I did an automatic release upgrade from Ubuntu 22.04 to Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS on my laptop computer. I expected to now have Gnome 46, but entering gnome shell-version in a terminal shows I have Gnome 42.9. This confirms what I see in the computer’s Settings > About: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS, 64-bit, Gnome 42.9, and Wayland. Have I failed to fully upgrade the OS? Or does upgrading the Gnome shell only happen with a clean install? When I asked about this in Ask Ubuntu, it was suggested I try running some CLI commands to ascertain what’s happening. I don’t understand how to do that. “sudo apt full-upgrade” gives errors or waiting for cache lock to open until the computer shuts down. I’ve tried following the suggestions but am unable to. Sometimes a window pops up for package configuration where I’m supposed to make a selection but there’s nothing there to click on, and that window takes over the terminal. Is there a GUI method for getting Gnome 46 on the computer? Or am I not supposed to have it? So far, everything seems to be working, so I don’t want to do anything that might cause problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Sorry - can’t help much here - but today I just upgraded my 23.10 RPi4 to 24.04 and got Gnome 46… “sudo apt upgrade” - reboot and I’ve got 24.04 and Gnome 46… Hadn’t powered it on for 9 months or so… note this is the arm64 / aarch64 build of Ubuntu… not x86_64…
I did do a “sudo apt update” before “sudo apt upgrade”… dunno if that helps…
Try upgrading gnome manually maybe? Use Synaptic for ease.
Or if u can then ill prefer a clean install. Ive had past experiences of problems due to full upgrade or main release upgrades in ubuntu. Nd I used to reinstall it…
@daniel.m.tripp, @TypeHrishi I’ve tried a manual upgrade but can’t find how to do it. I don’t know how to use Synaptic. I can only see there what I have now only if I know exactly how it is named and located. From the Gnome website I downloaded and installed Gnome. Again, I got Gnome 42.9. In the past, I’ve found clean installs of Ubuntu upgrades overwhelmingly difficult and have had to find hands-on help. That’s why I was attracted by the prospect of having it all done automatically, preserving my files, apps, and settings. Other than the Gnome shell issue, everything has been working fine; nothing I want to do has had it’s use interrupted while I’m getting everything set up on the new system. I can live with the Gnome version I’m used to, but it would be nice to have the new one if getting it doesn’t cause problems for me. Thanks for any suggestions.
You should be installing gnome from the package system.
Can you use apt or apt-get?
I would redo the install of gnome… ie purge it and reinstall it using apt.
If it is still not gnome46 after a reinstall then that is what you are meant to have.
When I tried using apt I got an error:
$ sudo apt upgrade ubuntu-gnome-desktop
[sudo] password for frank:
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree… Done
Reading state information… Done
Calculating upgrade… Error!
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 resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
cheese : Depends: libgnome-desktop-3-19 (>= 3.17.92) but it is not going to be installed
evince : Depends: libgnome-desktop-3-19 (>= 3.17.92) but it is not going to be installed
gdm3 : Depends: gnome-shell (>= 3.37.90) but it is not installable
gnome-browser-connector : Depends: gnome-shell but it is not installable
gnome-control-center : Depends: libgnome-desktop-3-19 (>= 3.33.4) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: pulseaudio-module-bluetooth but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: power-profiles-daemon but it is not going to be installed
gnome-font-viewer : Depends: libgnome-desktop-3-19 (>= 3.17.92) but it is not going to be installed
gnome-initial-setup : Depends: libgnome-desktop-4-1 (>= 3.17.92) but it is not going to be installed
gnome-session : Depends: gnome-shell (>= 3.37.91) but it is not installable
gnome-settings-daemon : Depends: libgnome-desktop-3-19 (>= 3.37.90.1) but it is not going to be installed
gnome-shell-extension-appindicator : Depends: gnome-shell (>= 3.33) but it is not installable
Depends: gnome-shell (< 43~) but it is not installable
gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng : Depends: gnome-shell (>= 3.38) but it is not installable
gnome-shell-extension-manager : Depends: gnome-shell but it is not installable
gnome-shell-extension-prefs : Depends: gnome-shell (= 42.9-0ubuntu2.2) but it is not installable
gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock : Depends: gnome-shell (< 43) but it is not installable
Depends: gnome-shell (>= 40) but it is not installable
libcupsimage2 : Depends: libcups2 (= 2.4.1op1-1ubuntu4.10)
libglib2.0-bin : Depends: libglib2.0-0 (= 2.72.4-0ubuntu2.3)
libglib2.0-dev : Depends: libglib2.0-0 (= 2.72.4-0ubuntu2.3)
libglib2.0-dev-bin : Depends: libglib2.0-0 (= 2.72.4-0ubuntu2.3)
libgnome-bg-4-1 : Depends: libgnome-desktop-4-1 (>= 3.17.92) but it is not going to be installed
libmutter-10-0 : Depends: libgnome-desktop-3-19 (>= 3.36.0) but it is not going to be installed
nautilus : Depends: libgnome-desktop-3-19 (>= 3.17.92) but it is not going to be installed
ubuntu-desktop : Depends: gnome-shell but it is not installable
Recommends: pulseaudio-module-bluetooth but it is not going to be installed
ubuntu-desktop-minimal : Depends: gnome-shell but it is not installable
Recommends: pulseaudio-module-bluetooth but it is not going to be installed
ubuntu-session : Depends: gnome-session-bin (< 43~) but 46.0-1ubuntu4 is to be installed
Depends: gnome-session-common (= 42.0-1ubuntu2) but 46.0-1ubuntu4 is to be installed
Depends: gnome-shell (>= 3.37.91) but it is not installable
xdg-desktop-portal-gnome : Depends: libgnome-desktop-4-1 (>= 3.17.92) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: gnome-shell (>= 41~) but it is not installable or
budgie-desktop (>= 10.5.3-3~) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
I don’t know what this means. Does it look like an easily resolvable situation? Thank you.
