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Monday, January 2, 2017

software sources - apt-get update fails to find some mirrors

I've configured my sources to use the mirrors:// "protocol" to find servers close to me, mainly since I move around a lot.

However, for some reason it doesn't work for all the repos - when I run sudo apt-get update I get a bunch of errors (about 45) like the following:

W: Failed to fetch mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt/dists/raring/main/source/Sources  404  Not Found [Mirror: http://giano.com.dist.unige.it/ubuntu/]
W: Failed to fetch mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt/dists/raring/universe/source/Sources  404  Not Found [Mirror: http://giano.com.dist.unige.it/ubuntu/]

If I remember correctly, I configured this through the GUI, but I still went and looked what the lines corresponding to those repos said in /etc/apt/sources.list - this is what I found:

deb-src mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt raring main restricted
deb-src mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt raring universe

(I couldn't map all the errors to lines from sources.list, but I guess that's just because I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for...)

I thought the whole point of configuring the sources like this was to make sure that mirrors.ubuntu.com chooses a mirror that has the repositories you need. Why am I getting 404 errors here, and what can I do about it?

I'd prefer to still use the mirrors setup, rather than hard-coding specific servers to get everything from, if it's possible.

Update:
Thanks to helpful comments in the first couple of answers, I've been able to rule out both server maintenance and firewall issues - I have no problem getting other things from the same server, using the mirror protocol. The problem is that the sources aren't available on the mirror I'm pointed to. In other words, all the packages are there, so lines in sources.list that start with deb have no problems, but deb-src lines fail.

I've also verified by opening e.g. http://giano.com.dist.unige.it/ubuntu/dists/raring/main/ in my browser. According to the error message, apt-get looks for a subdirectory of this diriectory called source, which doesn't exist. So the problem is not connecting to the server, but that the server doesn't have the resources I'm looking for.

I assume it's up to the mirror to decide whether they want to provide the sources as well or just the packages, but I'm surprised that mirrors.ubuntu.com serves me a mirror that doesn't have what I ask for. I see three options, and I don't like either:

Hard-code the sources for deb-src resources to servers where I know they are available, i.e. sacrifice the mirror protocol in these instances.

Uncheck source pacakges in Software Sources, i.e. sacrifice downloading sources for the packages.

Ignore the error messages from apt-get and hope mirrors.ubuntu.com points me to a different server in the future.

Is there a fourth option, that actually solves the problem? =)

apt - How to upgrade to a newer version of a package than is available in the repository?

While using an open source genealogy program I encountered an error. I submitted a bug report and the author quickly fixed the problem (Yay for open source!).

Now I want off course to try the latest release (3.2.5) of this program (which includes the bugfix for my problem). Apt-get tells me that the version I have installed (3.2.3-1) is already the newest version.

So what is the best way to upgrade to a newer version of a package then is available in the repositories?

Do I:

remove the version I have currently installed with the package manager. Download the source of the newest version and compile it myself? Will this give problems when newer versions come out? Will I have to update this program manually in the future whenever newer versions come out?

Should I do the above, but with a program like checkinstall, and remove the manually compiled version once the version can be installed via the package manager?

Should I make a request for the package to be backported? I think my request will make little chance because the rules read:

Applications to be backported must have meaningful benefits to the user not attainable via other processes. Specifically: The sole purpose must not be to fix a bug or security vulnerability.

Or is there another way to do this correctly?

In this particular case then the GRAMPS website provides a download link for a Ubuntu .deb package of version 3.2.5.

On this listing page select gramps_3.2.5-1_ubuntu10.deb which should be easily installable by double clicking on the downloaded file.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

application development - Remove non-listed click target

I want to write an app for Ubuntu Touch and test it on my Aquaris BQ 4.5 Ubuntu Edition. I failed big time setting it up though and now ended up having no according click target:

When I go to the devices tab in the Ubuntu-SDK, it tells me that there is currently no kit defined for my device. Clicking Autocreate it tells me, that there is no compatible chroot installed. Choosing a armfh 15.04 and entering my password I get:

The click target click-ubuntu-sdk-15.04-armhf exists already

Running sudo click list returns nothing and sudo click unregister --user=phablet click-ubuntu-sdk-15.04-armhf returns

Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/bin/click", line 86, in
     sys.exit(main())
   File "/usr/bin/click", line 82, in main
     return mod.run(args)
   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/click/commands/unregister.py", line 55, in run
     old_version = registry.get_version(package)
gi._glib.GError: Cannot get password file entry for phablet: Success

but changes nothing. I'm a little stuck here.

ls /var/lib/schroot/chroots/ returns only click-ubuntu-sdk-14.04-i386, which is my OS. But in my confusion I once manually deleted the /var/lib/schroot/chroots/click-ubuntu-sdk-14.04-i386-Folder.

Anyone any Idea how to reset all this? I would hate to have to reinstall Ubuntu.

