Update after purging Intel 01.org driver removed gnome-software

Question

Since I upgraded my GPU, I removed the Intel's Open Source Technology Center Driver following the procedure from this question.

By doing so a bunch of software was downgraded as expected but some other kinda unrelated were removed.

The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  gnome-software-common libgtkspell3-3-0 libmowgli-2-0 libqt5keychain1 libqtkeychain1 libsnapd-glib1
  snapd-login-service
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  gnome-software libnvpair1 libuutil1 libzfs2 libzpool2 ubuntu-software ubuntu-zfs zfsutils
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  autoconf automake autopoint dh-autoreconf libcrypto++9v5 libltdl-dev libqt5keychain0 libtool libuv1 m4
The following packages will be upgraded:
  appstream debhelper libappstream4 libarchive13
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  libguess1 libowncloudsync0 libshairplay0 mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui nethogs nodejs owncloud-client
  owncloud-client-l10n spl spl-dkms synergy xboxdrv zfs-dkms zfs-doc

Among those were gnome-software and ubuntu-software. If I try to reinstall them I get a dependency error:

sudo apt install gnome-software ubuntu-software
...
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 gnome-software : Depends: appstream but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

This is the output of apt policy appstream:

  Installed: 0.10.6-1~ubuntu16.04.1
  Candidate: 0.10.6-1~ubuntu16.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 0.10.6-1~ubuntu16.04.1 100
        100 http://mx.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.10.3-1~ubuntu16.04~ppa2 500
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/backports/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
     0.9.4-1ubuntu2 500
        500 http://mx.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages
     0.9.4-1 500
        500 http://mx.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages

Everything points to the backports repos messing things up, but I find it strange that the developers didn't noticed such an obvious problem and that thought leads me to think that the true problem is somewhere else. What can I do to fix the Software Center?

I'm on Ubuntu Unity x86_64 16.04

However, here it is unclear why the backports version of appstream was installed, since automatic installation of backports was not enabled... In any case, downgrading appstream to a lower version will probably do the trick. — fkraiem, Feb 03 '17 at 17:03
Thankyou @fkraiem . Did that by sudo apt install appstream=0.10.3-1~ubuntu16.04~ppa2 which is the immediate previous version and then could install gnome-software without problems. — eridani, Feb 03 '17 at 17:07
By the way, since you said you just removed a repository, I think the reason why appstream was upgraded to the backports version is that you used to have a version between 0.10.3 and 0.10.6, which was provided by the old repository. When that repository was removed, that version was no longer available, so the package was upgraded. — fkraiem, Feb 04 '17 at 12:00

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

As noted in this answer, appstream 0.10.16-1 is incompatible with gnome-software 3.22.5-1 which is shipped with Xenial.

By installing the immediate previous version of appstream the re-installation of gnome-software should be posible again.

To know the exact number of said version run apt policy appstream in a terminal. Then copy and paste the number and install said version in this way:

apt install appstream=0.10.3-1~ubuntu16.04~ppa2

Since I got KDE Backports PPA enabled that is my corresponding version, but depending on your active PPAs you may have a different "latest" version.

Then reinstall the previously removed packages:

apt install gnome-software ubuntu-software

This will bring back the software but the icon will be different now.

Update after purging Intel 01.org driver removed gnome-software

1 Answers1