Thursday, October 29, 2015

How To Install GNOME 3.14 In Ubuntu GNOME 14.10

GNOME 3.14 was released back in September and it includes some interesting changes like multi-touch gestures for both the system and applications, re-worked default theme, new animations as well as various enhancements for the code GNOME applications. More information HERE.

GNOME 3.14 Ubuntu 14.10

Unfortunately, Ubuntu GNOME 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) ships with GNOME 3.12 for the most part (there are even some GNOME 3.10 packages, like Gedit or Nautilus) but, as usual, you can install the latest GNOME (3.14) by using a PPA.

Unlike previous versions, installing GNOME 3.14 from the GNOME 3 Staging PPA in Ubuntu 14.10 doesn't break Unity however, there are things that don't work as they should, like:
  • very large icons for some apps in Unity Dash and other places - screenshot;
  • the default Ubuntu theme (Ambiance) doesn't work properly with some applications (screenshot) and Adwaita doesn't support Unity's CSS window decorations so you'll have to use a theme that supports GTK 3.14 and Unity, like Zukitwo, but even then you may encounter various issues like up/down arrows for indicators (screenshot);
  • Nautilus, Totem and Gedit use client-side decorations and the default GNOME menu, so they will look out of place in Unity.

And that's just on a first look so there might be many other issues. That's why I don't recommend using this PPA if you're using Unity!

As usual, the latest GNOME is available in the GNOME 3 Staging PPA and it's not considered ready for general use (you will encounter bugs!), so make sure you read the PPA description before using it. Follow the instructions below on your own risk and only if you know how to fix your system in case something goes wrong!

There are two more things I should mention, so you'll know what to expect:
  • on my laptop running Ubuntu 14.10, applications that use client-side decorations have a large shadow at the bottom (screenshot). This didn't occur in the two virtual machines I've tested the GNOME 3.14 installation under Ubuntu 14.10, but you may encounter this bug, and I didn't find out what's causing it;
  • CSD applications have minimize and maximize buttons for some reason, even though GNOME doesn't use this by default - you can disable them via GNOME Tweak Tool  > Windows > Titlebar Buttons.



Install GNOME 3.14 in Ubuntu GNOME 14.10


Warning: Please read the output before entering 'Y' for the "dist-upgrade" command below to make sure important packages won't be removed and if the "dist-upgrade" command tries to remove important pages, abort the installation and remove the PPA! Also, it's a good idea to save the list of packages upgraded by using the instructions below, in case you want to revert the changes and ppa-purge fails.

Currently, only the GNOME 3 Staging PPA is required to upgrade to GNOME 3.14 in Ubuntu 14.10 however, some packages might be moved to the GNOME 3 PPA later on and that might break things if you didn't enable this PPA on your system, that's why by following the instructions below, you'll add both the GNOME 3 PPA and the GNOME 3 Staging PPA.

That said, let's proceed

1. Install GNOME 3.14

To add the GNOME 3 and GNOME 3 Staging PPAs and upgrade to GNOME 3.14 in Ubuntu GNOME 14.10, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3-staging
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

During the GNOME 3.14 upgrade (or purge) process, you may encounter an issue similar to this:
(gtk-update-icon-cache-3.0:29077): GdkPixbuf-WARNING **: Cannot open pixbuf loader module file '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache': No such file or directory

This likely means that your installation is broken.
Try running the command
  gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders > /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache
to make things work again for the time being.

If that happens, firstly install libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev:
sudo apt-get install libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev

And then fix this issue by running the following commands:

- 32bit:
sudo -i
gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders > /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache
exit
- 64bit:
sudo -i
gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders > /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache
exit

2. Reboot (a simple logout / login may not be enough so to avoid any issues, reboot your system).

3. (Optional) Install GNOME 3 applications not available by default in Ubuntu GNOME 14.10.

GNOME 3.14 apps

You may also want to install the GNOME 3 apps which are not available by default in Ubuntu GNOME 14.10 (Polari, Bijiben, Clocks, Sound Recorder, etc.) - install them using the command below:
sudo apt-get install polari gnome-sound-recorder bijiben gnome-clocks gnome-music gnome-photos gnome-boxes
(Epiphany is still at version 3.12.0)


How to revert the changes


If for whatever reason you want to revert the changes made by adding the GNOME 3 and GNOME 3 Staging PPAs, you can purge them (purging a PPA downgrades all the packages from that PPA to the version available in the official Ubuntu repositories and disables the PPA) using ppa-purge:
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo ppa-purge ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3-staging
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