Can only run Update Manager as sudo (from terminal)

[hom_tanks]

Hi

I recently upgraded from Mint 20 Ulyana to Una with the intention to do a bigger upgrade to Mint 21. The upgrade to Una worked fine. I did a timeshift backup and started to do a mintupgrade but decided to abort as there were many ppas I use that potentially were not supported, so I decided to hold off for the time being.

After this however, I cannot start Update Manager cleanly. The GUI comes up with a spinning circle but its stuck at that point (see image). If I start mintupdate from commandline, it has the same behaviour and it shows the following console output. I can however start w/o any problem if I do a sudo mintupdate.
These are the things I tried -

• I did restore the Timeshift backup but made no difference.

• I did do sudo apt update and it finished cleanly

• I did sudo apt install --reinstall mintupdate, again no change

• Also did sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade to no avail

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the help!

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me@cvg:~$ mintUpdate(6018): Operation not permitted
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:1245: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_init is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_init()
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:1393: DeprecationWarning: Gtk.ImageMenuItem.set_image is deprecated
  menuItem3.set_image(image)
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:731: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_enter is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_enter()
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:738: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_leave is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_leave()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/checkAPT.py", line 355, in <module>
    check = APTCheck()
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/checkAPT.py", line 26, in __init__
    self.cache = apt.Cache()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 170, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 234, in open
    self._records = apt_pkg.PackageRecords(self._cache)
apt_pkg.Error: E:Could not open file /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_focal-updates_restricted_i18n_Translation-en - open (13: Permission denied)
-- Exception occurred in the refresh thread:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py", line 838, in run
    self.application.builder.get_object("label_error_details").set_text(error_msg)
TypeError: Argument 1 does not allow None as a value

[AZgl1800]

after a reread, I did not answer question, sorry

IIRC, those PPAs are listed at the end of the upgrade, so you can copy them to a text file, and then reinstall them

[sleeper12]

I don't know if it matters, but try reinstall without sudo:

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apt reinstall mintupdate

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mintupdate

[Cosmo.]

"sudo mintupdate" is a typical mistake with the consequence of several types of problem. So keep the following rule in mind:

Never launch any graphical program with sudo (even if advised)!

For now, run the following command:

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sudo chown -R $USER:$USER $HOME

You do not get any output.

Timeshift is pointless in this case, because your problem is in your account, not in your system.

[hom_tanks]

I don't know if it matters, but try reinstall without sudo:

Code: Select all

apt reinstall mintupdate

Code: Select all

mintupdate

I reinstalled and relaunched this but it runs into an error when starting.

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myacct:~$ /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:1245: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_init is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_init()
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:1393: DeprecationWarning: Gtk.ImageMenuItem.set_image is deprecated
  menuItem3.set_image(image)
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:731: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_enter is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_enter()
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:738: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_leave is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_leave()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/checkAPT.py", line 355, in <module>
    check = APTCheck()
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/checkAPT.py", line 26, in __init__
    self.cache = apt.Cache()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 170, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 234, in open
    self._records = apt_pkg.PackageRecords(self._cache)
apt_pkg.Error: E:Could not open file /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_focal-updates_restricted_i18n_Translation-en - open (13: Permission denied)
-- Exception occurred in the refresh thread:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py", line 838, in run
    self.application.builder.get_object("label_error_details").set_text(error_msg)
TypeError: Argument 1 does not allow None as a value

[hom_tanks]

"sudo mintupdate" is a typical mistake with the consequence of several types of problem. So keep the following rule in mind:

Never launch any graphical program with sudo (even if advised)!

For now, run the following command:

Code: Select all

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER $HOME

You do not get any output.

Timeshift is pointless in this case, because your problem is in your account, not in your system.

I don't normally run it as sudo, I was just trying to troubleshoot. Objective is to run is as the logged in user but I am having an error and the hanging behaviour when I do it as my user

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myacct:~$ /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:1245: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_init is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_init()
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:1393: DeprecationWarning: Gtk.ImageMenuItem.set_image is deprecated
  menuItem3.set_image(image)
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:731: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_enter is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_enter()
/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py:738: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.threads_leave is deprecated
  Gdk.threads_leave()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/checkAPT.py", line 355, in <module>
    check = APTCheck()
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/checkAPT.py", line 26, in __init__
    self.cache = apt.Cache()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 170, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 234, in open
    self._records = apt_pkg.PackageRecords(self._cache)
apt_pkg.Error: E:Could not open file /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_focal-updates_restricted_i18n_Translation-en - open (13: Permission denied)
-- Exception occurred in the refresh thread:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py", line 838, in run
    self.application.builder.get_object("label_error_details").set_text(error_msg)
TypeError: Argument 1 does not allow None as a value

I would like to note that I usually do run apt/apt-get update as sudo and it works fine and is working fine. Also, when I run the update manager GUI from Administration->Update Manger, it does ask me for sudo password. I don't know if running update as sudo in terminal is a preferred practice or not but that's how I've always done it.

[hom_tanks]

So I saw someone suggest in an older post on a different forum these steps and that solved the problem for me

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sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf

sudo apt-get clean

sudo apt-get update

The GUI comes up fine after this.

Thanks for all your responses!