Xfce Forum

zub

Member

Registered: 2023-01-18

Posts: 35

dependency problem upgrading -devel in endeavour

For a couple of weeks now I am having an issue upgrading my endeavourOS system (via yay) due to some dependency issue. On this system I decided to run the dev versions of xfce and related packages.

I've only been able to upgrade my system at all by holding back the upgrades of the below:

:: 1 dependency will also be installed for this operation.
   aur/libxfce4windowing-devel   -> 4.19.7-1

:: 2 packages to upgrade/install.
2  aur/xfce4-panel-devel  4.19.4-1 -> 4.19.5-1
1  aur/xfdesktop-devel    4.19.3-1 -> 4.19.5-1

(I usually obey the no partial upgrades rule but there were so many other packages I thought I'd definitely end up in bigger trouble by forgoing all upgrades.)

The above fails because of this:

:: libxfce4windowing-devel-4.19.7-1 and libxfce4windowing-4.19.3-4 are in conflict. Remove libxfce4windowing? [y/N]
error: unresolvable package conflicts detected
error: failed to prepare transaction (conflicting dependencies)
:: libxfce4windowing-devel-4.19.7-1 and libxfce4windowing-4.19.3-4 are in conflict

I can't directly remove extra/libxfce4windowing to replace it with -devel because the packages xfce4-panel-devel, xfce4-session-devel and xfdesktop-devel depend on it.

My best guess of how to solve this would be following the dependency chain backwards and uninstalling/reinstalling until the system is at peace with itself. But I don't know if it'll work out if xfce4-session-devel needs the existing libxfce4windowing? I am concerned I won't be able to entirely reinstall everything.

Not sure if this is an issue with xfce, something upstream, the arch repos, bad system configuration, or user ignorance/error. I don't find anything directly related to this specific problem anywhere else.

Any hint of how to proceed would be appreciated.

eriefisher

Member

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 490

Re: dependency problem upgrading -devel in endeavour

Why do you have the "devel" packages installed? Are you compiling everything?

The devel packages are the headers for compiling or building from source. They shouldn't be required to run the system. There in conflict because the devel package is a higher version than the binary package. Just remove the all the devel packages.

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Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.18

zub

Member

Registered: 2023-01-18

Posts: 35

Re: dependency problem upgrading -devel in endeavour

thanks! let me check I understand?

The reason for the -devel packages is:  I want to run the development release (e.g. 4.19.x instead of 4.18.x). The -devel packages look to be the right ones. But it was sort of messy to get it set up in the first place and I wasn't sure if I was doing it properly. Couldn't find any documentation about the best way. However after some initial finagling  I've been getting along without much trouble for a few months like this.

I def do not want to individually compile, I want the package manager to do that for me.

Most of the packages have 3 options to install. for example panel:

extra/xfce4-panel
- https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … ce4-panel/
- v 4.18.6-2
- description: "Panel for the Xfce desktop environment"
- updated: 2024-09-20

aur/xfce4-panel-devel
- https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/xfce4-panel-devel
- v 4.19.5-1
- description: "Panel for the Xfce desktop environment (development release)"
- updated: 2024-10-09

aur/xfce4-panel-git
- https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/xfce4-panel-git
- v 4.19.4+89+g5551d10e-1
- description: "Panel for the Xfce desktop environment - git checkout"
- updated: 2024-07-03

So the other option is the git checkout... would that be better?

Every xfce4 package I have is installed as -devel, it'd be a bit of a project to replace them all. because they have so many dependencies I'll have to remove all of them.

If I screwed it up then I guess I have to but just want to be certain first..

eriefisher

Member

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 490

Re: dependency problem upgrading -devel in endeavour

If your compiling from source then you definitely need the -devel packages. Which ones I'm not sure. To install from source though is a step by step process in a particular order. One package needs to be installed in order for the next to install. It can be a lot of work and time consuming. Doesn't arch have binary packages?

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Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.18

zub

Member

Registered: 2023-01-18

Posts: 35

Re: dependency problem upgrading -devel in endeavour

some of the packages have a `-bin` variant but it's a minority of them and nothing of relevance here.

tbh i am not totally clear about the meanings of different suffixes. I don't know if naming conventions are enforced in any way... for example there are lots of proprietary packages in the arch repos and they aren't all named `-bin`. but if the source is not available then they must be binaries right? That's just my limited understanding of how things work; I could be wrong.

I've seen people mentioning that they used the xfce4 -devel packages here n there. It leads me to believe it is *not* an implausibly onerous amount of work. (？) It has been functional for some time now after my bumbling install that was certainly in the wrong order.. There must be a way to resolve this but I'm not sure where to look. Is it a problem with the arch repo package, upstream and/or my local system set up?

Since the issue has been going on for a while now I am surprised I find not other mentions of it. Which is why I think I must be doing something wrong..