Xfce Forum

kayvey

Member

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 8

pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

i am running freeBSD 6.2 STABLE.  i was trying to install mplayer.
btw i am confused.  is gnome an alternative to xfce4?  anyhoo..
i wanted to get mplayer werking so i could convert between various
video formats, e.g. mwv->jpeg i found a website with a command for
that.

anyhoo.. so i did this command pkgdb -Ff for some reason, and it ended
with a pango error.  when i tried to startxfce4, the GUI seemed to come
up, but when i tried to open a terminal and a mozilla browser, the browser
did not come up and the terminal came up in the top left corner and i
couldn't manipulate its location.  however, it was an operable terminal.

then i tried to fix the dingies with the command portupgrade -f pango
but that made things werse.  i still get the GUI (btw, the little menu
bar dingy with the icons shows up at the bottom.. but it may have hidden
itself before the portupgrade command).. now.. i can get no terminal,
and the menu dingy hides itself away after coming up.

how can i fix this?  (if possible, please give literal unix commmands that
can be typed from a root command line.  i am pretty sure i can start up
in single user mode to implement them.. er.. i guess i actually get a prompt
with the entire puter being the terminal.  i never set my startup to include
the startxfce4 command.)

Nick

Dev

From: ~

Registered: 2005-02-17

Posts: 1,144

Website

Re: pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

i am running freeBSD 6.2 STABLE.  i was trying to install mplayer.
btw i am confused.  is gnome an alternative to xfce4?  anyhoo..
i wanted to get mplayer werking so i could convert between various
video formats, e.g. mwv->jpeg i found a website with a command for
that.

Xfce is just another Desktop environment (based on the gtk toolkit, like Gnome). It has its own filemanager, panel, desktop, window manager, editor etc. The difference between Gnome and Xfce is that it aims to be 'lightweight', by only implementing features that belong to the application and are really useful (so not a filemanager that can browser website, but rename a bunch of files at once, as an example).

anyhoo.. so i did this command pkgdb -Ff for some reason, and it ended
with a pango error.  when i tried to startxfce4, the GUI seemed to come
up, but when i tried to open a terminal and a mozilla browser, the browser
did not come up and the terminal came up in the top left corner and i
couldn't manipulate its location.  however, it was an operable terminal.

Probably the wrong command was used for the browser, try to start it in a terminal to see if there are any warnings printed. The position of the terminal is a feature of the window manager. The Xfce window manager tries to align windows so they don't overlap eachother. This works from a cetain window size which can be adjusted in the settings -> window manager tweaks -> placement tab (Xfce 4.4 only).

then i tried to fix the dingies with the command portupgrade -f pango
but that made things werse.  i still get the GUI (btw, the little menu
bar dingy with the icons shows up at the bottom.. but it may have hidden
itself before the portupgrade command).. now.. i can get no terminal,
and the menu dingy hides itself away after coming up.

Alt + F2 and type xfce4-panel, that will bring the panel back. But if this doesn't solve the problem, try to be a bit more specific please ^-^. You can also find more info in the Xfce wiki and website (wiki.xfce.org and xfce.org), so you can start searching there. If that doesn't solve your problem, feel free to post your problem(s) here.

---

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kayvey

Member

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 8

Re: pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

the whole shebang seems pretty impaired  upon startup.  i don't really know
how to be more specific.  it hadn't normally acted that way, and at the moment i will have to do everything from outside of X because i can't do
squat.  i will try yer shortcut keys, tho.

kayvey

Member

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 8

Re: pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

okay one more thing.. tiny kernel is great and everything, but is xfce capable of running mplayer?  i was noting that gnome is a port i think, more closely
associated, covered on the freebsd.org website.  i am seriously considering trying to move to gnome, unless someone here argues me against it.  i sort of want to view movies on my X, but if i can just convert them from *.wmv to
*.jpg

(here is a link i found:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions … p?t=265103
er.. convert to *.avi, but i think that will werk on my LITEON DVD player..
that is the goal.. i have a bunch of *.wmv's i want to convert and
burn at very least)..

i have a vista dingy and i am @*#&ing @*&#ed about the fact that to dual
boot i have to shoot my GAG MBR so i guess i have to back up my entire
freeBSD freek now that makes me mad.. for right now i can't try to accomplish
that.. well.. i could.. but i sort of can't remember all the commands they
are on browser links that i can't operate with a hosed X.

