Now what have I done? Lost KDE panel (sort of)

[rusty]

I was trying to update kmail (apt-get -t unstable install kmail)

it showed that a number of other packages would be installed, none of which looked bad, so I typed yes and got a lot of dependency problem messages.

Now when I try to use any of my taskbar buttons I get cannot find service error message from KDE panel. When I click on the K I get none of the familiar choices there, just logout, run command and a faint "no entries"

I think that I hosed a bunch of symlinks somewhere, is there a quick way to get it all back?
TIA

PS

root@toybox:~# apt-cache policy kde
kde:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 4:3.1.2
  Version Table:
     4:3.1.2 0
        990 http://ftp2.de.debian.org testing/main Packages
        500 http://ftp2.de.debian.org unstable/main Packages
     4:2.2.25 0
        500 http://ftp2.de.debian.org stable/main Packages
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://non-us.debian.org ./ Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/non-us.debian.org_%7ekitame_mozilla_._Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://people.debian.org sid/i386/ Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/people.debian.org_%7ebranden_packages_sid_i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)

Should I apt-get kde and see if it installs and finds everything?

[Stephen]

Edit the /etc/apt/sources.list and comment out (put a # character in front of the line) for the people.debian and kitame lines that are in the file then apt-get update and now try to use apt if you get more errors then comment those lines out as well. It sounds like you have part of KDE 3.2 and 3.1 installed at the same time use COLUMNS=125 dpkg -l | grep 3.1.[345] to find what you have installed for 3.1 and COLUMNS=125 dpkg -l | grep 3.2.1 for the 3.2 and either downgrade to 3.1 packages or upgrade to the 3.2 packages.

[rusty]

Thanks Stephen,

The origynal hd install was knoppix 3.3, anyway I did uncomment and try upgrade and managed to zap jkdm pretty much out of the water. The machine boots up in text mode, I invoke kdm (not found) so xdm and ICEWM for now.

Now, would it be a good idea at this time to apt-get remove (Purge?) kde and then attemt a reinstall or might I lose application settings, data or the like.

OTOH, this might be an opportunity to check out some other GUIs

Thanks again.

[Stephen]

Now, would it be a good idea at this time to apt-get remove (Purge?) kde and then attemt a reinstall or might I lose application settings, data or the like.

OTOH, this might be an opportunity to check out some other GUIs

Thanks again.

You can still check out the other managers and have KDE installed. You do not really need to purge to get back to where you were here is what I have installed.

