132. Ecce v 6.2 -- minor bug: nosymm in g09 input

Ecce 6.2 doesn't officially support Gaussian 09 as far as I know. However, they are compatible enough for a wide range of tasks.

However, if you use nosymm you will not be able to see orbital occupancy:


#P rb3lyp/6-31++g** 5D 7F Opt=()  Freq=()  Punch=(MO) Pop=() scrf=(pcm,         solvent=dichloromethane)

vs

 #P rB3LYP/6-31++g** 5D 7F Opt=()  Freq=()  Punch=(MO) Pop=() scrf=(pcm,         solvent=Dichloromethane) nosymm

131. Sort of Fixed: Gnome-screenshot (3.4.1) broken in debian testing -- how to fix it

UPDATE 9/6/2012: It's becoming incrasingly difficult to revert back to the old version of gnome-screenshot, hence the changed title of the post. I can't believe the gnome-screenshot hasn't been reverted back to a more sane behaviour -- any behaviour that leads to a score of bug reports (remember that there's a lot of self-censorship as few people submit bug reports even if they encounter a bug) is highly undesirable. I would not include screenshot in my posts if I hadn't already put a hold on my gnome-screenshot package. Anyway, keep an eye on this one for (a lack of) updates: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=669629

Original post
Something weird happened after the updates today (http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/todays-3rd-of-may-2012-debian.html). When taking screenshots I didn't get a save dialogue.

I naturally presumed this to be a crippling bug:

gnome-screenshot

** (gnome-screenshot:8520): WARNING **: Unable to use GNOME Shell's builtin screenshot interface, resorting to fallback X11. Error: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Failed: Error: Expected type utf8 for Argument 'filename' but got type 'boolean' (nil)

After reading bug reports I noticed that a new screenshot shows up in the ~/Pictures folder -- but you get no dialogue re saving and name etc, so I might be forgiven for thinking that it didn't work at all. Yet, something was clearly out of whack.

A bit of googling led me here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-screenshot/+bug/929536

which pointed me to this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-screenshot/+bug/927952 and this: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=669629

Here's the source of it all: http://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-screenshot/commit/?id=3bbc1e158fd58ec7f4f984f6d3c15ec95e65a035

Yes. The broken behaviour is a design feature. It's idiotic.

I like gnome-shell now that I've customized it. But seriously, what the gnome devs want as default behaviour can only be considered as broken behaviour by any long term desktop user. This new behaviour is idiotic and will only benefit those who don't use screenshot very often  -- those who do will definitely want control over where screenshots are saved and under what names.

The worst, intended 'solution':

If I would guess at the intentions of the gnome dev/s, they'd suggest you map your print scrn key to gnome-screenshot -i. This brings up a dialogue. Asking you to select full screen, window or area. You can then click on take screen shot, and you then get the save dialogue. Suddenly it got a lot less convenient. Something that was quick and easy now has become clunky.

The better solution:

I used the snapshot archive:

http://snapshot.debian.org/package/gnome-utils/3.2.1-3/#gnome-screenshot_3.2.1-3

1. Download the previous version, e.g. 

wget http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20120313T034114Z/pool/main/g/gnome-utils/gnome-screenshot_3.2.1-3_amd64.deb

2. And install

 sudo dpkg -i gnome-screenshot_3.2.1-3_amd64.deb 

dpkg: warning: downgrading gnome-screenshot from 3.4.1-1 to 3.2.1-3.

3. Prevent the package from being upgraded again:

sudo su

echo "gnome-screenshot hold"|dpkg --set-selections

The behaviour should now be back to usable.

This post contained no screenshots. For obvious reasons.

---

Links to this post:
http://qfox.nl/notes/153

130. Today's (3rd of May 2012) debian wheezy/testing updates -- Confused

You may want to be careful if you do dist-upgrade today.

