Upgrade from Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 to 14.10 issues

[Paul Smith]

So, my attempt to upgrade from Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 to 14.10 failed, I
believe because I had previously used the PPA for gnome3-stable.  I
removed all my PPAs before I started using ppa-purge as suggested, then
ran "sudo do-release-upgrade".

However, ubuntu-gnome-desktop wouldn't install, because gnome-shell (!)
and gdm would not install.

TL;DR: I fixed it by running this command to forcibly downgrade some of
my packages to the ones in Utopic:

  # apt-get install --reinstall gdm libgdm1=3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7 \
     gir1.2-gdm-1.0=3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7 gnome-shell \
     gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0=0.9.23-2ubuntu2

TIP: The "apt-cache madison <pkg>" command is GREAT for figuring out
what's available where.

After the above I was able to install ubuntu-gnome-desktop, but still
empathy and totem won't install due to older versions in Utopic.

I fixed that with this:

  # apt-get install --reinstall empathy-common=3.8.6-0ubuntu13 \
     libtotem0=3.10.1-1ubuntu6 totem-common=3.10.1-1ubuntu6 \
     gir1.2-totem-1.0=3.10.1-1ubuntu6

But the info below might be helpful for someone trying to work out how
to fix the issue upstream.

Note, I'm not really sure why GDM is such a big deal since (IIRC) Ubuntu
uses lightdm anyway... doesn't it?  Does Ubuntu GNOME use full GDM?  I
haven't kept up.  Shouldn't the requirement of gnome-shell for GDM be
modified, or lightdm be made to Provide "gdm", or something?

  # apt-get install ubuntu-gnome-desktop
    ...
  The following packages have unmet dependencies:
   ubuntu-gnome-desktop : Depends: gdm but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: gnome-shell but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: gnome-shell-extensions but it is not going to be installed
                          Recommends: empathy but it is not going to be installed
                          Recommends: mcp-account-manager-goa but it is not going to be installed
                          Recommends: totem but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Just to be clear, I don't have any held packages:

  # dpkg --get-selections | grep hold
  <nothing>

And, worryingly, I see that gnome-shell is not installed:

  # dpkg -l gnome-shell
  un  gnome-shell    <none>       <none>       (no description available)

If I try to install gnome-shell I get:

  The following packages have unmet dependencies:
   gnome-shell : Depends: gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 (< 0.99) but 0.99.1-3~trusty1 is to be installed
                 Recommends: gdm (>= 3.5.90) but it is not going to be installed
  E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

If I try to install gdm I get:

  The following packages have unmet dependencies:
   gdm : Depends: libgdm1 (= 3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7) but 3.12.2-0ubuntu1~utopic2 is to be installed
         Depends: gir1.2-gdm-1.0 (= 3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7) but 3.12.2-0ubuntu1~utopic2 is to be installed
         Depends: gnome-shell but it is not going to be installed
  E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

If I try to find versions of gdm available, I get:

  # apt-cache show gdm | grep ^Version:
  Version: 3.12.2-0ubuntu1~trusty1
  Version: 3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7

It looks like the problem is that the gdm I had from the Trusty GNOME
stable PPA is newer than whatever is in Utopic:

  # apt-cache madison gdm
       gdm | 3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7 | http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ utopic/universe amd64 Packages
       gdm | 3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7 | http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ utopic/universe Sources

and there's no other option.

If I try to add the current gnome3-team stable PPA, now there's a newer
GDM available which is good:

  # apt-cache madison gdm
       gdm | 3.12.2-0ubuntu1~utopic2 | http://ppa.launchpad.net/gnome3-team/gnome3/ubuntu/ utopic/main amd64 Packages
       gdm | 3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7 | http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ utopic/universe amd64 Packages
       gdm | 3.10.0.1-0ubuntu7 | http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ utopic/universe Sources

But it still won't install because it wants gnome-shell and gnome-shell
won't install because there's not a new-enough gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0
version available:

   gnome-shell : Depends: gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 (< 0.99) but 0.99.1-3~trusty1 is to be installed
                 Recommends: gdm (>= 3.5.90) but it is not going to be installed
  E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

  # apt-cache madison gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0
  gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 | 0.9.23-2ubuntu2 | http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ utopic/main amd64 Packages

At this point I was stuck so I resorted to forcibly downgrading, as in
the first few paragraphs above.