>$ COLUMNS=125 dpkg -l | grep 3.2.1
ii  ark                       3.2.1-1                   KDE archiving tool
ii  juk                       3.2.1-1                   music organizer and player for KDE
ii  kaddressbook              3.2.1-1                   KDE NG addressbook application
ii  kalarm                    3.2.1-1                   KDE alarm message and command scheduler
ii  kappfinder                3.2.1-1                   KDE Application Finder
ii  kate                      3.2.1-1                   KDE Advanced Text Editor
ii  kcalc                     3.2.1-1                   KDE calculator
ii  kcharselect               3.2.1-1                   KDE character selector
ii  kcontrol                  3.2.1-1                   KDE Control Center
ii  kdeartwork                3.2.1-1                   themes, styles and more from the official KDE release
ii  kdeartwork-misc           3.2.1-1                   various multimedia goodies released with KDE
ii  kdeartwork-style          3.2.1-1                   widget styles released with KDE
ii  kdeartwork-theme-desktop  3.2.1-1                   Dummy upgrade package for official KDE desktop themes
ii  kdeartwork-theme-icon     3.2.1-1                   icon themes released with KDE
ii  kdeartwork-theme-window   3.2.1-1                   window decoration themes released with KDE
ii  kdebase                   3.2.1-1                   KDE Base metapackage
ii  kdebase-bin               3.2.1-1                   KDE Base (binaries)
ii  kdebase-data              3.2.1-1                   KDE Base (shared data)
ii  kdebase-kio-plugins       3.2.1-1                   KDE I/O Slaves
ii  kdelibs                   3.2.1-1                   KDE core libraries metapackage
ii  kdelibs-bin               3.2.1-1                   KDE core binaries
ii  kdelibs-data              3.2.1-1                   KDE core shared data
ii  kdelibs4                  3.2.1-1                   KDE core libraries
ii  kdelirc                   3.2.1-1                   KDE infrared control
ii  kdemultimedia-kio-plugins 3.2.1-1                   Support for browsing audio CDs under Konqueror
ii  kdepasswd                 3.2.1-1                   KDE password changer
ii  kdeprint                  3.2.1-1                   KDE Print
ii  kdesktop                  3.2.1-1                   KDE Desktop
ii  kdessh                    3.2.1-1                   KDE ssh frontend
ii  kdeutils                  3.2.1-1                   KDE Utilities metapackage
ii  kdewallpapers             3.2.1-1                   wallpapers released with KDE
ii  kdf                       3.2.1-1                   KDE disk free
ii  kdm                       3.2.1-1                   KDE Display Manager
ii  kedit                     3.2.1-1                   KDE text editor
ii  kfind                     3.2.1-1                   KDE File Find Utility
ii  kfloppy                   3.2.1-1                   KDE floppy formatter
ii  kget                      3.2.1-1                   KDE Download Manager
ii  kghostview                3.2.1-1                   PostScript viewer for KDE
ii  kgpg                      3.2.1-1                   GnuPG frontend for KDE
ii  khelpcenter               3.2.1-1                   KDE Help Center
ii  khexedit                  3.2.1-1                   KDE hex editor
ii  kicker                    3.2.1-1                   KDE Desktop Panel
ii  kjots                     3.2.1-1                   KDE note taking utility
ii  klaptopdaemon             3.2.1-1                   KDE battery monitoring and management for laptops
ii  klipper                   3.2.1-1                   KDE Clipboard
ii  kmail                     3.2.1-1                   KDE Email client
ii  kmenuedit                 3.2.1-1                   KDE Menu Editor
ii  kmilo                     3.2.1-1                   KDE kded hardware support module
ii  kmix                      3.2.1-1                   KDE based mixer app
ii  knode                     3.2.1-1                   KDE news reader
ii  knotes                    3.2.1-1                   KDE Notes
ii  kompare                   3.2.1-1                   a KDE GUI for viewing differences between files
ii  konq-plugins              3.2.1-1                   plugins for Konqueror, the KDE file/web/doc browser
ii  konqueror                 3.2.1-1                   KDE's advanced File Manager, Web Browser and Document Viewer
ii  konqueror-nsplugins       3.2.1-1                   Netscape plugin support for Konqueror
ii  konsole                   3.2.1-1                   KDE X terminal emulator
ii  kontact                   3.2.1-1                   KDE pim application
ii  korganizer                3.2.1-1                   KDE personal organizer
ii  kpager                    3.2.1-1                   KDE Desktop Pager
ii  kpersonalizer             3.2.1-1                   KDE Personalizer
ii  kregexpeditor             3.2.1-1                   graphical regular expression editor plugin
ii  kscreensaver              3.2.1-1                   screen savers released with KDE
ii  ksim                      3.2.1-1                   System information monitor
ii  ksmserver                 3.2.1-1                   KDE Session Manager
ii  ksplash                   3.2.1-1                   KDE Splash Screen
ii  ksysguard                 3.2.1-1                   KDE System Guard
ii  ksysguardd                3.2.1-1                   KDE System Guard Daemon
ii  ktimer                    3.2.1-1                   KDE timer
ii  ktip                      3.2.1-1                   Kandalf's Useful Tips
ii  ktnef                     3.2.1-1                   KDE TNEF viewer
ii  kuickshow                 3.2.1-1                   KDE image/slideshow viewer
ii  kview                     3.2.1-1                   KDE simple image viewer/converter
ii  kwalletmanager            3.2.1-1                   KDE Wallet Manager
ii  kwin                      3.2.1-1                   KDE Window Manager
ii  libkcal2                  3.2.1-1                   KDE calendaring library
ii  libkcddb1                 3.2.1-1                   cddb library for KDE
ii  libkdenetwork2            3.2.1-1                   KDE Network library
ii  libkdepim1                3.2.1-1                   KDE PIM library
ii  libkdgantt0               3.2.1-1                   KD's gantt charting library
ii  libkgantt0                3.2.1-1                   KDE gantt charting library
ii  libkonq4                  3.2.1-1                   Core libraries for KDE's file manager
ii  libkpimexchange1          3.2.1-1                   KDE PIM Exchange library
ii  libkrb53                  1.3.2-1                   MIT Kerberos runtime libraries
ii  libksieve0                3.2.1-1                   KDE mail/news message filtering library
ii  libmimelib1               3.2.1-1                   KDE mime library
ii  quanta                    3.2.1-1                   web development environment for KDE
ii  xfonts-konsole            3.2.1-1                   Fonts used by the KDE Konsole

