software manager not opening

[bennet]

Ok I am completely new to laptops not just Linux so be gentle with me I managed to install mint ok and its running well except for this particular problem .Ive searched on the forum and can see it seems to be an issue though not always with the same cause as far as I could ascertain , which isnt very far
Ive know I have to tell you my system detail and I noticed thisinxi Fxz command seems to be whats required and Ive managed to enter it ok ,heres the output

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 Kernel: 4.10.0-38-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: ASUSTeK (portable) product: X541UAK v: 1.0
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X541UAK v: 1.0
           Bios: American Megatrends v: X541UAK.306 date: 07/05/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i3-6006U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 7968
           clock speeds: max: 2000 MHz 1: 420 MHz 2: 439 MHz 3: 499 MHz
           4: 465 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Sky Lake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-38-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.2
           IF: enp2s0f2 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: ath9k bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (1.1% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST1000LM035 size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 913G used: 6.9G (1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.17GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 35.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 213 Uptime: 1:43 Memory: 2015.2/3831.6MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35

As I was exploring Mint I noticed system reports . which I took a look in and there was something about mintinstall which I guess might be related to this issue

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GDB Log                                                           
===================================================================
"/usr/bin/mintinstall": not in executable format: File format not recognized
[New LWP 2673]
[New LWP 2654]
[New LWP 2657]
[New LWP 2658]
[New LWP 2659]
[New LWP 2675]
Core was generated by `mintinstall                                                   '.
Program terminated with signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
#0  0x00000000004c482b in ?? ()
[Current thread is 1 (LWP 2673)]

well thats as far as Ive got ...any help is much appreciated but keep it simple if at all possible..

[karlchen]

Hello, bennet.

Hm. The debugger tells us what /usr/bin/mintinstall is not. Could you please execute this terminal command,

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file /usr/bin/mintinstall

and tell us what the command file tells about mintinstall?

In the same terminal window, execute

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mintinstall

Would like to know which messages about mintinstall will be displayed in the terminal window.

Best regards,
Karl

[bennet]

Thank you for a quick response ,this is the first output .

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/usr/bin/mintinstall: Python script, ASCII text executable

For the second

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mintinstall

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Detected system architecture: 'x86_64' (using 'x86_64')
load_cache took 744.616 ms
add_categories took 50.139 ms
build_matched_packages took 0.213 ms
add_packages took 1734.410 ms
process_matching_packages took 3.601 ms
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintinstall/mintinstall.py", line 2034, in <module>
    app = Application()
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintinstall/mintinstall.py", line 59, in wrapper
    res = func(*arg)
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintinstall/mintinstall.py", line 628, in __init__
    self.add_reviews()
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintinstall/mintinstall.py", line 59, in wrapper
    res = func(*arg)
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintinstall/mintinstall.py", line 1452, in add_reviews
    review = Review(elements[0], float(elements[1]), elements[2], elements[3], elements[4])
ValueError: invalid literal for float(): 13

[karlchen]

Hello, bennet.

The first result is fine: /usr/bin/mintinstall is indeed a Python script. So this script file itself will be fine.

About the messages which are displayed in the terminal window, when you execute mintinstall:
I will have to do some searching (and hopefully finding as well), because the Python error messages do not really mean too much to me.

But maybe someone else will chime in who has come across the same error messages and who knows what the root cause is and how to solve it.

By the way:
+ Does Update Manager work correctly? - mintupdate has been written in Python as well.
+ Have you added a newer Python version to your system manually perhaps?
+ What does the terminal command ls -l /usr/bin/python* display?

Best regards,
Karl

[karlchen]

Hi, bennet.

Here is a thread from 2015. The Python error messages read much like yours. The suggested operation had been: fix broken software packages.
software manager not opening
Sadly the OP has never confirmed whether this solved the problem or not.

Yet, checking for broken packages will do no harm.

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sudo apt-get check

Does this command report any broken software packages, unmet dependencies?

Best regards,
Karl

[bennet]

Hi Karl, yeah even as a newbie I thought the first result was ok

here is the output from

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ls -l /usr/bin/python*

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lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       9 Nov 24 00:52 /usr/bin/python -> python2.7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       9 Nov 24 00:52 /usr/bin/python2 -> python2.7
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3492656 Dec  4 18:14 /usr/bin/python2.7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       9 May 11 17:26 /usr/bin/python3 -> python3.5
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4464400 Nov 28 16:53 /usr/bin/python3.5
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4464400 Nov 28 16:53 /usr/bin/python3.5m
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      10 May 11 17:26 /usr/bin/python3m -> python3.5m

As far as I can tell the update manager is working ok , once Mint was up and running I found some updates were available and selected levels 1 and 2 and applied those, didnt want to risk higher levels in case it caused a problem but it looks like there was a python update in there on may 11 so maybe that caused the problem, or am I reading this completely wrong

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sudo apt-get check

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Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done

i am guessing thats ok, it is not reporting any problems

[karlchen]

Hello, bennet.

Good news: Looks all fine. Means we can forget about broken packages.

Bad news: We will have to start gathering information from scratch in order to locate the root cause of your problem.

• Please, open a terminal window.
• Execute the command

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  inxi -Sr

  exactly as it has been typed here (the option is dash capital S lowercase R.)
  Mark the complete screen output, copy it and paste it into your next reply.
  It will tell us your exact Mint version, the names of your sources list files and their content.
• Execute the command

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  sudo apt-get update

  Note:
  sudo will ask for your password. While you type it, there will be no visual feedback. Type your password and press the enter key.
  Mark the complete screen output, copy it and paste it into your next reply.
  This will reveal what exactly happens when the system queries the software repositories.
  And it will give us the exact error messages which occur, in case any errors should occur.

The idea behind the steps above is: There might be a general problem affecting your software management system (mintinstall, mintupdate). It should be identified by the output of the commands above.

Best regards,
Karl

[bennet]

Thank you for the continuing help Karl ,I am treating this as part of a long term learning experience, very long term I suspect
I had actually worked out about the password not displaying,guess that catches a few new users out.
The output for the first command

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inxi -Sr

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Kernel: 4.10.0-38-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.6  Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           deb http://packages.linuxmint.com sylvia main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           
           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

For

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sudo apt-get update

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Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease
Hit:3 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease         
Hit:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease       
Ign:6 http://packages.linuxmint.com sylvia InRelease                    
Hit:7 http://packages.linuxmint.com sylvia Release
Reading package lists... Done 

[bennet]

this is still ongoing, managed to get a few things via synaptic manager but would still appreciate any other easy suggestions, if there are any .I can see a lot of veteran users dont particularly like the software manager but as a newbie it would be nice to get it working...