Gnome 3.12 installation failed... really bad

[The musmula]

hi all!
So, today I decided to give the new gnome 3.12 a try on my ubuntu machine, I followed the instructions provided here = http://askubuntu.com/questions/452864/how-to-get-gnome-shell-3-12-on-ubuntu-14-04

and... it didn`t go out well, I followed the instructions but... I have now several issues
1) the login screen... it is... grey... dead... I don`t know if that is a new feature in gnome but, if it is... I hate it... Since ubuntu 14.04 came with that nice new unity login screen that is so much more beautiful. So I want to remove that
2) When I log in, nothing happens, I see my mouse and that grey screen and... nothing else... I am quite sure that the new gnome shell update includes a GUI lol
i have managed to start unity and to post this, but... I have also some keyboard bugs and it is hard to type this... this way, and I cannot change the layout back to croatian since I have no notifications area after I started unity

[kansasnoob]

GNOME 3.12 is NOT ready for prime time! It should only be used in Ubuntu GNOME, not in Ubuntu as it breaks the the heck out of Unity!

The instructions on that page are almost beyond horrible also. If you do want to use the staging PPA:

https://launchpad.net/~gnome3-team/+archive/gnome3-staging

It says very clearly:


=== *WARNING* ===
The packages here have been deemed not ready for general use, they have known bugs and/or regressions, sometimes of a critical nature. Mostly things should run smoothly but be prepared to use ppa-purge, when you encounter issues!

If they break your system, you get to keep both halves.

And:


=== Installing ===
To use this PPA, you should enable the main GNOME3 PPA.

That means also use this PPA:

https://launchpad.net/~gnome3-team/+archive/gnome3

And also:


You need to run 'sudo apt-get dist-upgrade' to avoid problems. Please read the output before entering 'Y' to make sure important packages won't be removed.

But I tried it over the weekend and a lot of stuff is broken!!!!!

I tried adding the Ricotz PPA:

https://launchpad.net/~ricotz/+archive/testing

And that made things even worse so I opted for a fresh install rather than even messing with ppa-purge.

[The musmula]

yeah, I see how stupid that was now... So, I am viewing your messeage from a live CD that I have had around and the reason for that is...
I purged the ppd
The grey login screen remained
so I removed gnome-shell
The smexy login screen is back
inputed my password
"Failed to start session" he said (or something like that anyway)
so.. yeah... not good
Since I`ve expected issues when I installed ubuntu, I have my /home on a seperate partition

My plan:
install ubuntu desktop on my old / partition
set my old /home as /home (question: will that format it, regardless what the formating checkbox says?)
install ubuntu GNOME on another partition and set the /home folder of the desktop to be the /home folder of the GNOME version... will that format it?

[philinux]

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2014/05/upgrade-gnome-3-12-ubuntu-14-04

I'm trying this but only on a test partition of 14.04.

[The musmula]

nice, but I did it on my non-test partition :)
While your here, maybe you can tell me if seting a partition to /home will format it?
But... before I go and reinstall ubuntu, I might also just install gnome 3.10. How do I do that from the command line? just sudo apt-get install gnome-desktop?

[kansasnoob]

yeah, I see how stupid that was now... So, I am viewing your messeage from a live CD that I have had around and the reason for that is...
I purged the ppd
The grey login screen remained
so I removed gnome-shell
The smexy login screen is back
inputed my password
"Failed to start session" he said (or something like that anyway)
so.. yeah... not good
Since I`ve expected issues when I installed ubuntu, I have my /home on a seperate partition

My plan:
install ubuntu desktop on my old / partition
set my old /home as /home (question: will that format it, regardless what the formating checkbox says?)
install ubuntu GNOME on another partition and set the /home folder of the desktop to be the /home folder of the GNOME version... will that format it?

This is a rather old screenshot:

253299

But selecting Format the partition will erase all data on that partition!

Sharing a /home partition between distros frequently results in major borkage because they have to share settings stored in the hidden dot files :(

[kansasnoob]

nice, but I did it on my non-test partition :)
While your here, maybe you can tell me if seting a partition to /home will format it?
But... before I go and reinstall ubuntu, I might also just install gnome 3.10. How do I do that from the command line? just sudo apt-get install gnome-desktop?

