Upgrading to Cinnamon 4.0 on 18.04? Don't forget one package!

So, I was able to upgrade to Cinnamon 4.0.2 on Ubuntu 18.04 using this PPA:

ppa:trebelnik-stefina/cinnamon

But there is one package missing from the dependencies. If you don’t install this package:

nemo-python

Cinnamon 4.0’s settings don’t launch at all. It complains that Nemo’s python repo is missing.

So before you upgrade, make sure you have nemo-python installed.

If you install cinnamon from the Embrosyn PPA, the dependencies don’t include nemo-python.


Also, don’t forget one package has a completely different meaning…

mintsources

This package can royally screw up your Ubuntu installation. It installs the Linux Mint versions of software-properties-common, software-properties-gtk and python3-software-properties. Those read the LSB of MINT releases.

Installing this ppa haphazardly, you will have to re-install using DPKG the original versions of these 3 packages to regain package management, then purge the mintsources package and other mint packages, and remove the PPA. That’s the cost of using a bleeding edge PPA.

Before adding the PPA, the best course of action is to HOLD those packages.

sudo apt-mark hold software-properties-common software-properties-gtk python3-software-properties

After adding, hold these packages:

sudo apt-mark hold mint*

This is not a go ahead to keep the PPA for updates. Even when held, some installation states will install mintsources anyways on apt update and still replace the default Software & Updates, breaking the update system. Only add the PPA back when you need to update (and deal with this problem everytime) and delete the PPA from sources once you’ve fixed it each time.

5 Likes