VLC killed by updates

[Myself]

I got 6 updates in Update Manager earlier.

Iceweasel and VLC.

Iceweasel works fine but VLC has disappeared from the menu and trying to run it from Terminal say that it is not installed and asks for vlc-nox.

I used Synaptic to check and VLC is shown as not installed.

Trying to install it produced the following errors:

vlc:
Depends: vlc-nox but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libavcodec53 but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libva-x11-1 (>1.0.14~) but 1.0.12-2 is to be installed
Depends: libva1 (>1.0.14~) but 1.0.12-2 is to be installed
Recommends: vlc-plugin-notify but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: vlc-plugin-pulse but it is not going to be installed

Any ideas,please?

[Lippy]

What sources are you pointing to? It sounds to me like you have got the update to VLC 2.0, but that can only happen if you are pointing to Debian Testing. My best guess so far is that the multimedia repository you are pointing to is incompatible with your main repository, and that is why the version of the dependencies are lower than what VLC is asking for. But I need more information to be sure.

Have a look at /etc/apt/sources.list. By default, it should contain this text:

Code: Select all

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import

deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb-src http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free

deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

# deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport romeo
# deb-src http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport romeo


If any of that is different to what is in your file, then you are pointing to something else for your packages (either deliberately or unintentionally). Please excuse me if this sounds too dumbed down!

[LifeInTheGrey]

I got 6 updates in Update Manager earlier.

Iceweasel and VLC.

Iceweasel works fine but VLC has disappeared from the menu and trying to run it from Terminal say that it is not installed and asks for vlc-nox.

I used Synaptic to check and VLC is shown as not installed.

Trying to install it produced the following errors:

vlc:
Depends: vlc-nox but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libavcodec53 but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libva-x11-1 (>1.0.14~) but 1.0.12-2 is to be installed
Depends: libva1 (>1.0.14~) but 1.0.12-2 is to be installed
Recommends: vlc-plugin-notify but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: vlc-plugin-pulse but it is not going to be installed

Any ideas,please?

I'm running off of straight Debian Testing right now, and my vlc install is borked. I didn't have vlc-nox uninstalled, but vlc-plugin-notify and vlc-plugin-pulse was in a previous safe-upgrade. Right now all the packages have caught up except for libvlccore4. Once it is updated like the rest (should only be a day or two), you can manually install the other missing items with aptitude/synaptic and it should reinstall just fine.

[Myself]

I had to add a few a few Repositories as I could not update Firefox from 9.0.1 to 10.0.2 which I was using on the previous supposedly roiling update Distribution, which I had been using for over a year.

I managed to install Iceweasel with advice via Mozzilla's website. Iceweasel 12 works very well, no errors.

I installed Chrome 17.0.963.56 before discovering I could install Iceweasel. Chrome has some advantages but Iceweasel is better for me.

The version of Tor I installed via the Linux Mint Repositories simply was too old and did not work. I tried to get the download Tor package to run using Terminal but no matter what I do I either get the text of the tor-start-browser displayed in Terminal or an error 126 (I think, if my memory serves my correctly). So I did as instructed on Tor website and added Repositories, installed Tor, and associated programs, and it worked well. Tor does run as a deamon constantly, I do not need it running all the time, but do not know how to switch it off until required. It does sometimes on starting Vidalia give error message saying it cannot find a location in home directory and that I do not have permission to use it and ask if I am an authorised user. It works again after uninstall and reinstall. Have had to do this far too much.

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing main non-free
deb http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org squeeze main
deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main
deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ squeeze-backports iceweasel-release
deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ squeeze-backports iceweasel-aurora

[Myself]

Solved and I have VLC reinstalled and working. Thanks for the Repositories list, Lippy.

The culprit was "deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main". Unticked it in Synaptic and it stopped showing VLC version 1.2.0.0.x
Weird that Debian would release part of an update without the Dependencies.
I just do not understand this having spent many many years installing on .exe files.
I guess it's a learning experience!

Speaking of .exes, reminds me I had occasion to go back to Windows the other day and when playing the same music and video in Windows Media Player I really missed the amazing sound quality of the Linux Mint Codecs.

[Lippy]

Glad you got it working!

I'd use testing instead of squeeze or squeeze-backports for the third party repositories if you plan on sticking with the Update Packs. Even though there has been an unusually long period of time between the recent Update Packs, the distribution is still much closer to Testing than it is to Squeeze so there should be less incompatibilities. They can still happen though, as you experienced with the VLC update. A rule of thumb is if it looks like an update will nuke your system, hold off the offending packages and eventually the problem should solve itself down the line. Alternatively you could temporarily point straight to Testing and attempt to update only the offending packages, since Testing should be fully compatible with the third party repositories you have added.