(SOLVED) partial upgrade is total aggravation. Fall and rise

Sometime around a month ago my update manager (Zorin 6 Ultimate) said that an upgrade for LibreOffice was available. When I clicked to install I got a message that only a partial upgrade was available, do I want to upgrade anyway. I agreed. Wrong!!!

After the partial upgrade my system barely worked. The "minimize, maximize, close" buttons were gone on all my programs. After opening a program I had to close it by going to exit under the file menu or right click on the task bar icon. After closing a program I couldn't get the "Applications" menu to open. I also had a 1 cm gap at the bottom of my screen beneath the display and the menu. I began getting popup messages that compiz was unexpectedly crashing. Also, I couldn't use "open with root" to open programs since I got an error message " can't get control of mouse" On shutting down the computer, the True type font services failed and I got popups there too. It was clearly time for a reinstall or clean install. Error number two, I didn't have a full system backup to reinstall from such as Clonezilla.

So before I started from scratch I googled all my errors and tried to fix things. I removed and reinstalled LibreOffice and Compiz. I also reinstalled the xfstt and xfs programs to hopefully get true type working again. I booted into recovery mode and did a dpkg repair and grub reinstall. I also removed a few true type fonts indicated to cause problems in the literature (dejavu serif and sanserif fonts). Finally, I ran computer janitor to delete unnecessary packages and cache files. I also tweaked some compiz settings regarding windows decorations etc.

Well I got rid of the stack smashing xfstt crashes but I still had compiz crashes and menu freeze-ups. I was about to give up when I installed the Gnome Shell, Gnome Mud, Mutter and AWN settings manager to see if I could get the monitor window working again. I got AWN tweaked and starting at startup.

Well the Gnome shell tweaks helped a lot, as did a recent upgrade of the Unbuntu Kernel (2.59 ) and a tweak I discovered in my wanderings. Specifically, there is a zorin button on login that give choices of gnome, two gnome options, zorin options ,xfce etc. Going to straight Gnome did the trick.

So now my system is essentially functional again. I can open and close applications, get into root, and see the maximize, minimize and close buttons on all my installed applications. I am back in business, so to speak.

The lessons:
1. Never do a partial upgrade unless someone is holding a gun to your head.
2. Keep a full back using a tool like Clonezilla to reinstall after a major crash
3. changing out programs such as window managers helps when that is where the problem is localized.
4. I learned a lot of linux administration, but I wouldn't want to do so again.

I hope my tale of woe and redemption is hopeful to users.

all the best
Jojo

Hi Jojo,

quite a tale there my friend!.

Glad you got it sorted out although I have never had problems doing a partial upgrade myself in all the time I have used Ubuntu based systems!.

Just for future reference:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

Regards Wolfman

Hi Wolfman:
Thanks for the friendly greetings, and thanks for the reference citation. I wish I had consulted it before I began my journey of discovery! . It is a great reference.
I do have a question though. A couple of times during the post it mentions "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade". My concern is whether dist-upgrade will take me from what I have now, Zorin 6 ultimate/ubuntu 12.04, to a later release that may not be an LTS. I didn't want to do that, but if upgrade really means update the contained packages and kernel then I am ok and think that is a great idea.
So my question is whether dist-upgrade will upgrade my distribution to another version of Zorin/Ubuntu or whether I will upgrade packages and still have 12.04 running on my system?

Thanks again. I really enjoy the Zorin forum and the people involved in it.

Jojo

Hi Jojo,

read through the gude, it explains the difference but just for you, to do a complete system upgrade to the next highest available version; you can use the following command:

Code:

sudo do-release-upgrade

THE ABOVE COMMAND WILL DESTROY YOUR ZORIN DESKTOP AND TURN IT INTO A NORMAL UBUNTU DE!!!.

The "dist-upgrade" command just makes sure that all dependencies are installed along with the main body of the app!.

Regards Wolfman

Thanks Wolfman. I appreciate the explanation. Next time I'll RTFM. I definitely don't want to destroy my Zorin desktop, so I'll be sure to remenber the difference.

This sort of reminds me of my first job post graduation. I was working on some thin film equipment and I asked my boss whether I can turn on some switch. He said sure. I was young and alert enough to then ask what would happen. He told me that the machine would self-destruct and that I would be fired. That was a lesson I'll never forget, even though I'm still wondering if he would have let me throw the switch.

all the best

Joel

PS. My partial upgrade problem may have arrived from a PPA not keyed to Ubuntu 12.04. I'll check next time I see a partial.

Hi Jojo,

I will mark this as solved!.

Regards Wolfman

Definitely mark it solved. Thanks again for all the help.

regards,
Jojo