Lost Menus

[jonathan.verner]

I'd like to track down an annoying problem, but am at my wit's end. Some months ago
my system crashed and the filesystem was severely corrupted. Luckily I was able to
fix it without much pain. After that however, some applications started behaving weirdly.
For example KPDF has lost some of it's menu entries, e.g. the Open File, About KDE, ...
Also, instead of displaying the heading of the File menu as 'File' it says 'No Text!' (The messages are localized) I've tried reinstalling PDF with no result. Also I tried reinstalling the translations and again no result. This behavior even persisted throughout package updates and even a system update to Feisty. KPDF is not the only application which behaves this way, but it is the one I use most and right now I can't think of another one doing the same thing.

Does anybody know where to look for a fix. Right now the only way I can think of is to do a fresh install, but I am not inclined to do that --- it is just not that annoying yet.

[disturbedite]

Re: Lost Menus

well i certainly think that situation warrants a fresh install. when something like that happens (filesystem corruption), why wouldn't one do a fresh install?

[jonathan.verner]

Re: Lost Menus

I am trying to avoid a fresh install because of the amount of work it would be. I have custom compiled a lot of software which I would probably have to do again. Anyway getting a freshly installed system to a state where I like it will by itself take me a few days. Since right now I have a (mostly) working system I don't want to spend the time. And I think there should be a better way to solve this problem. Reinstalling seems sort of Windowish And I am also curious why reinstalling KPDF (and the translation packages) doesn't fix my problem. I'd like to know the answer to this one :-)

[SheeEttin]

Re: Lost Menus

Some configuration file probably got corrupted and is now causing this problem.

If you want to try and track it down and recreate it, go ahead. That could take months.

I agree with disturbedite, a reinstall is the best way to fix it. If you want to keep your custom software, I'd suggest finding a way to back it up. (You might also consider backing up some config files in your home; though it may be that one of these files is the culprit.)

[disturbedite]

Re: Lost Menus

I am trying to avoid a fresh install because of the amount of work it would be. I have custom compiled a lot of software which I would probably have to do again. Anyway getting a freshly installed system to a state where I like it will by itself take me a few days.

well you should have done what i do which completely eliminates the very problem you have: create deb packages out of your compiled sources.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Lost Menus

Ooh, that's a good idea.

But it requires learning to package something in a deb. Not hard, I know, but still...

[ptmb]

Re: Lost Menus

I know that to make .deb packages you have to:

1. check if you have checkinstall, istall it by:

sudo apt-get install checkinstall

2.Install your app from source normally, but replace "make install" by:

checkinstall

This will create a .deb package

More from that on:

http://www.guiaubuntupt.org/wiki/ind....tgz.2C_....29

(in Portuguese)

[jonathan.verner]

Re: Lost Menus

Thanks for the pointers.

[disturbedite]

Re: Lost Menus

Ooh, that's a good idea.

But it requires learning to package something in a deb. Not hard, I know, but still...

well yes & no. *if* your source is debianized, you just cd to the dir in term & type dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot and bam you have your deb after compiling.

and on a second note, checkinstall isn't exactly the recommended or preferred way to create deb packages, it is the easiest way tho...

[SheeEttin]

Re: Lost Menus

Hm. Didn't even think of modifying existing debs.

I guess I kind of think of them like binaries. Well, no more.

Easier custom Nethack, here I come.