Use apt-get -s -t unstable install all_packages_above_on_this_line if the output of the simulation looks good then remove the -s to actually install. If apt starts to complain about missing packages then keep adding them to the end of the line until no more warnings then remove the -s.

[rusty]

Here's the output:

root@toybox:~# dpkg -l | grep 3.2.1
rc  kaddressbook   3.2.1-1        KDE NG addressbook application
rc  kalarm         3.2.1-1        KDE alarm message and command scheduler
rc  kandy          3.2.1-1        KDE mobile phone utility
rc  kdelibs-bin    3.2.1-1        KDE core binaries
rc  kdelibs4       3.2.1-1        KDE core libraries
rc  korganizer     3.2.1-1        KDE personal organizer
rc  kpilot         3.2.1-1        KDE Palm Pilot hot-sync tool
rc  ksync          3.2.1-1        KDE Sync
ii  libkdgantt0    3.2.1-1        KD's gantt charting library
ii  lyx            1.3.2-1        High Level Word Processor
ii  lyx-common     1.3.2-1        High Level Word Processor - common files
ii  lyx-qt         1.3.2-1        High Level Word Processor - Qt frontend
ii  qt3-designer   3.2.1-6        Qt3 Designer
ii  qtparted       0.3.2-1        A parted frontend using QT

Notice, the rc 's :

I think I got some of the problem out of the way using dselect, but in doing so I got things pointed away from /etc/apt/sources.list ie:

root@toybox:~# apt-get -sf install
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/contrib Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_contrib_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/non-free Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_non-free_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/contrib Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_contrib_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/non-free Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_non-free_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
root@toybox:~# apt-get update
Err file: unstable/main Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/main Release
Err file: unstable/contrib Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/contrib Release
Err file: unstable/non-free Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/non-free Release
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz  File not found
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/contrib/binary-i386/Packages.gz  File not found
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/non-free/binary-i386/Packages.gz  File not found
Reading Package Lists... Done
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/contrib Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_contrib_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/non-free Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_non-free_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Getting there and learning all the way.

THANKS.

[Stephen]

Here's the output:

root@toybox:~# dpkg -l | grep 3.2.1
rc  kaddressbook   3.2.1-1        KDE NG addressbook

Notice, the rc 's :

That means they have been removed but are still configured.

root@toybox:~# apt-get -sf install
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/non-free Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_non-free_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Getting there and learning all the way.

THANKS.

Now this means that you have to update your sources try dselect update to get both the apt and deselect databases in sync. And forget about that stupid -f install advice that apt gives you it is more trouble than it is worth you are better off tracking down the problem packages and installing them one at a time if necessary. If the deselect update will not complete can you post your /etc/apt/sources.list if it updates without problems then all you should have to do is use the command I suggested in my post above and install all the packages from the list in the post that you want if errors on the command post the output so we can see it but most of the time all you would have to do is keep adding the packages on the end of the command line and they will install eventually.