There is no meta-package 'gnome-desktop' and you DO NOT just want to install 'gnome' because it's basically the whole Debian-ish GNOME DE:


lance@lance-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install gnome --assume-no
[sudo] password for lance:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
alacarte argyll binfmt-support browser-plugin-gnash caribou caribou-antler
cli-common dconf-editor dconf-tools desktop-base evolution evolution-common
evolution-indicator evolution-plugins finger five-or-more fonts-cantarell
four-in-a-row freerdp-x11 gawk gdebi gdebi-core gdm gedit-plugins gimp
gimp-data gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0 gir1.2-caribou-1.0 gir1.2-clutter-1.0
gir1.2-clutter-gst-2.0 gir1.2-cogl-1.0 gir1.2-coglpango-1.0
gir1.2-evince-3.0 gir1.2-gck-1 gir1.2-gconf-2.0 gir1.2-gcr-3
gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0 gir1.2-gdm-1.0 gir1.2-gkbd-3.0
gir1.2-gnomedesktop-3.0 gir1.2-gtkclutter-1.0 gir1.2-gtop-2.0
gir1.2-gucharmap-2.90 gir1.2-json-1.0 gir1.2-mutter-3.0 gir1.2-nmgtk-1.0
gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 gir1.2-polkit-1.0 gir1.2-rest-0.7
gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12 gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2 gir1.2-tracker-0.16
gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 gir1.2-xkl-1.0 gir1.2-zeitgeist-2.0 gir1.2-zpj-0.0 gjs
gksu gnash gnash-common gnome-applets gnome-applets-data gnome-backgrounds
gnome-chess gnome-color-manager gnome-control-center
gnome-control-center-data gnome-core gnome-dictionary gnome-documents
gnome-games gnome-icon-theme-extras gnome-icon-theme-full gnome-klotski
gnome-media gnome-nettool gnome-nibbles gnome-online-accounts
gnome-online-miners gnome-packagekit gnome-packagekit-data
gnome-packagekit-session gnome-panel gnome-panel-data gnome-robots
gnome-session gnome-session-flashback gnome-settings-daemon gnome-shell
gnome-shell-common gnome-shell-extensions gnome-sushi gnome-tetravex
gnome-themes-standard gnome-themes-standard-data gnome-tweak-tool gnuchess
gnuchess-book grilo-plugins-0.2 gstreamer0.10-gconf gtk2-engines
gtk2-engines-pixbuf hamster-applet hamster-indicator iagno imagemagick
imagemagick-common indicator-applet-complete inkscape libamd2.3.1
libappindicator0.1-cil libappindicator1 libavahi-ui-gtk3-0 libavresample1
libbabl-0.1-0 libblas3 libbonobo2-0 libbonobo2-common libbonoboui2-0
libbonoboui2-common libboost-iostreams1.54.0 libboost-program-options1.54.0
libboost-thread1.54.0 libcairo-perl libcamd2.3.1 libcaribou-common
libcaribou-gtk-module libcaribou-gtk3-module libcaribou0 libccolamd2.8.0
libcholmod2.1.2 libcolord-gtk1 libdbus-glib2.0-cil libdbus2.0-cil libdiscid0
libencode-locale-perl liberror-perl libevolution libfile-listing-perl
libfont-afm-perl libgconf2.0-cil libgdict-1.0-6 libgdict-common libgdiplus
libgdm1 libgegl-0.2-0 libgfortran3 libgif4 libgimp2.0 libgjs0e libgksu2-0
libglade2-0 libglib-perl libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.6-cil
libgnome-media-profiles-3.0-0 libgnome2-0 libgnome2-bin libgnome2-common
libgnomecanvas2-0 libgnomecanvas2-common libgnomeui-0 libgnomeui-common
libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libgnomevfs2-extra libgoa-backend-1.0-1
libgrilo-0.2-1 libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-common libgsl0ldbl libgtk-vnc-2.0-0
libgtk2-perl libgtk2.0-cil libgtkhtml-4.0-0 libgtkhtml-4.0-common
libgtkhtml-editor-4.0-0 libgtkspell0 libgupnp-av-1.0-2 libgupnp-dlna-2.0-3
libgvnc-1.0-0 libhtml-form-perl libhtml-format-perl libhtml-parser-perl
libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl libhttp-cookies-perl
libhttp-daemon-perl libhttp-date-perl libhttp-message-perl
libhttp-negotiate-perl libicc2 libidl-common libidl0 libimdi0 libindicator7
libio-html-perl libiptcdata0 libjavascriptcoregtk-1.0-0 libjemalloc1
liblapack3 liblinear-tools liblinear1 liblqr-1-0 liblwp-mediatypes-perl
liblwp-protocol-https-perl libmagick++5 libmagickcore5 libmagickcore5-extra
libmagickwand5 libmail-spf-perl libmediaart-1.0-0 libmng2
libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo4.0-cil
