Debian-Based Linux Distributions, Compatibility, and KXStudio

[GraysonPeddie]

I want to start off by mentioning one Debian-based Linux distribution that is incompatible with KXStudio repository out of the box.

One is Deepin 15.4 that is out recently. I gave Deepin a test and it looked very nice with lots of polish. However, there are certain packages that are older than what KXStudio packages require, such as invada-studio-plugins-lv2, which require a newer version of libgnome2-0 than Deepin can provide. I activated the Debian repository (I've had to search the Internet for a repository), installed the newest version of libgnome2-0, deactivate the Debian repository, and then install the Invada Studio Plugins LV2 package. By then, I can install kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-lv2 package. However, I cancelled the downloading process and tried just the audio meta package which should install all the audio applications and plugins that the audio meta package pulls in. I cancelled the download process to try and see what other meta packages I can install.

I tried kxstudio-meta-all, but this time it depends in kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins and video. I went ahead with the video meta package and saw that it depends on VLC. Tried to see what it was by trying to install VLC and it depends in video output plugin for VLC. Further down the dependency, it was libgles1-mesa, which needs a newer version of the package. I activated the Debian repository, installed the newest version of the libgles1-mesa package, deactivated the Debian repository, and the video meta package can be installed along with the packages that it pulls in.

The only meta package left for kxstudio-meta-all is kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins. Jamin depends in libfftw3-3, so I repeated the process similar to above, this time installing jamin, but it does not seem to list libfftw3-3, so I installed that as well from the Debian repository. I then deactivated the Debian repository.

My experience is that Deepin has a custom repository of its own, so it's not a one-to-one replica of Debian repository along with Deepin-specific packages. Note, however, that if I install the kxstudio-meta-all meta package with the Debian repository present, apt will uninstall Deepin Desktop Environment, which has a hard dependency in specific package versions.

The Debian repository should not be enabled at all times, as installing packages which pulls in other packages that Deepin requires will simply uninstall DDE and I do want the polish and functionality that Deepin provides, so I avoided it whenever I can. This is the repository that you Linux users need to add as Deepin doesn't have a Debian repository.

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#deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing non-free contrib main
#deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing contrib main

Note the "#" before the deb lines. Uncomment them if you wish to install packages not in Deepin repository.

With all that said, along with my experience with using Deepin, are there any other Linux distributions that are Debian-based that are not compatible with KXStudio repository?

Oh, here's the video about Deepin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Adzkyo4SM

[wjl]

Hi Grayson,

had a short look onto their page, where it says:

"deepin is a Linux distribution devoted to providing beautiful, easy to use, safe and reliable system for global users."

Hmja, ok, I get that, it looks nice. But beside that, what's the advantage over using just plain Debian (or kxstudio for that matter)? Even on their web page I didn't find any convincing arguments for that.

So for me it's Debian stable with backports at the moment. Won't be too long before Stretch will be coming I guess - not many release-critical bugs left to fix.

But thanks for your report anyway - I'm sure that could be useful to some.

Cheers,
Wolfgang

[GraysonPeddie]

Have you watched the video that I posted? I like the desktop environment and it has gotten some good improvements that I like over GNOME 3.22, which is a launcher with grid of icons organized in categories.

I suppose I can go with standard Debian (I prefer testing repository as I want the latest software packages) and add the Deepin repository, but if I do that by installing Deepin packages, it could cause package version conflicts.

Okay, sure. If I could get GNOME 3.22 (or even GNOME 3.24 with new features as listed here) to have the exact one-to-one look and feel of Deepin desktop environment with a sidebar in place of GNOME Control Center and a nice launcher with blurred background and categorized set of icons, then I would consider Deepin Linux distribution moot. At least Deepin Desktop Environment meets all of my needs nicely without GNOME extensions. To me, it almost feels Mac-like, but not too close to look like macOS (which I don't mind, but can't afford a Mac).

Also of another note: downloading packages from Deepin repository is as slow as molasses at less than 25 KB/s, even reaching down to 9,000 bytes per second. I would feel very disappointed if I have to give up Deepin 15.4.

Would be interesting to see if the Linux community could get together and get Deepin Desktop Environment to work with latest versions of libraries in standard Debian repository, though.

[GraysonPeddie]

I've decided to make a new post to give mine a clean slate to write. If I decide to apt-get build-dep muse for building Muse3 MIDI sequencer with only Deepin repository:

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[grayson@htpc Downloads]$ sudo apt-get build-dep muse
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 builddeps:essentials : Depends: build-essential but it is not going to be installed
 builddeps:muse : Depends: libasound2-dev but it is not going to be installed
                  Depends: libfluidsynth-dev but it is not going to be installed
                  Depends: libjack-dev
                  Depends: liblo-dev but it is not going to be installed
                  Depends: libqt4-dev but it is not going to be installed
                  Depends: libsamplerate0-dev but it is not going to be installed
                  Depends: libsndfile1-dev but it is not going to be installed
                  Depends: libx11-dev but it is not going to be installed
                  Depends: uuid-dev but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

As you can see, I would not turn Deepin into a distro for creating music. If you want to make music, forget about all the polish Deepin provides and go back to run-of-the-mill desktop environment such as XFCE or if you do want polish and can deal with extensions, GNOME. Or even elementary OS if you don't mind locking yourself to 16.04 LTS (I want the latest and the greatest, so not for me).

