Debian Repository Dependency Issue with Bullseye

[Atera]

Description

Following the installation instructions on the website, one adds https://packages.riot.im/debian/ to the apt sources list. I specifically added the Bullseye build since that is the version I am running. However, doing a simple apt install element-desktop fails because of a dependency on libappindicator3-1, a package which has been removed from Bullseye (it was deprecated in Buster). Therefore, following the instructions on the website, it is not possible to install Element Desktop on Debian Bullseye.

Steps to reproduce

1. Add https://packages.riot.im/debian/ to the apt sources, such as by running echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/riot-im-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.riot.im/debian/ default main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/riot-im.list or alternatively for Bullseye specifically, echo "deb https://packages.riot.im/debian/ bullseye main" > '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/riot-im.list'.
2. Update to include the new repository. sudo apt update
3. Attempt to install; install fails. sudo apt install element-desktop

Describe how what happens differs from what you expected.

Instead of installing element-desktop, an error appears stating that there is a dependency on libappindicator3-1, but that this dependency is not installable.

Version information

Running an up‐to‐date version of Debian Bullseye (testing) which has now begun its freeze period prior to final release.
Linux DebianBox 5.10.0-1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.4-1 (2020-12-31) x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Atera]

Per the discussion on https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=895037 it appears that the package libayatana-appindicator can be used instead, and will be mantained both upstream and by Debian downstream.

[SimonBrandner]

I can confirm that this is a problem. Although, I am not sure we can do anything about it. It seems like an electron issue.

@Atera, for now, you can manually install libappindicator3-1 using dpkg.

[damnms]

libappindicator3

thats not working

root@lucy:/home/oli/Downloads# dpkg -i libappindicator3-1_0.4.92-7_amd64.deb 
Vormals nicht ausgewähltes Paket libappindicator3-1:amd64 wird gewählt.
(Lese Datenbank ... 311246 Dateien und Verzeichnisse sind derzeit installiert.)
Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von libappindicator3-1_0.4.92-7_amd64.deb ...
Entpacken von libappindicator3-1:amd64 (0.4.92-7) ...
dpkg: Abhängigkeitsprobleme verhindern Konfiguration von libappindicator3-1:amd64:
 libappindicator3-1:amd64 hängt ab von libindicator3-7; aber:
  Paket libindicator3-7 ist nicht installiert.

dpkg: Fehler beim Bearbeiten des Paketes libappindicator3-1:amd64 (--install):
 Abhängigkeitsprobleme - verbleibt unkonfiguriert
Trigger für libc-bin (2.31-9) werden verarbeitet ...
Fehler traten auf beim Bearbeiten von:
 libappindicator3-1:amd64
root@lucy:/home/oli/Downloads# apt-get install libindicator3-7
Paketlisten werden gelesen… Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut… Fertig
Statusinformationen werden eingelesen… Fertig
Paket libindicator3-7 ist nicht verfügbar, wird aber von einem anderen Paket
referenziert. Das kann heißen, dass das Paket fehlt, dass es abgelöst
wurde oder nur aus einer anderen Quelle verfügbar ist.

E: Für Paket »libindicator3-7« existiert kein Installationskandidat.
root@lucy:/home/oli/Downloads# apt-cache search libindicator3

[SimonBrandner]

@damnms, I am sorry, I am having trouble reading the error (I don't speak German...). Could you perhaps set the LANG (or something like that) env variable to English? I might be able to help you then

[damnms]

root@lucy:/home/oli# su -
root@lucy:~# export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LANGUAGE=en
root@lucy:~# cd /home/oli/Downloads/
root@lucy:/home/oli/Downloads# dpkg -i libappindicator3-1_0.4.92-7_amd64.deb 
(Reading database ... 311254 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack libappindicator3-1_0.4.92-7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libappindicator3-1:amd64 (0.4.92-7) over (0.4.92-7) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libappindicator3-1:amd64:
 libappindicator3-1:amd64 depends on libindicator3-7; however:
  Package libindicator3-7 is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package libappindicator3-1:amd64 (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-9) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libappindicator3-1:amd64

there is no package libindicator3-7

root@lucy:/home/oli/Downloads# apt-cache search libindicator
libindicator7 - panel indicator applet - shared library
root@lucy:/home/oli/Downloads#

[damnms]

i installed now also https://packages.debian.org/stretch/amd64/libindicator3-7/download, seems to work now, so it requires 2 packages

[fnetX]

It sounds like a weird idea to install oldstable packages into a testing system ...

[damnms]

at least it works, even tho i hope its not the solution but a workaround until this is fixed

[ronnystandtke]

Signal fixed the same issue in their latest release, see:
signalapp/Signal-Desktop#5031

Could this please be fixed for Element, too? It's the latest roadblock for a migration to Debian 11 in some schools here.

[fnetX]

There is already this pull request which was already mentioned earlier in this thread, please read about any updates there: element-hq/element-desktop#170

[novocaine]

Is this still reproducible now that element-hq/element-desktop#170 has been merged?

[fnetX]

No, I think this works now. I can install element-desktop from the sources at https://packages.riot.im/debian default/main amd64 Packages without any dependency issues on my Debian 11 / Bullseye machine.