cannot install gc 2.6 for ubuntu

[Colin Law]

On 12 February 2014 08:31, John R. Sowden <jsowden at americansentry.net> wrote:
> On 02/11/2014 11:57 PM, Colin Law wrote:
>>
>> On 12 February 2014 05:04, John R. Sowden <jsowden at americansentry.net>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 02/11/2014 12:38 PM, Tommy Trussell wrote:
>>>>
>>>> ...
>>>> $ sudo apt-get purge gnucash gnucash-common gnucash-docs
>>>>
>>>> $ sudo apt-get clean
>>>>
>>>> $ sudo apt-get install gnucash gnucash-common gnucash-docs
>>>>
>>> I followed the three commands.  It also asked me to run "apt-get
>>> autoremove"
>>> which I did.  I can now access gc 2.6 with no problem. My Q: Why is this
>>> not
>>> clearly explained on the GC page re: installing.  Each command with an
>>> explanation so people (like me!) will learn as we do it, and save the
>>> tough
>>> questions (what does debit mean :) ) for the gc gurus.
>>
>> Because it is not a GC issue.  It is probably a subtle issue to do
>> with the getdeb repository which is not controlled by the GC
>> developers.  A couple of questions that might help to determine the
>> original cause.
>> Before enabling the getdeb repository did you have GC installed from
>> the standard Ubuntu repository?
>
> Yes.
>
>> Had you messed with GC in any way such as installing an updated FQ
>> from somewhere or otherwise modifiying it?
>
> Probably not because (a) I don't know what FQ nmeans, and (b) I normally
> don't try to modify something that I don't know about.
>
>> Prior to enabling getdeb did you do
>> sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
>> to make sure everything was up to date?
>
> Probably not, unless someone told me to.  There were instructions on the
> get-deb site and when I executed them, I got lots of errors.

Is that the errors you described here were there other errors before
the problems you posted?  Is that what you meant when in your initial
post you said "I had turned on access from the getdeb site, but that
didn't work."?  If so then those errors (whatever they were, and we
will presumably never know) were likely indicating the real cause of
the problem.

>>
> Re: your comment at the top re: 'who's in charge', I see this as a weakness
> in
> Linux with respect to Windows.

It is not a Linux vs Windows thing.  Remember GC is available on
windows.  It is an issue of free volunteer community based s/w versus
big business paid for s/w where the resources available are vastly
greater.

> ...
> I see this as a problem, as GC is not addressing installing it on the many
> distros,
> and the distros are not dealing with the installation of the many programs
> out there.  The
> interesting part is that each needs the other, so there should either be
> overlapping in
> responsibility or a site both could link to which would show how to install
> a
> particular program on a particular distro.

Remember, as I said, that GC is maintained by volunteers.  The
developers likely do not have the skills (or time) to do the packaging
for the multitude of available distributions.  There are other
volunteers who do that.  No-one actually has any "responsibility" to
do anything at all.  We must all be supremely grateful for the time
they put in, from which we all benefit.

Also note that if you had stuck with the version of GC available in
the standard Ubuntu repositories then you would not have had these
issues.  As soon as you go to unofficial sources such as getdeb there
will always be the risk of some sort of incompatibility arising.  The
official repo will always lag behind the bleeding edge precisely due
to the time and effort it takes to get it through all the hoops
required to make it available.  It is those hoops that generally
ensure that when you do get an update it will install without issues.

>
> By the way, the command line instructions are much cleared than a gui
> with the actual commands hidden.  That may only be me.

No, it is not only you.  That is one of the great attractions of
Linux, you can see and control what is going on if you want to.  The
success of Ubuntu, however, is at least partly down to the fact that
is not generally *necessary* to do that if you don't want to, and
provided you stick to the standard system it is only rarely necessary.

Colin