P.S.: Creating any OTHER Click Target via Tools->Options->Ubuntu->Create Click Target works flawlessly.

release management - How do I upgrade to a newer version of Ubuntu?

What are the different ways I can use to upgrade Ubuntu from one release to another?

10.10 - DockbarX Applet not loading

I used to have dockbarX applet installed on my gnome panel. However one day when I login in I got a error message which can be seen in the screenshot below. So I removed it, and then tried adding it again to the gnome panel but I still get the error message.

I am running the latest version of dockbarX 0.43 on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat with the helpers enabled and media buttons etc. I did not update it recently and have been using this version for a couple of weeks now and got this problem only now.

I tried a reinstall of all the components of dockbarX but still get the error message.

Here is the ~/.dockbarx/log/dockbarx.log

ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:18,984   | Traceback (most recent call last):
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:18,985   |   File "/usr/bin/dockbarx_factory", line 31, in 
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:18,985   |     import dockbarx.dockbar
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:18,985   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dockbarx/dockbar.py", line 37, in 
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,187   |     from groupbutton import *
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,187   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dockbarx/groupbutton.py", line 40, in 
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,324   |     import zg
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,324   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dockbarx/zg.py", line 34, in 
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,399   |     iface = client.ZeitgeistDBusInterface()
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,400   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/zeitgeist/client.py", line 184, in __init__

ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,428   |     self.OBJECT_PATH)
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,428   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 244, in get_object
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,496   |     follow_name_owner_changes=follow_name_owner_changes)
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,496   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/proxies.py", line 241, in __init__
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,520   |     self._named_service = conn.activate_name_owner(bus_name)
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,520   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 183, in activate_name_owner
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,520   |     self.start_service_by_name(bus_name)
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,520   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 281, in start_service_by_name
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,521   |     'su', (bus_name, flags)))
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,521   |   File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/connection.py", line 620, in call_blocking

ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,574   |     message, timeout)
ERROR   | 2011-03-02 12:10:19,575   | dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: Failed to execute program /usr/local/bin/zeitgeist-daemon: Success

How can I solve this problem?

Ok, that's a known problem. There's a bug in zeitgeist and DockbarX 0.43 don't handle that error as it should. Next version will simply not use zeitgeist if there's an error instead of crashing.

It might take a while before the next release of DockbarX (I'm doing some code cleanup that is much more work than I suspected). In the mean time, try to install zeitgeist from the ppa (ppa:zeitgeist/ppa) or remove the ppa and downgrade zeitgest to mavericks own version if you already use the ppa.

How to bump the version of a package available in another user's PPA?

When looking for a recent version of CMake 3.2 for Ubuntu 15.04 I came across this PPA. However, instead of CMake 3.2.1 I'd like to use version 3.2.3. How can I easily build upon the existing work done for that PPA to achieve that? I imagine some workflow like

copy the packages from the PPA to my own newly created PPA

somehow download the existing build recipes for version 3.2.1 (Using dget?)

increase the version string in some file, adjust the changelog etc.

push the build recipes back to Launchpad to see if it builds

So far I've only been able to find instructions on how to create new PPAs / packages from upstream sources (involving Bazaar branches and what not), but no easy instructions how to build upon existing PPA packages (preferably without involving Bazaar).

Note that I have no experience whatsoever with building / publishing PPAs, and that I'm starting from scratch.

Download cmake 3.2.3 from here.

Extract the tarball, the path should be cmake-3.2.3.

Now rename the tarball:

mv cmake-3.2.3.tar.gz cmake_3.2.3.orig.tar.gz

Download the packaging part from the ppa for 15.04.

Extract cmake_3.2.1-1ppa3~vivid1.debian.tar.xz into cmake-3.2.3

cmake-3.2.3
  ├── debian
  │   ├── changelog
  ...

Update the debian/changelog as follow (just change the signature):

cmake (3.2.3-1ppa1~vivid1) vivid; urgency=medium

  * New upstream release.


 -- Sylvain Pineau   Tue, 30 Jun 2015 11:24:26 +0200

cmake (3.2.1-1ppa3~vivid1) vivid; urgency=medium

  * Fix path to icons in cmake-qt-gui.

 -- Nathan Osman   Mon, 30 Mar 2015 17:59:20 -0700

Install the build dependencies:

sudo apt-get build-dep cmake
sudo apt-get install liblzma-dev

Build a new source package for cmake with:
```
cd cmake-3.2.3
dpkg-buildpackage -S
```

Upload the source package to your ppa with:

cd ..
dput ppa:/ cmake_3.2.3-1ppa1~vivid1_source.changes

Monitor the build progress in your ppa homepage

boot - Black screen when i try to install ubuntu 18 via usb

I'm trying to install ubuntu for some time now,whatever i do(without or with installing) i get black screen . Tried every single option(disable fast boot,disable secure boot,nomodeset etc) but still end up with black screen.

hp envy x360 - i7 5500u intel hd graphics 5500

Bootable usb is working,tried on my roommates laptop also HP.

Anybody ?

thanks in advance :)