At the next login into my Plasma session I’m getting into trouble (Activity Manager failure, unable to add something in App launcher favorites, black screen and irresponsive desktop if I type more than 2 character in the search bar of App launcher…).
After a long discussion with Q4OS support, it appeared that all those problems disappear if I delete all the /usr/local/lib/libsqlite3*.* files.
On SQLite forum, somebody responded that “It sounds like Plasma depends on sqlite and is picking up your copy instead of the copy it prefers. Depending on what build-time options it expects, chaos may ensue.”
I’d like to know if somebody else already experienced such a problem and whether there is a solution to be able to install sqlite3 as above without creating interference with Plasma.
The intended theory / use case of Debian Stable (and theoretically, derivative distros - though I’ll get to that in a moment) is that the entire system is tested as a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. Conceptually, the Debian maintainers select package versions to freeze on, and apply patches themselves to those versions, and that system is designed to function as a whole.
If you have a need for software as a whole, or specific versions, that isn’t available as part of Debian’s repositories, then you might be better served running it in some some of container, as opposed to modifying your base system in order to accommodate it - especially when the base system is designed in such an “intentionally curated” way as Debian, and when you’re using such a significantly older base system than the software version you’re trying to install (containers would seem perfect for this type of situation).
On the Debian-derivative note…call me paranoid, but I’d suggest getting a hold of Q4OS’ source code and doing what review you can. The fact that it is only available on request, given the easily-accessible nature of its predecessor OS’ source, just gives me pause.
@skyfishgoo
Thanks for your response.
I’ve described some of the problems in the original post.
I’ve installed using exactly Method 2 as describes in LinuxCapable article.
I’ve installed this version because the one available in the repositories lacked some features (e.g. right join).
Any idea of how to solve this issue?
@dzon
Thanks for your response.
The Plasma version I use is the one available with the distro I use.
Hi johnandmeg,
Thank you for your comments.
I didn’t believe that installing one executable, two libraries, two header files and some documentation into /usr/share could have such bad consequences on Plasma. Now I know.
I have received a lot of support from Q4OS developers; my installation of SQLite could be identified as the cause thanks to them.
I guess the analogy I think of in cases like that is of a car: some components of a car could be swapped with different versions and it wouldn’t matter much to the overall function (like the dial for tuning the radio), but some are part of how the main engine runs, so if you swap out an engine component made for a gasoline engine with one made for an electric engine, or add an oil additive for a different type of engine, the whole thing might just not work because they no longer all fit together.
And on a side note, if you have routine needs for more up-to-date software, I would strongly consider looking at distributions that intend to carry such software, since Debian is intentionally frozen on software versions that are often no longer supported by the upstream developers (e.g. KDE Plasma 5.20.5 hasn’t been supported by KDE developers for three and a half years).
Thank you for your response.
I know Q4OS has a more recent version than the one I use. Unfortunately to upgrade, Q4OS developers strongly recommend to make a fresh install. In that case I would have to
save all my data, customization, settings, configuration files and folders
retrieve the list of all the packages I have installed from repositories
reinstall these packages
restore my data and customization
restore settings and configuration files one by one, without forgetting one, to check they are still compatible with the newer versions of the packages (I have no guarantee they are all); moreover the folder where they reside may also change…
That is a big job I prefer to avoid. For the moment I prefer to stick with the workaround consisting to
I hoped that a solution cleaner than this one would exist for a Q4OS 4 user like me, and it’s the reason why I asked on this forum.
Since it is not the case I think this subject can be closed.
Sorry to add on one more note, but…if I can offer some advice, I would very strongly suggest setting up a process for the bullet point steps you listed out there, and practicing it at least once.
That way, in the event of a disk issue / sudden data loss, you will already know what you need to do to recover, as opposed to trying to scramble to rebuild everything without the backups and processes/scripts you’d need to support that rebuild.
