Lazarus problem [Resolved]

[Kester]

Hi,

I have two Linux Mint 20.0.3 XFCE desktop computers both with Lazarus 2.0.6 installed. One has developed a problem with Lazarus and it seems I must have inadvertently changed something which Lazarus requires but is not directly contained within the installation. I have uninstalled Lazarus (including using 'sudo apt-get purge lazarus', 'sudo apt remove lazarus' and 'sudo apt update' but the reinstalled program displays the same problems.

The symptoms are as follows: starting a new project works correctly while I remain in Lazarus but if I save my project, exit the program and restart my new project later, the problem is there. My original form is replaced by a blank form although if I toggle form/unit my original form reappears together with the blank form. If I try to run my project it is the blank form that appears. I notice also, the tabs towards the top of the editing window, that there are two units when I have only created one - one is labelled 'unit1' and the other 'Unit1(2)' (the upper case 'U' in the second unit is as shown). My original work shows in 'Unit1(2)'.

Unfortunately, previous projects that worked perfectly, display the same problems.

Any comments and suggestions would be very welcome. Thanks.

[AndyMH]

Running 2.0.10. I download the debs from lazarus rather than installing from software manager (back in either LM17 or LM18 the install from sw manager was buggy).

As well as removing as you describe, also delete the .lazarus folder in home, there is also a lazarus folder in .config and an fpc folder in .config and three files in home fp.cfg, fp.dsk and fp.ini.

It will mean you have to set it up from scratch again.

If you have no joy here, I'd try the lazarus forum.

[Kester]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your response. I will try your suggestions and report back.

I have also had a reply from someone on the Lazarus forum but it is a bit technical so I've asked for a bit more help there.

Cheers.

[Kester]

Hi Andy,

I found and removed the '.lazarus' folder but could not find the other files you mentioned even using the 'Catfish' search tool so I presume they were removed. I downloaded the three deb files required for Lazarus 2.2.2.2 but two of them failed to install producing error messages in the terminal. Having one or two non-related minor issues I decided to use a two and a half week old image backup file. That worked well and after running the updater (there were quite a few to get) I tried Lazarus 2.0.6 again as it was included in the backup. It seemed OK at first but the problem was there on the second use - obviously the problem was not recently introduced as I had thought - I last used Lazarus several months ago so it must date from then although I didn't notice the problem at the time.

As I have spent so much time on the Lazarus issue and am not feeling too well at the moment, I decided to remove Lazarus from the system including the projects. I have Lazarus working correctly on another desktop and fortunately I have copies of all my major projects on that system. Any of my programs I require on the system that had the faulting Lazarus, I can use by importing the executable from the project on the other system. So I have not lost much and gained a tiny amount of drive space.

When I'm feeling a little fitter I may have another go with Lazarus.

Anyway, thanks for your help.

[Kester]

UPDATE

Hi Andy,

I attempted to install the latest version of Lazaruz from deb downloads using the terminal. This time, whenever I got and error message about a conflicting existing file that I could not find, I used the sudo apt-get purge filename technique. The terminal found the files that I couldn't detect and removed them. There were three sets to remove and then the installation process completed successfully. It seems my original problem was self-inflicted in that, having not used Lazarus for a while on this system, I had forgotten that I loaded projects directly from the Lazarus program (i.e. using the 'Project' tab and selecting 'Recent projects' etc.

So thanks for your advice - it certainly helped me understand the error messages. I can mark this as resolved now.

Cheers.

[AndyMH]

Glad it worked.