libmono-corlib4.0-cil libmono-corlib4.5-cil libmono-i18n-west4.0-cil
libmono-i18n4.0-cil libmono-posix4.0-cil libmono-security4.0-cil
libmono-sharpzip4.84-cil libmono-system-configuration4.0-cil
libmono-system-core4.0-cil libmono-system-drawing4.0-cil
libmono-system-security4.0-cil libmono-system-xml4.0-cil
libmono-system4.0-cil libmozjs-24-0 libmusicbrainz5-0 libmutter0c
libnet-http-perl libnetaddr-ip-perl libnetpbm10 liborbit-2-0 liborbit2
libpanel-applet-4-0 libpango-perl libpst4 librygel-core-2.0-1
librygel-renderer-2.0-1 librygel-renderer-gst-2.0-1 librygel-server-2.0-1
libsdl1.2debian libsigsegv2 libsofia-sip-ua-glib3 libsofia-sip-ua0
libsys-hostname-long-perl libtracker-extract-0.16-0 libtracker-miner-0.16-0
libtracker-sparql-0.16-0 libumfpack5.6.2 libwebkitgtk-1.0-0
libwebkitgtk-1.0-common libwmf-bin libwww-perl libwww-robotrules-perl
libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-xf86dri0 libxcb-xv0 libytnef0 libzapojit-0.0-0
lightsoff metacity mono-4.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime mono-runtime-common
mono-runtime-sgen mutter-common netpbm nmap notification-daemon perlmagick
python-appindicator python-gnome2 python-numpy python-pyatspi python-pyorbit
python-wnck quadrapassel re2c rygel rygel-playbin rygel-preferences
sa-compile sound-juicer spamassassin spamc swell-foop tali telepathy-rakia
tomboy tracker tracker-extract tracker-gui tracker-miner-fs tracker-utils
transfig unoconv vinagre whois xserver-xephyr
Suggested packages:
gir1.2-colordgtk-1.0 browser-plugin-lightspark evolution-ews
evolution-plugins-experimental gawk-doc gimp-help-en gimp-help
gimp-data-extras dia-gnome gnome-boxes gnucash libreoffice-evolution planner
gnome-netstatus-applet deskbar-applet cpufrequtils gnome-hearts
gnome-system-tools gnome-packagekit-tools xboard eboard scid
python-evolution imagemagick-doc autotrace curl enscript gnuplot grads hp2xx
html2ps mplayer povray radiance texlive-base-bin ufraw-batch pstoedit
libsvg-perl libxml-xql-perl python-uniconvertor ruby libbonobo2-bin
libfont-freetype-perl libdiscid0-dbg monodoc-gtk2.0-manual libgnomevfs2-bin
gamin fam gnome-mime-data gsl-ref-psdoc gsl-doc-pdf gsl-doc-info
gsl-ref-html libgtk2-perl-doc libdata-dump-perl libsvm-tools liblinear-dev
libcrypt-ssleay-perl libmono-i18n4.0-all libgamin0 sofia-sip-doc
libauthen-ntlm-perl python-gnome2-doc gfortran python-dev python-nose
python-numpy-dbg python-numpy-doc python-pyorbit-dbg rygel-tracker
rygel-mediathek tumbler gstreamer1.0-lame gstreamer1.0-plugins-really-bad
razor libdbi-perl pyzor libmail-dkim-perl tasque xfig
Recommended packages:
gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg
The following NEW packages will be installed:
alacarte argyll binfmt-support browser-plugin-gnash caribou caribou-antler
cli-common dconf-editor dconf-tools desktop-base evolution evolution-common
evolution-indicator evolution-plugins finger five-or-more fonts-cantarell
four-in-a-row freerdp-x11 gawk gdebi gdebi-core gdm gedit-plugins gimp
gimp-data gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0 gir1.2-caribou-1.0 gir1.2-clutter-1.0
gir1.2-clutter-gst-2.0 gir1.2-cogl-1.0 gir1.2-coglpango-1.0
gir1.2-evince-3.0 gir1.2-gck-1 gir1.2-gconf-2.0 gir1.2-gcr-3
gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0 gir1.2-gdm-1.0 gir1.2-gkbd-3.0
gir1.2-gnomedesktop-3.0 gir1.2-gtkclutter-1.0 gir1.2-gtop-2.0
gir1.2-gucharmap-2.90 gir1.2-json-1.0 gir1.2-mutter-3.0 gir1.2-nmgtk-1.0
gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 gir1.2-polkit-1.0 gir1.2-rest-0.7
gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12 gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2 gir1.2-tracker-0.16
gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 gir1.2-xkl-1.0 gir1.2-zeitgeist-2.0 gir1.2-zpj-0.0 gjs
gksu gnash gnash-common gnome gnome-applets gnome-applets-data
gnome-backgrounds gnome-chess gnome-color-manager gnome-control-center
gnome-control-center-data gnome-core gnome-dictionary gnome-documents
gnome-games gnome-icon-theme-extras gnome-icon-theme-full gnome-klotski
