Installing xpra on HWE-enabled LTS breaks system

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I run Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on iMac. The problem appears when I try to install xpra from the official Ubuntu repo, the installer wants to delete my desktop environment which is MATE.

You can work around this problem by running:

sudo apt-get install -q0 --no-remove 'xserver-xorg-video-dummy-hwe*' 'xserver-xorg-input-void-hwe*'

This seems like a pretty easy change to depend on |'d xserver packages. Any idea if it actually works if so? If I build the package in a PPA will someone test it?

For the sake of completeness this is what is removed:

$ sudo apt install xpra

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-generic-hwe-16.04 linux-headers-generic-hwe-16.04 linux-image-generic-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-input-all-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-input-evdev-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-hwe-16.04
  xserver-xorg-input-wacom-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-all-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-ati-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-fbdev-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-intel-hwe-16.04
  xserver-xorg-video-nouveau-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-qxl-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-radeon-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-vesa-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-vmware-hwe-16.04
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  python-avahi python-gdbm python-gtkglext1 python-lz4 python-netifaces python-rencode xserver-xorg-input-void-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-dummy-hwe-16.04
Suggested packages:
  python-gdbm-dbg python-pyopencl gstreamer0.10-plugins-good | gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly | gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad python-gst0.10
The following packages will be REMOVED
  kubuntu-desktop xorg xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04
The following NEW packages will be installed
  python-avahi python-gdbm python-gtkglext1 python-lz4 python-netifaces python-rencode xpra xserver-xorg-input-void-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-video-dummy-hwe-16.04
0 to upgrade, 9 to newly install, 3 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
Need to get 1,273 kB of archives.
After this operation, 5,316 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.

$ sudo apt autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.

I just ran into this with 18.04.2, which has HWE out of the box.

Repro:

1) Fresh 18.04.2 in a KVM VM.
2) sudo apt install xpra
3) After graphical console login (?), input devices don't work.

Package list below:

---
$ sudo apt install xpra
[sudo] password for user:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  freeglut3 libgtkglext1 libpango1.0-0 libpangox-1.0-0 libpython-stdlib python
  python-cairo python-dbus python-gi python-gi-cairo python-gobject-2
  python-gtk2 python-gtkglext1 python-lz4 python-lzo python-minimal
  python-olefile python-opengl python-pil python-rencode python2.7
  python2.7-minimal ssh-askpass xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-void
  xserver-xorg-video-dummy
Suggested packages:
  python-doc python-tk python-dbus-dbg python-dbus-doc python-gobject-2-dbg
  python-gtk2-doc python-numpy libgle3 python-pil-doc python-pil-dbg
  python2.7-doc binfmt-support openssh-server python-pyopencl python-gst-1.0
  python-avahi python-netifaces cups-pdf python-cups python-opencv
  v4l2loopback-dkms python-yaml xfonts-100dpi | xfonts-75dpi
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  ubuntu-desktop xorg xserver-xorg-core-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-hwe-18.04
  xserver-xorg-input-all-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-input-libinput-hwe-18.04
  xserver-xorg-input-wacom-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-video-all-hwe-18.04
  xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-video-ati-hwe-18.04
  xserver-xorg-video-fbdev-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-video-intel-hwe-18.04
  xserver-xorg-video-nouveau-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-video-qxl-hwe-18.04
  xserver-xorg-video-radeon-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-video-vesa-hwe-18.04
  xserver-xorg-video-vmware-hwe-18.04
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  freeglut3 libgtkglext1 libpango1.0-0 libpangox-1.0-0 libpython-stdlib python
  python-cairo python-dbus python-gi python-gi-cairo python-gobject-2
  python-gtk2 python-gtkglext1 python-lz4 python-lzo python-minimal
  python-olefile python-opengl python-pil python-rencode python2.7
  python2.7-minimal ssh-askpass xpra xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-void
  xserver-xorg-video-dummy
0 upgraded, 27 newly installed, 17 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 7,215 kB of archives.
After this operation, 21.6 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

FWIW the author of xpra recommends you use their repository instead of the Ubuntu repository. See

https://www.xpra.org/trac/wiki/Packaging/DistributionPackages

https://xpra.org/trac/wiki/Download

The packages from xpra.org don't have this bug.

A bit more discussion if you are using the xpra repo (and upgrading to hwe on bionic rather than a fresh install):

https://xpra.org/trac/ticket/2190

xpra in 18.04 depends on xserver-xorg-video-dummy and xserver-xorg-input-void.

$ apt search xserver-xorg-video-dummy
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
xserver-xorg-video-dummy/bionic 1:0.3.8-1build1 amd64
  X.Org X server -- dummy display driver

xserver-xorg-video-dummy-hwe-16.04/bionic 3:14.1 amd64
  Transitional package for xserver-xorg-video-dummy-hwe-16.04

xserver-xorg-video-dummy-hwe-18.04/bionic-updates 1:0.3.8-1build3~18.04.1 amd64
  X.Org X server -- dummy display driver

while

$ apt search xserver-xorg-input-void
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
xserver-xorg-input-void/bionic 1:1.4.1-1build3 amd64
  X.Org X server -- void input driver

xserver-xorg-input-void-hwe-16.04/bionic 3:14.1 amd64
  Transitional package for xserver-xorg-input-void-hwe-16.04

1. Where is xserver-xorg-input-void-hwe-18.04 ??
2. xpra dev said they removed input-void dependency 4 years ago https://xpra.org/trac/ticket/2190#comment:14 Why the Ubuntu package still depends on it?

I think adding xserver-xorg-input-void-hwe-18.04 or removing xserver-xorg-input-void dependency at all would fix the installation problem.

Hi! Do you plan to release a fix for this for 18.04? It's already been fixed in xpra over a year ago.

I couldn't install xpra because it depends on `xserver-xorg-core`. When trying to install that I saw it wants to remove lots of packages. Good thing I decide to do a little more research because if I went on with fingers crossed, I would probably have gotten myself into the same broken Linux situation. Please also think about the people who don't do some more research and break their system.