[rusty]

Have a look

root@toybox:~# dselect update
Err file: unstable/main Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/main Release
Err file: unstable/contrib Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/contrib Release
Err file: unstable/non-free Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/non-free Release
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/Packa
ges.gz  File not found
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/contrib/binary-i386/Pa
ckages.gz  File not found
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/non-free/binary-i386/P
ackages.gz  File not found
Reading Package Lists... Done
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/
lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 
No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/contrib Packages (/var/lib/a
pt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_contrib_binary-i386_Packages) - st
at (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/non-free Packages (/var/lib/
apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_non-free_binary-i386_Packages) - 
stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used
 instead.

update available list script returned error exit status 1.

and this

root@toybox:/etc/apt# cat sources.list
deb file:/etc/apt/sources.list unstable main contrib non-free

and this

root@toybox:/# apt-get update
Err file: unstable/main Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/main Release
Err file: unstable/contrib Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/contrib Release
Err file: unstable/non-free Packages
  File not found
Ign file: unstable/non-free Release
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz  File not found
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/contrib/binary-i386/Packages.gz  File not found
Failed to fetch file:/etc/apt/sources.list/dists/unstable/non-free/binary-i386/Packages.gz  File not found
Reading Package Lists... Done
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/contrib Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_contrib_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list file: unstable/non-free Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_etc_apt_sources.list_dists_unstable_non-free_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems

E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

In think I need to reenter the right ftp sites in sources.list, perhaps copying from a knoppix cd. Or am I on the right track

[Stephen]

Yes you definitely need to change the sources.list here is what mine looks like.

>$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# /etc/apt/sources.list created by me 
# Security updates
deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
#deb http://security.debian.org/ unstable/updates main contrib non-free

# Stable
deb http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Sources
deb-src http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Testing
deb http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
deb http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free

# Sources
deb-src http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb-src http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free

# Unstable
deb http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib
deb http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Sources
deb-src http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb-src http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

## Various Multimedia Helper Apps Mplayer, Real, etc.. ##
deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main


## Kio-apt sources for unstable provides apt:/ in Konqueror location bar
deb http://lpnotfr.free.fr/debian/ ./

## Java Runtime j2re1.4
#deb ftp://ntama.uni-mainz.de/pub/debian unofficial/
# this is needed for Java plugins for Mozilla (j2re1.4): from DU gcc3.2
# deb http://jopa.studentenweb.org/debian ./

[rusty]

Right.

I ran dselect and realized that it's writing back to sources.lst. So I've managed to get dselect to obtain a list pf packages and I kind of like the way it reports dependency conflicts as I scroll down. I'm not sure I need to manually insatll each package, I'm guessing that many of the dependency issues will involve one of the lib files so I might start there.

Since dselect lets me add sources, I might try that although cutting and pasting from your post is enticing.

Is this a good time to try and apt-get synaptic - does it have any depency resolution tools?

Thanks again.

[Stephen]

Right.

I ran dselect and realized that it's writing back to sources.lst. So I've managed to get dselect to obtain a list pf packages and I kind of like the way it reports dependency conflicts as I scroll down.

That explains the line in there.

I'm not sure I need to manually insatll each package, I'm guessing that many of the dependency issues will involve one of the lib files so I might start there.

Yes that is usually where the problem is either an extra package that needs to be installed or it is trying to install the version from testing when the unstable is needed.

Since dselect lets me add sources, I might try that although cutting and pasting from your post is enticing.

Well you need the sources somewhere in the equation to be able to get the packages needed so you have to figure out which way you want to do it.

Is this a good time to try and apt-get synaptic - does it have any depency resolution tools?

Thanks again.

The last time I used it (a year ago) sometimes it wanted to remove half the system I think that has to do with the mix of sources that are in Knoppix though not really anything to do with synaptic so you are most likely still going to run into problems with a mixed sources.list. I prefer apt-get it just gets the job done and you have control of what is happening, another package you may want to look into is aptitude it is a front-end for apt with similar features to dselect IIRC.