gnome-media gnome-nettool gnome-nibbles gnome-online-accounts
gnome-online-miners gnome-packagekit gnome-packagekit-data
gnome-packagekit-session gnome-panel gnome-panel-data gnome-robots
gnome-session gnome-session-flashback gnome-settings-daemon gnome-shell
gnome-shell-common gnome-shell-extensions gnome-sushi gnome-tetravex
gnome-themes-standard gnome-themes-standard-data gnome-tweak-tool gnuchess
gnuchess-book grilo-plugins-0.2 gstreamer0.10-gconf gtk2-engines
gtk2-engines-pixbuf hamster-applet hamster-indicator iagno imagemagick
imagemagick-common indicator-applet-complete inkscape libamd2.3.1
libappindicator0.1-cil libappindicator1 libavahi-ui-gtk3-0 libavresample1
libbabl-0.1-0 libblas3 libbonobo2-0 libbonobo2-common libbonoboui2-0
libbonoboui2-common libboost-iostreams1.54.0 libboost-program-options1.54.0
libboost-thread1.54.0 libcairo-perl libcamd2.3.1 libcaribou-common
libcaribou-gtk-module libcaribou-gtk3-module libcaribou0 libccolamd2.8.0
libcholmod2.1.2 libcolord-gtk1 libdbus-glib2.0-cil libdbus2.0-cil libdiscid0
libencode-locale-perl liberror-perl libevolution libfile-listing-perl
libfont-afm-perl libgconf2.0-cil libgdict-1.0-6 libgdict-common libgdiplus
libgdm1 libgegl-0.2-0 libgfortran3 libgif4 libgimp2.0 libgjs0e libgksu2-0
libglade2-0 libglib-perl libglib2.0-cil libgmime2.6-cil
libgnome-media-profiles-3.0-0 libgnome2-0 libgnome2-bin libgnome2-common
libgnomecanvas2-0 libgnomecanvas2-common libgnomeui-0 libgnomeui-common
libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libgnomevfs2-extra libgoa-backend-1.0-1
libgrilo-0.2-1 libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-common libgsl0ldbl libgtk-vnc-2.0-0
libgtk2-perl libgtk2.0-cil libgtkhtml-4.0-0 libgtkhtml-4.0-common
libgtkhtml-editor-4.0-0 libgtkspell0 libgupnp-av-1.0-2 libgupnp-dlna-2.0-3
libgvnc-1.0-0 libhtml-form-perl libhtml-format-perl libhtml-parser-perl
libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl libhttp-cookies-perl
libhttp-daemon-perl libhttp-date-perl libhttp-message-perl
libhttp-negotiate-perl libicc2 libidl-common libidl0 libimdi0 libindicator7
libio-html-perl libiptcdata0 libjavascriptcoregtk-1.0-0 libjemalloc1
liblapack3 liblinear-tools liblinear1 liblqr-1-0 liblwp-mediatypes-perl
liblwp-protocol-https-perl libmagick++5 libmagickcore5 libmagickcore5-extra
libmagickwand5 libmail-spf-perl libmediaart-1.0-0 libmng2
libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo4.0-cil
libmono-corlib4.0-cil libmono-corlib4.5-cil libmono-i18n-west4.0-cil
libmono-i18n4.0-cil libmono-posix4.0-cil libmono-security4.0-cil
libmono-sharpzip4.84-cil libmono-system-configuration4.0-cil
libmono-system-core4.0-cil libmono-system-drawing4.0-cil
libmono-system-security4.0-cil libmono-system-xml4.0-cil
libmono-system4.0-cil libmozjs-24-0 libmusicbrainz5-0 libmutter0c
libnet-http-perl libnetaddr-ip-perl libnetpbm10 liborbit-2-0 liborbit2
libpanel-applet-4-0 libpango-perl libpst4 librygel-core-2.0-1
librygel-renderer-2.0-1 librygel-renderer-gst-2.0-1 librygel-server-2.0-1
libsdl1.2debian libsigsegv2 libsofia-sip-ua-glib3 libsofia-sip-ua0
libsys-hostname-long-perl libtracker-extract-0.16-0 libtracker-miner-0.16-0
libtracker-sparql-0.16-0 libumfpack5.6.2 libwebkitgtk-1.0-0
libwebkitgtk-1.0-common libwmf-bin libwww-perl libwww-robotrules-perl
libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-xf86dri0 libxcb-xv0 libytnef0 libzapojit-0.0-0
lightsoff metacity mono-4.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime mono-runtime-common
mono-runtime-sgen mutter-common netpbm nmap notification-daemon perlmagick
python-appindicator python-gnome2 python-numpy python-pyatspi python-pyorbit
python-wnck quadrapassel re2c rygel rygel-playbin rygel-preferences
sa-compile sound-juicer spamassassin spamc swell-foop tali telepathy-rakia
tomboy tracker tracker-extract tracker-gui tracker-miner-fs tracker-utils
transfig unoconv vinagre whois xserver-xephyr
0 upgraded, 305 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
Need to get 151 MB of archives.
After this operation, 606 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] N
Abort.

