all of the live CD specific packages are marked for automatic installation in aptitude. I had a long conversation with Clem about this (it's present in the Main edition as well) and we decided not to do anything about it because so few people use aptitude as a package manager. I'm guessing you're using aptitude as a package manager?

Shane found this bug and I tried a few hacks to get around it, but what you need to do is either not use aptitude for package management, or manually unmark the live CD specific packages after installing.

[slestak]

Ahh, ok. First time I've had to work around aptitude. I do prefer it so I'll look around and see if I can find a longer term workaround. What do the other distros that use livecd's and apt based updating do?

[Kendall]

What do the other distros that use livecd's and apt based updating do?

I have no idea, I don't currently build distros for other companies.

You could always go about it the easy way and use the update manager . For package updating from the command line use "apt upgrade", it'll hold back a few packages (like kernel updates) but you can install those individually.

[slestak]

hmm. lemme think on it. that's a little dissatisfying. I do most of my maintenance at the console. For the most part I don't use synaptic, mint-updater, or the ubuntu software store.

I'll see if I can figure something out with it since it is my need.

[Kendall]

As mentioned earlier, you can unmark the packages that are marked for automatic installation and everything will be groovy. Also, you can use "apt" or "apt-get" instead of "aptitude" for command line package updating.

[slestak]

Got it. I think that is what I will do. I sometimes forget that apt-get is the only official package manager. Synaptic, aptitude, evem mint-updater are secondary and just assists. Thanks!

[slestak]

Hi Kendall,

I removed all ubiquity packages, casper, and mint-livecd, and also reinstalled mint-fm2. The menu is still in this state.

Should I do a purge of mint-fm2, then install?

Thanks,

SLestak