Today
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
gave

The following packages will be REMOVED:
  gnome gnome-desktop-environmentThe following NEW packages will be installed:
  gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0 iputils-tracepath
The following packages have been kept back:
  libboost-date-time-dev libboost-dev libboost-regex-dev libboost-signals-dev libgl1-nvidia-glx libmono-winforms2.0-cil nvidia-alternative nvidia-glx nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-vdpau-driver python-pyatspi2 xserver-xorg-video-nvidia
The following packages will be upgraded:
  gnome-core gnome-nettool gsettings-desktop-schemas gsettings-desktop-schemas-dev

No worries there, so I continued.

However, having seen the removal of gnome, gnome-core etc. cause issues before (http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/fixed-no-internet-on-old-dell-after.html) I did
apt-get -s autoremove
afterwards.

The following packages will be REMOVED:
  abiword abiword-common abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview aisleriot cheese ekiga file-roller gdebi gedit gedit-common gedit-plugins gir1.2-gdata-0.0 gir1.2-goa-1.0 gir1.2-gucharmap-2.90 gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-3.0 gir1.2-rb-3.0 gir1.2-tracker-0.14 gir1.2-webkit-3.0 glchess glines gnect gnibbles gnobots2 gnome-cards-data gnome-documents gnome-games gnome-games-data gnome-games-extra-data gnome-nettool gnome-sudoku gnome-video-effects gnomine gnotravex gnotski gnuchess gnuchess-book gnumeric gnumeric-common grilo-plugins-0.1 gtali hamster-applet iagno iputils-tracepath libabiword-2.9 libatk-adaptor-schemas libboost-date-time1.49.0 libboost-serialization1.49.0 libboost-signals1.49.0 libcec1 libdmapsharing-3.0-2 libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libgexiv2-0 libgpod-common libgpod4 libgrilo-0.1-0 libgtkmathview0c2a libgupnp-av-1.0-2 libhal-storage1 liblink-grammar4 libmagick++4 libmagickcore4 libmagickcore4-extra libmagickwand4 libminiupnpc5 libnatpmp1 libnet1 libnfs1 libopal3.10.4 libots0 libpt2.10.4 librhythmbox-core5 libwv-1.2-4 liferea liferea-data link-grammar-dictionaries-en mahjongg media-player-info minissdpd python-evolution python-wnck quadrapassel rhythmbox rhythmbox-data rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder rhythmbox-plugins seahorse shotwell simple-scan sound-juicer tcptraceroute telepathy-idle transmission-common transmission-gtk unoconv xdg-user-dirs-gtk
  ... 97 to remove and 12 not upgraded.

Yeah, that doesn't sound good - I use seahorse, ekiga etc.

If the package version is given (libboost-date-time1.49.0) it's often ok to remove. But removing un-versioned packages is a better indication of something major being underway.

Anyway, taking a quick gander at gnome-desktop-enviroment which got removed:

Package: gnome-desktop-environment    
State: not installed
Version: 1:3.0+8
Priority: optional
Section: gnome
Maintainer: Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Architecture: all
Uncompressed Size: 43.0 k
Depends: gnome (>= 1:3.0+8)
Description: The GNOME Desktop Environment - transitional package
 This is the GNOME Desktop environment, an intuitive and attractive desktop.

 This meta-package is obsolete and has been replaced by “gnome”.

Then checking gnome (which also got removed):

  Package: gnome                        
State: not installed
Version: 1:3.0+8
Priority: optional
Section: gnome

Seems like gnome got marked for removal although it shouldn't have been.

sudo apt-get install gnome
followed by
sudo apt-get -s autoremove

 The following packages will be REMOVED:
  dasher dasher-data gnome-accessibility-themes libboost-date-time1.49.0 libboost-serialization1.49.0 libboost-signals1.49.0 libcec1 libgail-gnome-module libhal-storage1 libmagick++4 libmagickcore4 libmagickcore4-extra libmagickwand4
  libnet1 libnfs1 tcptraceroute
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 16 to remove and 12 not upgraded.

Which makes a lot more sense.

Ergo, be careful when you use autoremove -- sometimes it will kill your desktop. Keep an eye at what dist-upgrade does.