I’d strongly advise against this - but it’s probably too late now…
As i mentioned - I got my Ubuntu 23.10 to 24.04 (and Gnome 46) by simply (in a terminal) :
“sudo apt update”
“sudo apt upgrade”
rebooted and got Gnome 46… Ubuntu wanted me to update using some GUI thing which ran a process called “noble” but it hung, so I killed it and did it all from a terminal… I almost NEVER do updates using any GUI programs, I break out to a terminal and use CLI - sometimes even remotely (e.g. ssh to a machine then update it).
I don’t know how to fix your issue - because you’ve probably made it worse by attempting to download Gnome and install it outside of your package manager (i.e. Ubuntu).
If this was me? I’d probably just install again from scratch… I don’t know how much you’ve got “invested” in your home folder. Me? I never have anything there that isn’t backed up elsewhere (I use Resilio Sync and symbolic links - so that things like ~/Documents et cetera are replicated / sync’d automaticall)…
Your packsge system is in a mess.
As a last ditch you could try
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade -f
If that fails , I am with @daniel.m.tripp … remove ubuntu and do a fresh install.
Dont do a fresh install without removing the old Ubuntu first… installing on top of the old distro could be a disaster.
The easiest way to remove ubuntu is to reformat the disk partition.
Backup your data first… before you do anything
Doh! Just realised - that “noble” thing was just the Ubuntu code name for that release… noble numbat…
Just tried to remove Synergy so I can install 1.15.1 of Synergy - and it’s made me do a WHOLE massive update again… It actually removed Gnome Desktop then re-installed it (this is something I wasn’t expecting).*
Tried to install synergy “sudo dpkg -i ./synergy_1.15.1+r4_debian-12_arm64.deb” - fingers crossed the Debian arm64 build will install and run on Ubuntu arm64 - and - it didn’t install… Missed dependancies… So I : did “sudo apt install -f” and it went ahead and removed a massive pile of stuff and re-installed a massive pile of stuff - and then it said I still needed to upgrade… and that’s running now… no ETA.
I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if I end up with an unworking system. But that’s not a “biggie” for me - I’ll probably start again - and in the meantime I’ll badger Symless to send me a URL to download an arm64 build for Ubuntu 24.04…
Normally I’d prefer to run Debian 12 on this RPi4 (8 GB RAM model) - but - I LOATHE the “Pixel” LXDE desktop - and when you install xfce (or gnome) - it’s some hideous ancient version - and half the stuff isn’t integrated - e.g. you can’t even control wifi from the GUI because the XFCE applet / widget doesn’t talk to NetworkManager…
* and I’m doing this over SSH - if I lose my session - things could go catastrophically wrong… But I’m not too bothered really… it’s just a “toy” and I don’t need it to get by… But fingers crossed it isn’t broken…
Update - yes it’s broken… Boots to TTY - when I login and try “startx” I get errors and an ugly warning page/screen… I won’t begin to try and figure out how to fix it… Will just flash a new arm64 image to it (I boot it off a USB 3 thumb drive - much faster than SD card)… But I’ll wait till Synergy get back to me with a download link for arm64 for Ubuntu 24.04…
Yeahh same here! Doing fresh install will solve all the issues…
OK - I’ve “reinstalled” Linux for this Pi4 that Synergy caused me to trash…
Pop!_OS 22.04 for arm64…
Running quite well - acceptable desktop experience… I’d like more cores - but I reckon 8 GB RAM seems like enough currently…
Got Synergy (1.14.6) running on it…