agnewton
April 4th, 2013, 04:45 AM
I am a relative newbie who searched the forum for posts to solve my problem, but I have either not hit on the right combination of terms or just don't quite have the jargon/ understanding to get it right. Please bear with me if the solution is really obvious.
The terminal use of "apt-get" suggests I force install, but I was under the impression that using "-f" is a somewhat dangerous practice for the uninitiated (I am uninitiated). With the description of the symptoms below, what are the risks of a force install and what packages should I force install? It's a loaded question, I realize. Is there another work around that would preserve my partitions and built-from-scratch applications? Can I just install the boot/ OS partition from DVD (it's on a separate partition) without losing the integrity of my /opt/, /usr/local/, and /home/ directories (they are on separate partitions; they all contain applications and packages built from scratch)?
Description of Symptoms: I used the Software Update/ Upgrade to upgrade my OS to 12.04 LTS. During the process, I began receiving messages about available disk space. Dialogs with what appeared to be font issues (Multiple small boxes, instead of characters, where the sentences would be and two blank "buttons" that functioned as "OK" and "Cancel") would appear. The "OK" option opened up a "Disk Usage"-type dialog window. Without fear, I just kept clicking through these dialogs.
On re-boot, the OS desktop will not start (surprise?). The sequence of screen messages and dialogs are as follows:
1) I get a notification of three errors a) no module specified b) no suitable mode found and c) unknown command "terminal". Then...
2) The low-fi splash screen flashes and then a higher-res dialog "The system is running in low-graphics mode." "Your screen, graphics card, and input device settings could not be detected correctly. You will need to configure these yourself." I press "Enter".
3) I next get the "What would you like to do?" dialog to select: a) Run in low-graphics mode for just one session b) Reconfigure graphics c) Troubleshoot the error or d) Exit to console login. This whole dialog is unresponsive (no mouse, no keyboard). I cannot change the options, select "OK", or "Cancel". So, I use the "Ctrl-Alt-F2" option.
At this point, I have a "Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS" terminal login. Logging in, I see "E: Error: BrokenCount > 0run-parts: /etc/update-motd.d/90-updates-available exited with return code 255" "Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.2.0-39-generic x86_64).
I log into the terminal and then run "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade". It stops (or the final output message occurs) when packages with unmet dependencies are found and suggests that I run 'apt-get -f install' to correct them. In more detail, the unmet dependencies are:
libxine1: Depends: libxine1-plugins (=1.1.20-2build1) bit it is not installed or
libxine1-misc-plugins (=1.1.20-2 build1) but 1.1.17-1ubuntu3 is installed
libxine1-console: Depends: libxine1-bin(=1.1.20-2 build1) but 1.1.17-1ubuntu3 is installed
libxine1-ffmpeg: Depends: libxine1-bin(=1.1.20-2 build1) but 1.1.17-1ubuntu3 is installed
libxine1-x: Depends: libsine1-bin(=1.1.20-2 build1) but 1.1.17-1ubuntu3 is installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f
I have been under the impression that using "-f" to force installations is a somewhat dangerous practice for the uninitiated.
My OS is on a 12 GB partition that appears to be approaching full. My important data [/opt/; user/local/; and /home/] are on separate disk partitions of 12, 12, and 950 GB, respectively. All the data on these partitions appears intact. I do not yet have a backup, but assume that the command line and other forum discussions would satisfy that need if I needed to do a clean install.
My thanks for your responses.
Aric
The terminal use of "apt-get" suggests I force install, but I was under the impression that using "-f" is a somewhat dangerous practice for the uninitiated (I am uninitiated). With the description of the symptoms below, what are the risks of a force install and what packages should I force install? It's a loaded question, I realize. Is there another work around that would preserve my partitions and built-from-scratch applications? Can I just install the boot/ OS partition from DVD (it's on a separate partition) without losing the integrity of my /opt/, /usr/local/, and /home/ directories (they are on separate partitions; they all contain applications and packages built from scratch)?
Description of Symptoms: I used the Software Update/ Upgrade to upgrade my OS to 12.04 LTS. During the process, I began receiving messages about available disk space. Dialogs with what appeared to be font issues (Multiple small boxes, instead of characters, where the sentences would be and two blank "buttons" that functioned as "OK" and "Cancel") would appear. The "OK" option opened up a "Disk Usage"-type dialog window. Without fear, I just kept clicking through these dialogs.
On re-boot, the OS desktop will not start (surprise?). The sequence of screen messages and dialogs are as follows:
1) I get a notification of three errors a) no module specified b) no suitable mode found and c) unknown command "terminal". Then...
2) The low-fi splash screen flashes and then a higher-res dialog "The system is running in low-graphics mode." "Your screen, graphics card, and input device settings could not be detected correctly. You will need to configure these yourself." I press "Enter".
3) I next get the "What would you like to do?" dialog to select: a) Run in low-graphics mode for just one session b) Reconfigure graphics c) Troubleshoot the error or d) Exit to console login. This whole dialog is unresponsive (no mouse, no keyboard). I cannot change the options, select "OK", or "Cancel". So, I use the "Ctrl-Alt-F2" option.
At this point, I have a "Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS" terminal login. Logging in, I see "E: Error: BrokenCount > 0run-parts: /etc/update-motd.d/90-updates-available exited with return code 255" "Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.2.0-39-generic x86_64).
I log into the terminal and then run "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade". It stops (or the final output message occurs) when packages with unmet dependencies are found and suggests that I run 'apt-get -f install' to correct them. In more detail, the unmet dependencies are:
libxine1: Depends: libxine1-plugins (=1.1.20-2build1) bit it is not installed or
libxine1-misc-plugins (=1.1.20-2 build1) but 1.1.17-1ubuntu3 is installed
libxine1-console: Depends: libxine1-bin(=1.1.20-2 build1) but 1.1.17-1ubuntu3 is installed
libxine1-ffmpeg: Depends: libxine1-bin(=1.1.20-2 build1) but 1.1.17-1ubuntu3 is installed
libxine1-x: Depends: libsine1-bin(=1.1.20-2 build1) but 1.1.17-1ubuntu3 is installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f
I have been under the impression that using "-f" to force installations is a somewhat dangerous practice for the uninitiated.
My OS is on a 12 GB partition that appears to be approaching full. My important data [/opt/; user/local/; and /home/] are on separate disk partitions of 12, 12, and 950 GB, respectively. All the data on these partitions appears intact. I do not yet have a backup, but assume that the command line and other forum discussions would satisfy that need if I needed to do a clean install.
My thanks for your responses.
Aric