Of course, my thread is about Debian-based Linux distributions that are not compatible with KXStudio repository out of the box. So far, Deepin is the only one that is incompatible with KXStudio repository.

If you want to try to install Deepin Desktop Environment in Debian, then here (/etc/apt/source.list):

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deb [by-hash=force] http://packages.deepin.com/deepin panda main contrib non-free
deb-src http://packages.deepin.com/deepin panda main contrib non-free

Update 2:

It seems I can build deepin from source:
https://github.com/linuxdeepin

Well, might as well download Debian Testing, install window manager, and build Deepin from source.

[GraysonPeddie]

I gave up. I don't think it's worth compiling Deepin Desktop Environment from source, so I guess I'm going back to GNOME. I could go on and share an output of the compiler error message, but then I would have to start a new thread in another forum other than LinuxMusicians.com forum.

But I will leave my thread here in case someone wants to try out Deepin 15.4, but then I'd advise against that unless the community could get together and lessen the hard dependency that locks package to a specific version.

[emviveros]

I'm trying to make Linux Deepin 15.5 usable for audio aplications with KXStudio, and I have some good news.

To install kxstudio repository packages in Deepin we have to install manually one dependency

Code: Select all

sudo apt install software-properties-common

After that KXStudio repository packages can be installed.

I'm trying a rt deepin kernel without success for a whyle... When that change I warn.

Cheers

[GraysonPeddie]

Thanks. Good to know.

[mk1967]

Is it still possible in general to install KXStudio based on Debian Stretch...?

I tried it (after an attempt on Ubuntu 18.04 which didn't work, but maybe it was just too early) and the stuff with the sources did work but I suppose I got problems with dependencies afterwards.
Here it is what Stretch's terminal said (sorry that it's in German):

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~$ sudo apt-get install kxstudio-desktop
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut.       
Statusinformationen werden eingelesen.... Fertig
Einige Pakete konnten nicht installiert werden. Das kann bedeuten, dass
Sie eine unmögliche Situation angefordert haben oder, wenn Sie die
Unstable-Distribution verwenden, dass einige erforderliche Pakete noch
nicht erstellt wurden oder Incoming noch nicht verlassen haben.
Die folgenden Informationen helfen Ihnen vielleicht, die Situation zu lösen:

Die folgenden Pakete haben unerfüllte Abhängigkeiten:
 kxstudio-desktop : Hängt ab von: kxstudio-desktop-base soll aber nicht installiert werden
                    Empfiehlt: kxstudio-desktop-kde4 soll aber nicht installiert werden oder
                               kxstudio-desktop-gnome3 ist aber nicht installierbar oder
                               kxstudio-desktop-lxde ist aber nicht installierbar oder
                               kxstudio-desktop-xfce ist aber nicht installierbar oder
                               kxstudio-desktop-unity ist aber nicht installierbar
E: Probleme können nicht korrigiert werden, Sie haben zurückgehaltene defekte Pakete.

Similar thing with

Code: Select all

~$ sudo apt-get install kxstudio-desktop-kde4
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut.       
Statusinformationen werden eingelesen.... Fertig
Einige Pakete konnten nicht installiert werden. Das kann bedeuten, dass
Sie eine unmögliche Situation angefordert haben oder, wenn Sie die
Unstable-Distribution verwenden, dass einige erforderliche Pakete noch
nicht erstellt wurden oder Incoming noch nicht verlassen haben.
Die folgenden Informationen helfen Ihnen vielleicht, die Situation zu lösen:

Die folgenden Pakete haben unerfüllte Abhängigkeiten:
 kxstudio-desktop-kde4 : Hängt ab von: kxstudio-desktop soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Hängt ab von: kwin-style-qtcurve ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Hängt ab von: kdm ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Hängt ab von: plasma-desktopthemes-artwork ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Hängt ab von: kdebase-workspace ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Hängt ab von: plasma-widget-folderview ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Hängt ab von: plasma-widget-message-indicator ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: kxstudio-artwork-plymouth soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: pinentry-qt4 soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: python-kde4 soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: mozilla-kde-support ist aber nicht installierbar oder
                                    firefox-kde-support ist aber nicht installierbar oder
                                    firefox-gnome-support ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: ffmpegthumbs soll aber nicht installiert werden oder
                                    mplayerthumbs ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: bluedevil soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: colibri ist aber nicht installierbar oder
                                    kde-notification-colibri ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: digikam soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: kdenlive soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: konversation soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: kopete soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: kwalletmanager soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: recorditnow ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: libk3b6-extracodecs soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: okular-extra-backends soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: kde-service-menu-audiokonverter soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: kde-service-menu-fuseiso ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: kde-service-menu-kim4 soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: kde-service-menu-extract-and-compress soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: libreoffice-kde soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: libreoffice-style-oxygen soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: kscreen soll aber nicht installiert werden
                         Empfiehlt: kubuntu-restricted-extras ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: apturl-kde ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: kubuntu-driver-manager ist aber nicht installierbar oder
                                    jockey-kde ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: print-manager soll aber nicht installiert werden oder
                                    system-config-printer-kde ist aber nicht installierbar
                         Empfiehlt: usb-creator-kde ist aber nicht installierbar
E: Probleme können nicht korrigiert werden, Sie haben zurückgehaltene defekte Pakete.