[Solved] Did I just fatally break my system?

[tc2016]

I've been running Mint 17.3 Mate quite happily for a couple of years. (dual boot with WinXP) Today I got the bright idea to try a new email client (Trojita). And there the fun begins.

Trojita did not appear to be available in the repositories in Synaptic, so I followed the instructions on their website to add the repository with APT at the CLI and install that way. Not sure if I chose the wrong pkg option, but the repository failed to update correctly and of course I was unable to download Trojita.

After that, Synaptic wouldn't even open - when starting up, it kept saying that the repository I'd added with APT was bad, then it crashed/closed. Restarting Linux didn't help. If I had Googled the issue at this point, I would have known to just go to the repository directory and delete the one I'd added for Trojita.

Instead, I decided that I'd broken Synaptic. So I went back to the terminal and used APT to uninstall Synaptic, then reinstall it. I was able to do this, but it looked like APT uninstalled a WHOLE LOT more than just Synaptic. Synaptic is possibly once again working correctly, but the rest of the desktop is really broken:

1. alt-tab doesn't switch between open windows
2. some programs don't have the control buttons (min, max, close), and on the ones that do, they're not functioning
3. The window list is missing on the panel, so I'm unable to switch between open programs with the Task Switcher by clicking icons (so basically I cannot switch between open programs)
4. The software updater was missing; I was able to reinstall it with Synaptic, but not sure if it's working correctly
5. I can't even close programs (with Alt-F4), or with the program menus.
6. When booting, Mint appears to boot to some other (default?) login window than I'm used to seeing.

No telling what else is broken; the above is just what I've found so far. Would it help to reinstall the Mate desktop in Synaptic, or at this point, should I just do a complete reinstall of Mint? I've already copied my data over to a Win partition in preparation for this (I know, still risky), but I'd like to avoid a total reinstall if necessary. Hate to have to redo all of the tweaks that I've done since the original install.

[WharfRat]

Can you paste back inxi -r

[tc2016]

Can you paste back inxi -r

I had to leave for work, but I will do that when I get home later tonight. Thanks.

[tc2016]

It's a challenge trying to get this done with a broken system, but I believe the text below is what you were asking for.

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[1;34mRepos:    [0;37m [1;34mActive apt sources in file:[0;37m /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m deb http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot all main[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mActive apt sources in file:[0;37m /etc/apt/sources.list.d/danielrichter2007-grub-customizer-trusty.list[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/danielrichter2007/grub-customizer/ubuntu trusty main[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [0;37mdeb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/danielrichter2007/grub-customizer/ubuntu trusty main[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mActive apt sources in file:[0;37m /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m deb http://reflection.oss.ou.edu/linuxmint/repos rosa main upstream import[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [0;37mdeb http://extra.linuxmint.com rosa main[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [0;37mdeb http://ftp.utexas.edu/ubuntu trusty main restricted universe multiverse[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [0;37mdeb http://ftp.utexas.edu/ubuntu trusty-updates main restricted universe multiverse[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [0;37mdeb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security main restricted universe multiverse[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [0;37mdeb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ trusty partner[0;37m
[0m

[WharfRat]

You shouldn't be getting junk like [1;34m [0;37m before the text

I'm running 18.2 so I'm not sure if your version has /var/log/apt/history.log and /var/log/apt/term.log which can tell you what exactly happened when you uninstalled/reinstalled Synaptic.

No telling what else is broken; the above is just what I've found so far. Would it help to reinstall the Mate desktop in Synaptic, or at this point, should I just do a complete reinstall of Mint?

To be honest from your explanation of problems and that output I just saw, reinstalling would probably be quicker than running everything down.

[tc2016]

You might be right. I just found the APT history.log. Here's the list of stuff that appears to have been removed:

Start-Date: 2017-11-11 10:58:07
Commandline: apt-get remove synaptic
Remove: apturl:amd64 (0.4.1ubuntu4.1mint3), mint-artwork-gnome:amd64 (2.6.42), mint-meta-core:amd64 (2015.12.21), mintwelcome:amd64 (2.1.6), mint-common:amd64 (1.2.0), mintmenu:amd64 (5.6.6), mintlocale:amd64 (1.3.1), mintnanny:amd64 (1.4., mint-artwork-common:amd64 (1.8.9.1), mintdesktop:amd64 (3.4.6), mintsystem:amd64 (8.1.6+1), mintupload:amd64 (4.0.2), ubuntu-system-adjustments:amd64 (2015.11.26), mintupdate:amd64 (4.9.9.1), mint-meta-mate:amd64 (2015.12.21), synaptic:amd64 (0.81.2-4), mintinstall:amd64 (7.6.3), mintsources:amd64 (1.5.2)
End-Date: 2017-11-11 10:59:17

Why in the world was all that stuff deleted when all I asked was to remove Synaptic?!?

