Ubuntu Software Center crashing for you? Here's the solution.

Linux Tips & Tricks
1

Recently people have been complaining that the USC crashes for a couple of seconds on launching the application. The problem lies within one of the views in which you view USC in.

Luckily there is a solution.

Open terminal, and enter:

sudo gedit /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/ui/gtk3/views/appdetailsview.py

Find the line, that reads:

self.progress.set_data("transparent-bg-hint", True)

and change it, so it reads:

#self.progress.set_data("transparent-bg-hint", True)

Save the file, and then close it. The bug will go away and you can happily open USC without it crashing. :slight_smile:

2

I don’t use the USC (at all, ever, I hate it), so is there any particular Ubuntu version this bug is related to ?

I don’t even use it to install Synaptic and gdebi … I do that from the command line :wink:

3

I’m the same! Synaptoc & GDebi all the way!

The bug seems to main affect people on Ubuntu 12.04, but the solution works for <=12.04 as well.

4

The USC is just too slow, and for some reason max’s out my CPU cores.

5

I haven’t seen it maxing out my cores, but it definitely is slow. The only time I’ll probably EVER use it, is when installing the Humble Bundle games.

6

Hi,

USC is crashing seconds after I launch it (Ubuntu 12.04)
After a quick search, I found the fix in this thread (thanks for this).

My problem is: I do not have the line to fix in the file. (line “self.progress.set_data(“transparent-bg-hint”, True)” in file “/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/ui/gtk3/views/appdetailsview.py”).

BTW, i would enjoy learning how to do the updates on the console.

Thanks, Olivier

7

Hi lazycat, and welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run:

software-center

what is returned in the terminal ?

Can you explain what you mean by

BTW, i would enjoy learning how to do the updates on the console.

if you mean install available software updates:

sudo apt-get update

then

sudo apt-get upgrade

will do the trick.

8

Just installed ubuntu and im having the same problem with software center. Also as with lazycat i couln’t find that line in the file. This is what terminal returned to me:

2012-12-23 14:41:05,433 - softwarecenter.ui.gtk3.app - INFO - setting up proxy ‘None’
2012-12-23 14:41:05,583 - softwarecenter.db.database - INFO - open() database: path=None use_axi=True use_agent=True
2012-12-23 14:41:20,912 - softwarecenter.backend.reviews - WARNING - Could not get usefulness from server, no username in config file
2012-12-23 14:41:21,478 - softwarecenter.fixme - WARNING - logs to the root logger: ‘(’/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gi/importer.py’, 51, ‘find_module’)’
2012-12-23 14:41:21,478 - root - ERROR - Could not find any typelib for LaunchpadIntegration
2012-12-23 14:41:24,765 - softwarecenter.ui.gtk3.app - INFO - show_available_packages: search_text is ‘’, app is None.
2012-12-23 14:41:24,840 - softwarecenter.db.pkginfo_impl.aptcache - INFO - aptcache.open()
2012-12-23 14:41:48,755 - softwarecenter.ui.gtk3.app - INFO - closing before the regular main loop was run

I used Ubuntu some time ago, but never that much so would really love some help on this :slight_smile:

9

See if installing

python-gi-cairo

and

gir1.2-launchpad-integration-3.0

sorts the problem …

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T), and run these 3 commands:

sudo apt-get update

then

sudo apt-get upgrade

then:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall python-gi-cairo gir1.2-launchpad-integration-3.0
10

Sadly it did not help.

I tried going back to the file mentioned in the original post, still didn’t see the line talked about :frowning:

The computer in general runs fine with Linux, it’s just software center being buggy.

Any other suggestions would be really appreciated!

11

With the software centre closed, try running:

mv ~/.cache/software-center ~/.cache/software-center-old

Now try the software centre.

12

This did nothing. Didn’t even get a responce in terminal when running it.

If i understand correct this should make it switch to the old software center? This would really be nice, since i liked the old design just fine :slight_smile:

13

If you mean Synaptic (which in my opinion is better anyway), run:

sudo apt-get install synaptic

Then search for “Synaptic Package Manager” in your menus :slight_smile:

14

If Synaptic works for you … you might also want to install GDebi:

sudo apt-get install gdebi

to deal with .deb files.

15

Yeah that was what i remembered. Installed it and it “functions” just like the software center. Maxes my CPU, lags the entire system, wont actually perform any kind of installation and chrash when i try to close it :frowning:

I searched alot for this problem, and i found alot of threads on different fora about this problem, and many different solutions that didn’t seem to work for poster or me.

And once again, thx for helping me out here!

16

Synaptic crashes and causes your system to lag ?

17

Well im not 100% its synpatic causing it, might be another issue, but it acted the same way as software center, in the way i descriped.

Im running Ubuntu 12.10 on an Acer Travelmate 4320 (not sure if this info helps but it cant hurt)

18

Back in ten mins … and we’ll see if clearing the package cache and lists helps.

19

Run these commands in sequence:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

then

sudo apt-get -f install

then

sudo apt-get --fix-missing install

then

sudo apt-get clean

then

sudo mv -v /var/lib/apt/lists /var/lib/apt/lists.backup

then

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/apt/lists/partial

then

sudo apt-get update

Does the last command finish without error … if so, try Synaptic and/or Software Centre now … any improvement ?

20

Ran them in seqence, without any errors, nothing really changed :frowning:

I did notice that synaptics run ALOT better than software center, SC is alot worse.

Starting to think this might be a problem with my computer and not with ubuntu.