Settings > Libertine on Focal OTA-2 refuses to do anything

dln949

Focal OTA-2 on a pixel 3a.

In Settings I tap on Libertine, and get to the "Manage Libertine Containers" screen. There I am confronted with this strange message:

"You do not have Classic Application Support configured at this time. Downloading and setting up the required environment may take some time and network bandwidth."

Well, ok, I have a lot of time, so I tap on the green "Get started" button, which presents a "Container Options window, at which I accept the defaults and then tap on the green "OK" button. But all that happens is that for the tiniest moment the screen looks like it is about to start installing the Focal Fossa container, but immediately just cycles back to the "Manage Libertine Containers" screen with that same message about the Classic Application Support.

What is "Classic Application Support"? What does it do, why do I need it?
How do I get "Classic Application Support"?
Why am I unable to add a libertine container? How do I fix things so I can install a libertine container?

arubislander

@dln949 "Classic Application Support" is just the generic name for what a Libertine container provides. That message is just saying you haven't yet created a container, and that doing so would take some time and bandwidth because it downloads the packages it wants to install from the Ubuntu repository.

Now, about not being able to create a container, have you attempted rebooting your device before trying again?

If you have, and it still doesn't work, could you open the Terminal app and type the following?

liberitine-container-manager -v create -i focal -n "Focal Fossa"

If it produces an error, please post the error message here. If it looks like it is doing something, make sure the Terminal app remains in the foreground for the duration of the operation, and keep the screen on.

dln949

@arubislander Rebooting did not help.

I ran the command, here is the error message output, I have no idea what it is trying to tell me:

E: No pkgdetails available; either install perl, or build pkgdetails.c from the base-installer source package
ChrootContainer.py:94: ERROR: create_libertine_container(): Failed to create container
libertine-container-manager:126: ERROR: create(): Failed to create container: 'destroy_libertine_container() missing 1 required positional argument: 'force' '

arubislander

@dln949 looks like your install didn't go well. I haven't tried creating a libertine container on OTA-2, so not sure if this is from a bad update, a bad install or what. Will try tomorrow on my P3a to see what happens.

arubislander

@dln949 just as an extra check. Are you sure you have internet access on your device?

dln949

@arubislander I can confirm that internet access on this device is working as expected.

arubislander

@dln949 just switched to 20.04 stable channel from devel. Then succesfully created a Libertine container from the command line.

Maybe you could try the following:
Go to Settings -> Updates, then clear all the updates by tapping the trash can icon the second one from the right in the upper right corner.
Then switch to the Release candidate channel by tapping on the cogwheel in the upper rightmost corner. Go back two screens and wait for the update to download. Install that and try creating a container. If it works switch back to stable and try again.

dln949

@arubislander

Not clear on something:

I switch to the release channel, then try installing a container. Suppose that works. Question: Do I delete that container before switching back to the stable channel?

arubislander

@dln949 well, say it works, then why not keep the container. You then at least have one container in the event that creating a second one did not work once you switch back to stable.

If creating the second one does work then you can always delete one afterwards.

dln949

@arubislander I followed your suggested steps, and now when back on the stable channel I was able to install a container. Thanks.

I'm curious: What is your theory of why this worked, what was wrong on my device?

arubislander

@dln949 based on the fact that the steps you followed worked for you, I must conclude that something was missing, or not in the right state, on your device, software wise.
This might have been from a bad install, or more likely from a partial update after some manual experimentation with apt.

Switching update channels causes a complete image to be downloaded on and applied to your device. This is the equivalent to running your device through the installer anf leaving bootstrap and wipe unticked, but more convenient, in my opinion.

dln949

@arubislander One final question:

Is the installation of apps in a focal container known to be problematic or spotty
and inconsistent at this time? Once I had the focal container established, installing applications like gedit and gnome-calculator worked normally with no problems. But an application like mousepad appeared to be installed, but I cannot find the icon for it in the "app drawer" - yet I can open the mousepad gui from the terminal.

Also, in the libertine setting, once I tap on the focal container I created, if I tap on the plus sign and select "Choose Debian package to install", I get this message: "No Debian packages available".

arubislander

@dln949 The libertine settings app is somewhat fragile at the moment. (Improvement suggestions and PR's are welcomed.)

... an application like mousepad appeared to be installed, but I cannot find the icon for it in the "app drawer".

After installing an application in a Libertine container, it is sometimes necessary to refresh the app drawer to see the new icons. You can do this by swiping down in the opened app drawer.

if I tap on the plus sign and select "Choose Debian package to install", I get this message: "No Debian packages available".

This is the expected behavior. That option is for installing downloaded deb packages. It displays any .deb files that are present in the Downloads folder.
If you know the exact name of the package you want to install, you can use the second button.
I almost exclusively use the third button to search the repositories for the package I am looking for.
But be careful, one stray tap will have you installing an unintended app. And the best course of action is to let the install run its course, before deleting the package and trying again.