[Flemur]

You shouldn't be getting junk like [1;34m [0;37m before the text

If you

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inxi -r > filename

that junk is in "filename".

[phd21]

Hi "tc2016",

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

As long as your system is still running, then it is probably not fatally broken.

You do need to clean up the software sources and remove bad ones. Usually you can remove the last package(s) you recently installed. Can you provide the instructions you used for installing "trojita"? You can type "history" at the command prompt.

Why would you remove the "Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)"? Re-install it.

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sudo apt-get install synaptic

Out of curiosity, why "trojita" (only "imap", can't use "pop3") versus "Dekko" (both pop3 and imap), apparently both have GPG encryption options?

These are the instructions I found, including easy to install "deb" files at the bottom under "Grab binary packages directly". Keeping in mind, that Linux Mint 17.x is based on Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty and Linux Mint 18.x on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial.
https://software.opensuse.org/download. ... ge=trojita

Trojita Is a Super Fast Desktop Email Client for Linux, Feb 22, 2017
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/02/inst ... app-ubuntu


FYI: In addition to "trojita", here are some other newer email clients

How to Install Dekko Email Client on Ubuntu Desktop, Jan, 2017
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/01/inst ... l-app-snap


Mailspring is a Powerful New (Semi Open Source) Email App, Oct, 2017
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/10/mail ... k-released



Hope this helps ...

[JerryF]

...
Why in the world was all that stuff deleted when all I asked was to remove Synaptic?!?

Anytime a program is removed, there are sometimes others that are affected. Just to show you, while in Synaptic Package Manager, I marked synaptic to be removed and this warning pops up:

2017_11_12_01.jpg

So, IMHO, in the future, be careful about blindly uninstalling things.

[tc2016]

Hi "tc2016",
You do need to clean up the software sources and remove bad ones. Usually you can remove the last package(s) you recently installed. Can you provide the instructions you used for installing "trojita"? You can type "history" at the command prompt.

Why would you remove the "Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)"? Re-install it.

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sudo apt-get install synaptic

Out of curiosity, why "trojita" (only "imap", can't use "pop3") versus "Dekko" (both pop3 and imap), apparently both have GPG encryption options?

Hope this helps ...

The instructions I used are:

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sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/jkt-gentoo:/trojita/xUbuntu_16.04/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trojita.list"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install trojita

It was probably a mistake to use the ones for Xubuntu, though I stupidly assumed that apt would also download any needed dependencies. (Maybe I take it to be smarter than it really is.) This may also only be directed at the OpenSuse distro, though again I assumed the package was just being stored on their servers.

As I had mentioned, I figured Synaptic was broken because it kept crashing every time I tried to start it, after I acknowledged the popup about the bad repository. I know some programs have a lot of dependencies & related stuff, but I never thought it would go that deep just for a package manager. Wrong!

Finally, Trojita looked interesting because it looks like a fast way to check/manage the three main email accounts I use, and imap is the most efficient way to do that. If there was something I wanted to retain, I would start up Thunderbird, but more often I could just need something fast to check & delete stuff.

[WharfRat]

Here's a Hail Mary attempt to restore your system

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sudo apt-get install apturl:amd64  mint-artwork-gnome:amd64  \
mint-meta-core:amd64  mintwelcome:amd64 mint-common:amd64 \
mintmenu:amd64 mintlocale:amd64 mintnanny:amd64  \
mint-artwork-common:amd64 mintdesktop:amd64 \ 
mintsystem:amd64 mintupload:amd64 \
ubuntu-system-adjustments:amd64 \
mintupdate:amd64 mint-meta-mate:amd64 \
synaptic:amd64 mintinstall:amd64 mintsources:amd64

If install doesn't work try sudo apt-get install --reinstall

[tc2016]

I'm running 18.2 so I'm not sure if your version has /var/log/apt/history.log and /var/log/apt/term.log which can tell you what exactly happened when you uninstalled/reinstalled Synaptic.

To be honest from your explanation of problems and that output I just saw, reinstalling would probably be quicker than running everything down.

WharfRat & JerryF: Based on your comments, I think that I may have just fixed things. I located the history.log file, then went back to the prompt and used APT to reinstall every pkg that was listed as having been removed yesterday with Synaptic. After a reboot, things appear to be back to normal now. I'm going to test it for a couple of days, but I may be able to mark this thread solved.

