Restore Software Selection fails

[krustybaguette]

After a flawless clean installation of LM13_Maya from a usb stick I tried to "Restore Software Selection" from a saved list of software that I stored on a remote hard disk. After starting the backup tool and navigating to the restore file I get a message
"Could not apply changes! Fix broken packages first." Scrolling through the list of packages shows a substantial number of files greyed out/unselected. They all seem to be marked with "could not locate the package."
As an experiment I did "deselect all" and then chose ONE file (aisle riot) and it was successfully restore. I can't imaging I'd save any time by doint this for the dozens or hundreds of individual files that are listed. Does this mean that the "Restore Software Selection" tool won't work and that I will have to restore packages one by one as I discover what is missing from my old LM11 installation? Or is there a "magic bullet" to "fix broken packages first"?
Thx in advance.

[remoulder]

Was all the software installed from the standard repos or had you added additional repos? If the latter have you restored these and/if they are still relevant for the precise release of ubuntu?

[krustybaguette]

Was all the software installed from the standard repos or had you added additional repos? If the latter have you restored these and/if they are still relevant for the precise release of ubuntu?

I had added various other repositories, likely those responsible for "could not find packages" so how would I go about restoring those repos? No mention of a need to do this in general installation/upgrade instructions. I'm pretty sure I had gotten WINE from an additional repo, perhaps Virtual Box, Mono, and Lenovo fingerprint reader software from non-standard repos. Since I didn't save a file listing those repos I'm guessing that I will just have to find them by "trial and error" and add them when I can't otherwise add some of my missing stuff.

For future reference (and anyone else trying to use the Restore Software Selection part of Backup Tool) How would I save the data about added repos? Is there any way for me to delete from the list of added software those items marked "could not locate the package" Alternatively, might I find a list of other repositories that might solve some of my missing software problems? And if I find some of this information would I enter it in Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager?

Ken

[remoulder]

How would I save the data about added repos?

See http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2 for full details. I cannot tell you which repos you need to add back for missing applications, you will need to search, how did you find them them originally? If you post which applications are failing, someone may be able to suggest sources.

[dhimes]

I'm flabbergasted that the software backup tool didn't take care of this. Had I known I would have kept a separate list of repos. It seems at the very least the backup tool should archive the list of repositories-- it turns that the backup output is basically just a text file list of software (looks like it's a string to be appended to a apt-get command).

So if could even take care of adding the new repo in most cases.

Well, I have nothing else to do for the next couple of hours anyway. Oh, wait...

[krustybaguette]

Problem I have with this is I've been known to add a repository in order to add a program and after the program is installed I remove the repository. The other situation that isn't covered is when you install a program via the gdebi installer, which I view as being more like a Windows file/installer as it operates independent of apt and software sources.
It gives me all the more reason to stick with Mint13 until it reaches EOL. In the meantime I ought to be saving the repo information and sources for deb files that I've installed in a text file for future reference. It would be nice if the OS could save all install information in some kind of logfile.

[dhimes]

Totally agree krustybaguette. I am EOL with 12, which is why I am doing this now.

[dhimes]

So I finally went through the backup list by repeating the following pattern: (1) deselect all (2) select a few to install (major packages- not library stuff as they were included automagically) (3) install.

A few things I left to do "by hand" with synaptic. It took some patience, but worked.

Now I have two more issues that I know of. I won't derail this thread, but just for completeness they are (1) Evolution crashes soon after startup; and (2) I often get an error message when working from the command line

Code: Select all

WARNING:root:could not open file '/etc/apt/sources.list' 

Google hasn't helped much- but I'm really just getting started. Bummer.