What desktop environment do you want?

If you want the "flashback" DE I made some notes here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2220264

If you want "gnome-shell" and/or the new "classic" DE you can just install the package 'gnome-shell-extensions' but that also installs 'gdm' (although you'll be given the choice of using 'gdm' or 'lightdm').

But mixing desktop environments ATM is much messier than it used to be :(

IMHO if you want to use "gnome-shell" it's best to just install Ubuntu GNOME, if you want Unity install Ubuntu. Flashback w/Metacity seems to run fairly well in both Ubuntu and Ubuntu GNOME, but changing settings in one session frequently borks the default session :(

[kurt18947]

I have 3.12 installed over 3.10 in Ubuntu Gnome 14.04 on two different machines. It seems quite stable. The only annoyance so far is that several extensions I favor have not yet made the 3.10 > 3.12 transition. I used this guide:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/452864/how-to-get-gnome-shell-3-12-on-ubuntu-14-04


(http://askubuntu.com/questions/452864/how-to-get-gnome-shell-3-12-on-ubuntu-14-04)

[The musmula]

Thank you all for the amazing amount of reply
"What DE do you want?" ==> gnome 3.10 or later (maybe 3.8 would do also), not the fallback thogh it is compatible with compitz I`ve already used it and now I am curious about the new 3.12 (though I never used 3.10 eighter)


a little update:
Installing ubuntu over again solved the problem (DUH), and as I said since I have my /home on a other partitin my settings and data survived. Though I didn`t set that partition to be /home in the install, I`ve just changed the fstab file from /etc/fstab
I also made some space and added a new partition which I will use for ubuntu GNOME

Thanks for everyones help, and btw, reinstalling the system my odd keyboard bug dissapeared, the bug from this post:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2220564

em.. sorry, no, it didnt (the keyboard layourd bug is still here), it was ok when I tested the new system for the first time, but now it`s back... does anyone know the command for changing the keyboard layout via terminal (if there is one)?