Thanks for all the comments. Quite helpful, as always.

[tc2016]

Here's a Hail Mary attempt to restore your system
If install doesn't work try sudo apt-get install --reinstall

Even though things appear to be back to normal now, I went ahead an ran your code, just in case. And it looks like I did, in fact, miss one package.

I'm going to take a chance and go ahead & mark the post Solved. This was *much* better than a complete reinstall from scratch.

Thanks again!

[WharfRat]

If you run inxi -r now, does it look like mine

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[bill@XPS] ~/script $ inxi -r
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           deb http://packages.linuxmint.com sonya main upstream import backport
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ xenial partner
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-source-repositories.list
           deb-src http://packages.linuxmint.com sonya main upstream import backport
           deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial main restricted universe multiverse
           deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ xenial partner
[bill@XPS] ~/script $ 

[tc2016]

If you run inxi -r now, does it look like mine

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[bill@XPS] ~/script $ inxi -r
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
[bill@XPS] ~/script $ 

Kind of:

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Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list
           deb http://liveusb.info/multisystem/depot all main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/danielrichter2007-grub-customizer-trusty.list
           deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/danielrichter2007/grub-customizer/ubuntu trusty main
           deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/danielrichter2007/grub-customizer/ubuntu trusty main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           deb http://reflection.oss.ou.edu/linuxmint/repos rosa main upstream import
           deb http://extra.linuxmint.com rosa main
           deb http://ftp.utexas.edu/ubuntu trusty main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://ftp.utexas.edu/ubuntu trusty-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ trusty partner

[JerryF]

...
WharfRat & JerryF: Based on your comments, I think that I may have just fixed things.

As much as I'd love to take even some of the credit, WharfRat is the hero.

[phd21]

Hi "tc2016",

The instructions I used are:

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sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/jkt-gentoo:/trojita/xUbuntu_16.04/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trojita.list"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install trojita

Not a mistake using the "xUbuntu", but a mistake in using the wrong repository instructions, and never a good idea to remove synaptic.

Since you are using Linux Mint 17.3 based on Ubuntu 14.04, you should have used instructions for xUbuntu 14.04 not xUbuntu 16.04; sadly a common mistake when installing software outside of the Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM). But it is easy to fix.

Re-install synaptic if you have not done so already.

Then, remove the incorrect (bad) software source (repository)

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sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trojita.list

To install "trojita" email client in Linux Mint 17.x based on Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty, use these instructions. FYI: the "deb" file binaries would not install for me because of a missing dependency, but worked perfectly using their repository.

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sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/jkt-gentoo:/trojita/xUbuntu_14.04/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trojita.list"

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wget -nv https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:jkt-gentoo:trojita/xUbuntu_14.04/Release.key -O Release.key

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sudo apt-key add - < Release.key

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sudo apt-get update

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sudo apt-get install trojita

To install this with their recommended package

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sudo apt-get install trojita  trojita-plugin-qtkeychain

To install "trojita" email client in Linux Mint 18.x based on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial, use these instructions. FYI: the "deb" file binaries would not install for me because of a missing dependency, but worked perfectly using their repository.

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sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/jkt-gentoo:/trojita/xUbuntu_16.04/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trojita.list"

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wget -nv https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:jkt-gentoo:trojita/xUbuntu_16.04/Release.key -O Release.key

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sudo apt-key add - < Release.key

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sudo apt-get update

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sudo apt-get install trojita

To install this with their recommended package

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sudo apt-get install trojita  trojita-plugin-qtkeychain

My quick Review: I just installed the "trojita" email into my Linux Mint KDE 18.2, and it works and it is fast and light on system resources. It is not as feature rich as Thunderbird or Kmail, and it does not have an account setup wizard that completed an email account setup; I had to manually add the incoming and outgoing mail server settings for my Gmail accounts. I also do not see any way to use GPG - PGP encryption.

Gmail setup instructions for email clients.
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

I am going to try "Dekko" (snap package install may only be for Linux Mint 18.x?) and "mailspring" as well ...

Hope this helps ...

[tc2016]

...
As much as I'd love to take even some of the credit, WharfRat is the hero.

Perhaps. But I used your screenshot to initially start reinstalling the missing pkgs. (which possibly shows how dumb I am, because I don't think you ever indicated that you were running the same version as me)

[tc2016]

phd21: I will take a look at those other email programs you mentioned before installing Trojita. Thanks for the suggestions.

[WharfRat]

tc2016,

Your inxi -r list looks normal now so that's good

It looks like installing those packages did the trick.

In the future do a simulated remove/purge before committing to it