Installation broken, startx gives blank screen, plasmashell won't install

[roberb7]

apt-get install plasma-workspace gives the following. I do have my repositories set to mantic set up in my etc/apt/sources.list.
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Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
plasma-workspace : Depends: kwin-common (>= 4:5.27.7~) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libcolorcorrect5 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed
Depends: libkfontinst5 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed
Depends: libkfontinstui5 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed
Depends: libkworkspace5-5 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed
Depends: libnotificationmanager1 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed
Depends: libplasma-geolocation-interface5 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed
Depends: libtaskmanager6 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed
Depends: libweather-ion7 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed
Recommends: appmenu-gtk3-module but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: kio-extras but it is not going to be installed
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Help!

[claydoh]

apt-get install plasma-workspace gives the following.

More context for why you are installing this specific package?

plasmashell won't install

More details on what this means?


Have you recently run sudo apt update after adding the kubuntu-backports PPA? (this should have been run automatically if the add-apt-repository command was used)
Normally, after adding the ppa (using add-apt-repository) you just need to update using Discover, or using Apt properly: sudo apt full-upgrade

Depends: libkfontinstui5 (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa2 is to be installed

This *can* indicate that either apt hasn't had its repo package lists updated recently, or that apt upgrade was used instead of full-upgrade. This is necessary when using things such as PPAs
But there can be other reasons, as well.

[roberb7]

Have you recently run sudo apt update after adding the kubuntu-backports PPA?

My sources.list contains the following:
deb https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/ubuntu/ mantic-backports main restricted universe multiverse

I definitely did the full-upgrade.

[roberb7]

Here's an update: I installed sddm, lxqt-session, openbox, openbox-menu, and lxqt-panel. I now have a window manager and a desktop, and am capable of getting work done. So, its version 23.10, but not kubuntu.

[roberb7]

More context for why you are installing this specific package? (plasma-workspace)

I'm not at all clear on which package I should be installing. I just want a desktop instead of a "login:" prompt.

[claydoh]

My sources.list contains the following:
deb https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/ubuntu/ mantic-backports main restricted universe multiverse

Why? The mirror may be outdated or otherwise not functioning properly. Just use the main mirror for your country.

[claydoh]

I'm not at all clear on which package I should be installing. I just want a desktop instead of a "login:" prompt.

You could always just uninstall sddm, or disable it.

The meta package plasma-desktop plus kde-baseapps should get you a minimal plasma, and not pull in sddm. Then just running startplasma-x11 or startplasma-wayland will start a desktop session.

It also may be a good idea to disable the Kubuntu back ports ppa and any other additions or modifications to your repos until after you've actually gotten to a desktop. Maybe trying to do too much all at once and confusing apt?

[roberb7]

The meta package plasma-desktop plus kde-baseapps should get you a minimal plasma,

kde-baseapps installed with no problems. My attempt to install plasma-desktop gave me the following errors, and disabling the backports didn't change anything.
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The following packages have unmet dependencies:
plasma-desktop : Depends: plasma-desktop-data (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa1 is to be installed
Depends: plasma-workspace (>= 4:5.27.7~) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: fonts-noto-hinted but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: fonts-noto-unhinted but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: kde-config-screenlocker (>= 5.27.7~) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: khelpcenter but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: kinfocenter (>= 4:5.27.7~) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: kscreen (>= 4:5.27.7~) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: kwin-x11 (>= 4:5.27.7~) but it is not going to be installed or
kwin (>= 4:5.27.7~)
Recommends: plasma-discover (>= 5.27.7~) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

[claydoh]

disabling the backports didn't change anything

plasma-desktop : Depends: plasma-desktop-data (= 4:5.27.8-0ubuntu1) but 4:5.27.10-0ubuntu1~ubuntu22.04~ppa1 is to be installed

But it is still trying to update from the PPA - did you run apt update after?
You may need to re-enable it, then use ppa-purge to downgrade any installed packages from it back to 'stock' ones. Simply Disabling a PPA does not revert any installed packages or refresh apt's database automatically.


You *might* get better error output if you re-enable the PPA and run apt -f install, which will attempt to install missing dependencies, such as the ones listed as "recommends". It might point to whatever is causing this, or just send us down a rabbit hole of dependency layers and layers, and more layers .Or, it might have a (low) chance of fixing it.