[Ubuntu] [Qgis-user] GRASS support lost (again) on Ubuntu/Mint

[Alex M]

On 09/26/2017 01:36 AM, Micha Silver wrote:
> After the recent update to QGIS 2.18.13, GRASS support is gone. No plugin and no 
> provider.
> 
> My apt sources includes:
> deb http://qgis.org/ubuntugis xenial main
> deb-src http://qgis.org/ubuntugis xenial main
> deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable/ubuntu xenial main
> deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable/ubuntu xenial main
> 
> The packages are installed:
> $ dpkg -l | grep plugin-grass
> ii  qgis-plugin-grass 1:2.18.13+24xenial-ubuntugis                 amd64        
> GRASS plugin for QGIS
> ii  qgis-plugin-grass-common 1:2.18.13+24xenial-ubuntugis                 
> all          GRASS plugin for QGIS - architecture-independent data
> $ dpkg -l | grep provider-grass
> ii  qgis-provider-grass 1:2.18.13+24xenial-ubuntugis                 
> amd64        GRASS provider for QGIS
> 
> More info:
> $ gdalinfo --version
> GDAL 2.2.1, released 2017/06/23
> $ grass --version
> GRASS GIS 7.2.2
> 
> Running 'qgis --debug & ' does not show anything unusual.
> 
> This is getting tiresome - every few months a routine system upgrade trashes 
> GRASS support.
> 
> Any suggestions are welcome,
> Thanks, Micha
> 
> -- 
> Micha Silver
> Ben Gurion Univ.
> Sde Boker, Remote Sensing Lab
> cell: +972-523-665918
> 

Micha,

I can at least explain why this has happened in the past. When a new
version of QGIS or GRASS comes out, all the dependencies in the repo
need to be rebuilt. It's somewhat circular too with the link between
grass, gdal and QGIS.

This can take a few days. Until then the package versions are not quite
in sync. You could say it's a design flaw of Launchpad, there's no wait
until all the packages in the repo are rebuilt before pushing feature.

I know Sebastian and Angelos try to build all in the Test repo and then
copy over to Unstable. But sometimes that just doesn't go smoothly.

The place to report issues is the ubuntugis mailing list
ubuntu at lists.osgeo.org on https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu

My recommendation is that you do not upgrade QGIS as soon as the update
shows up but wait a day or two. Make sure the corresponding GRASS update
is available.

Thanks,
Alex