kayvey

Member

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 8

Re: pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

okay.. anyway.. in an attempt to be more specific.. xfce4 USED to werk in a way that made sense.. but that "X" cursor was like the startup cursor that went away once it was booted.  i am not at that puter now (obviously, as that
puter cannot run browsers no more)  so i can't try yer suggestion.. but before
i could happly run  browser instances and terminal instances and move them
around the werkspace, send them to other werkspaces.. and now i can't. after
that pango fiasco, i had one operable, but immobile terminal, but then i ran
"portupgrade -f pango" and that broke even that.. the dingy at the bottom
that had icons for terminals and browers disapears more quickly it seems..
hrm.. maybe i didn't try hard enuf, but not sure.. but anyway..

i got some advice from experts-exchange.com on how to fix it:

[::clip::]
jnielsendotnet:

I would try this:

# pkg_deinstall -f pango
  to remove the installed pango package(s)
# cd /usr/ports/x11-toolkits/pango && make install clean
  to re-install it without portupgrade getting in the way
# pkgdb -F
  so portupgrade can figure out what you did.

If you still have problems then see what errors you are getting from xfce, either by looking at the console where you ran startx (if you use startx) or by looking at ~/.xsession-errors (if you use xdm). Post the results here.

Also, are you sure your ports tree is up-to-date? Mine has pango-1.16.4.

[::end clip::]

kayvey

Member

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 8

Re: pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

here is a specific command i did and the error message:

  pkgdb -Ff

upon doing this command i got an error with pango (after having followed all the default prompts)

===>   An older version of x11-toolkits/pango is already installed (pango-1.14.9
)
      You may wish to ``make deinstall'' and install this port again
      by ``make reinstall'' to upgrade it properly.
      If you really wish to overwrite the old port of x11-toolkits/pango
      without deleting it first, set the variable "FORCE_PKG_REGISTER"
      in your environment or the "make install" command line.
*** Error code 1

Stop in /usr/ports/x11-toolkits/pango.
*** Error code 1

Stop in /usr/ports/x11-toolkits/pango.
** Command failed [exit code 1]: /usr/bin/script -qa /tmp/portinstall.17243.0 en
v UPGRADE_TOOL=portupgrade UPGRADE_PORT=pango-1.8.1 UPGRADE_PORT_VER=1.8.1 make
reinstall
--->  Skipping 'x11-toolkits/pango' (pango-1.14.9) because it has already failed
** Listing the failed packages (*:skipped / !:failed)
        ! x11-toolkits/pango (pango-1.8.1)      (Failed to rewrite /var/db/pkg/p
ango-1.8.1/+CONTENTS: No such file or directory - /var/db/pkg/pango-1.8.1/+CONTE
NTS)
        * x11-toolkits/pango (pango-1.14.9)
--->  Packages processed: 0 done, 0 ignored, 1 skipped and 1 failed
** Could not clean up temporary directory: Directory not empty - /var/tmp/portup
gradets6wfTsF
Command failed [exit code 1]: /usr/local/sbin/portinstall x11-toolkits/pango
bsd@/root#

kayvey

Member

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 8

Re: pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

is xfce4 a port?  if so, i would find that kewl and influence me toward keeping
it.  how do i detect what version of xfce4 i have with unix command?  how do
i upgrade xfce4 if i don't have the current version?

kayvey

Member

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 8

Re: pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

about that last question.. i read this:

[::clip::]
Better to ask on the vector forums, but you could always use the Xfce installer to c
[::end clip::]

and i don't understand either what 1) a vector forum is nor 2) what the
xfce installer is.  i have my xfce4.. umm. i feel like i might have used
the command pkg_add -r xfce.. i guess that is kewl..umm.. but that is
not an update command.. i am sort of new at this.. i have a friend who
runs an ISP who set me up with freeBSD and xfce originally.. but then
i did have to do the process of starting from scratch myself after having
some sort of issue with my partitioning.. i did that, but as a parroting of
the proceejur and not real understanding.

Carnevil

Member

Registered: 2007-05-18

Posts: 2

Re: pkgdb -Ff broke pango and killt xfce4

is xfce4 a port?  if so, i would find that kewl and influence me toward keeping
it.  how do i detect what version of xfce4 i have with unix command?  how do
i upgrade xfce4 if i don't have the current version?

Xfce is in the ports tree.  To see what version you are running type xfwm4 --version, it your runnin anything under 4.4.1 you'll need to upgrade.