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I am trying to install the meld diff viewer on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. When I run

sudo apt-get install meld

I get the following output:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libgtksourceview2.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-common python-glade2 python-gnome2 python-gtksourceview2
  python-pyorbit
Suggested packages:
  python-gtk2-doc python-gnome2-doc libgtksourceview2.0-dev python-pyorbit-dbg
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libgtksourceview2.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-common meld python-glade2 python-gnome2
  python-gtksourceview2 python-pyorbit
0 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 57 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,048 kB of archives.
After this operation, 5,255 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Selecting previously unselected package libgtksourceview2.0-common.
(Reading database ... 60%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
reading files list for package 'python-aptdaemon.gtk3widgets': Input/output error
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)

Is there something wrong with the package libgtksourceview2.0-common? Is there a way to get a better update, or another way to get meld installed? I am uncertain how to proceed...

Alvar
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txmystic
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    Did you tried with `aptitude`: `sudo aptitude install meld`? – Radu Rădeanu May 21 '13 at 23:06
  • Your command syntax is unfamiliar to me. Normally when using the advanced package tool it is "apt-get". Can you elaborate? – txmystic May 22 '13 at 04:20
  • Try `sudo apt-get install --reinstall python-aptdaemon.gtk3widgets` – grimpitch May 22 '13 at 08:53
  • reinstallation of the package gives the same error again. – txmystic May 22 '13 at 18:49
  • Possible duplicate: [Unable to install any updates through update manager/apt-get upgrade](http://askubuntu.com/questions/139377/unable-to-install-any-updates-through-update-manager-apt-get-upgrade) – Radu Rădeanu May 22 '13 at 19:09
  • Note that the [Meld package in the Ubuntu repos](https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/gnome/meld) is about **2 years behind** the [current version](https://git.gnome.org/browse/meld/refs/tags). – Dan Dascalescu Jun 18 '17 at 03:07

3 Answers3

2

I just tried installing Meld on my 12.04 installation, using sudo apt-get install meld, and it worked with no problems.

Try this. Just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the command(s) below:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install meld

If that dosen't work, try installing the latest python

sudo apt-get install python3
Mitch
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  • The upgrade failed with the same error (at 60% dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error). And I do not want to install python3 yet, I'm doing a project that requires 2.7 and I already have a side installation of 3.3.1. Is there any way to exploit that? – txmystic May 22 '13 at 18:48
  • Note that the [Meld package in the Ubuntu repos](https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/gnome/meld) is about **2 years behind** the [current version](https://git.gnome.org/browse/meld/refs/tags). – Dan Dascalescu Jun 18 '17 at 03:07
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There is nothing wrong with the package, the install on my 12.04 system worked just fine. Try to update your dateabase first, then do the install: 

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install meld
ubfan1
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  • Thanks. I should have mentioned I had already run update. I re-ran update but still the same error as described above. – txmystic May 22 '13 at 04:22
  • 2017 update: note that the [Meld package in the Ubuntu 16 (Xenial) repos](https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/gnome/meld) is about **2 years behind** the [current version](https://git.gnome.org/browse/meld/refs/tags). – Dan Dascalescu Jun 18 '17 at 03:08
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Just use sudo aptitude install meld.

If you are not familiar with aptitude, check this post: Aptitude vs. apt-get: Which is the recommended (aka the “right”) tool to use?

aptitude and apt-get work the same for many tasks, but for the most tricky cases, such as distribution upgrades (apt-get dist-upgrade vs. aptitude full-upgrade), they have different rules, and aptitude's rules are nearly always better in practice where they disagree.

If you don't have installed aptitude, use apt-get:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install aptitude
Community
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Radu Rădeanu
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  • I read the other post. My take is that although aptitude has some advantages, it did not seem to be a universal preference. Regardless, the upgrade itself failed with the same error (see comment in Mitch's answer) – txmystic May 22 '13 at 18:44
  • You may not want to "just use `sudo aptitude install meld`. The [Meld package in the Ubuntu repos](https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/gnome/meld) is about **2 years behind** the [current version](https://git.gnome.org/browse/meld/refs/tags). – Dan Dascalescu Jun 18 '17 at 03:07