Upgrade KDE to 4.2

[P Kapat]

On 1/29/09, Amila Liyanaarachchi <amila.uoc at gmail.com> wrote:
> During the installation adept prompted an error message saying some
> thing like "changes can't be committed ..."
> Then I press "OK" which was the only available option and Adept stop
> the installation at the point saying "Update Complete".
>
> Then I restarted, I don't have any GUI anymore :(
> It try to start X, then end up saying "unable to find directory ...."
>
> Is there anyway that I can fix this problem. Already tried "sudo
> apt-get -f install" no success.
> Do I have to reinstall the whole thing again ??

Certainly not needed, but sometimes reinstalling might be less of a
pain than identifying the problem and THEN fixing it. If you have
nothing to backup/save/loose go ahead and reinstall. That will give
you a clean slate. Otherwise, go to a VT console and try to fix it.
Some typical tools that I use:

$ /etc/init.d/kdm stop

Then strip down the sources.list file to just the official repos
(commenting out everything else).  Make sure everything in
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/* has been commented. Then some trial an error
with the following

apt-get update
dpkg --configure -a
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get -f install

If any particular package is creating trouble, try to if you can purge it out

apt-get --purge remove <pkg>
...
...
sing and dance
...
...

BTW, if you use nvidia's driviers and the kernel version changes, then
you'll need to re-install the  nvidia driver - this is a typical
problem when using the binary from nvidia's site. You can look for
lines starting with (EE) in /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

Many things can go wrong... From which Ubuntu/Kubuntu x.yz were you
trying to upgrade?

> Second question is, after adding the "deb
> http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-experimental/ubuntu intrepid main" to
> third party SW, adept started downloading the updates. Is there a way
> which I can choose some updates instead of downloading everything. In
> my case I noticed that adept is downloading MySql server which I
> didn't have in my system and I don't want to have. During the failed
> installation it prompted for the root password for mysql as well.

Selectively, updating is a bit tricky. I don't have a KDE 3 adept at
hand so I can't help. KDE 4's adept provides an option to "uncheck"
the Upgrade for a package. The thumb rule is  - (though not always
true) a package is downloaded/installed because it is needed. As for
mysql root password, you can choose to keep it empty!! It is certainly
a security risk.

Selective updating is possible through apt-pinning in
/etc/apt/preferences file but that is another ball game. Another
similar option is dpkg --set-selection <pkg> hold.... Aptitude folks
might have some trick up their sleeve.

Good luck.
-- 
Regards
PK
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http://counter.li.org  #402424