[HOW TO] Downgrade Abiword version to 2.8.6 in Xubuntu 12.04/12.10

It has been brought to my attention, by one of the readers, that the Abiword 2.9 which is pre-installed in Xubuntu 12.04/12.10 has some problems. The last stable version is 2.8.6 and people were happier with it, so I wrote a simple script to downgrade the installed version to 2.8.6.

Abiword 2.8.6 running on Xubuntu 12.10
Abiword 2.8.6 running on Xubuntu 12.10

The script removes the current installed version, downloads and installs the deb files for version 2.8.6 and locks this version so it won't get upgraded automatically when the system is upgraded. The code on the "Downgrade" section of this post, downloads and executes this script. It'll ask for your password because it needs administrator privileges for installing the packages.

Downgrade

Open a terminal window and run:

cd && wget -O downgrade_abiword.sh http://goo.gl/cZM6N && chmod +x downgrade_abiword.sh && ./downgrade_abiword.sh && rm downgrade_abiword.sh

Comments

  1. Hi, Wilson.

    First of all, thank you to answer my request.You're so generous.

    However, I tried the script and it removed Abiword 2.9 but didn't install the 2.8.6 version. At the end of the process, there's an error message:

    ERROR: Unknown architecture.

    I don't know what does it mean or why my computer doesn't allow to install the 2.8.6 version.

    Carlos-Xfce

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could you run this command: uname -m
      and tell me what the output is?

      Delete
    2. Hi, it's me again.

      After the command "uname -m", the output is "i686" (without the quotation marks).

      Carlos-Xfce

      Delete
    3. Okay, thank you. Please try again to install.

      Delete
  2. I am running a fresh install of Xubuntu 12.10 64 bit and I had issues with this script as well. It removed Abiword 2.9, but didn't install the older package because of dependency issues.

    This is from the terminal output:

    Setting up abiword-common (2.8.6-0.3ubuntu2) ...
    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of abiword:
    abiword depends on libaiksaurusgtk-1.2-0c2a (>= 1.2.1+dev-0.12); however:
    Package libaiksaurusgtk-1.2-0c2a is not installed.
    abiword depends on libgoffice-0.8-8 (>= 0.8.8); however:
    Package libgoffice-0.8-8 is not installed.
    abiword depends on libjpeg62 (>= 6b1); however:
    Package libjpeg62 is not installed.

    dpkg: error processing abiword (--install):
    dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libabiword-2.8:
    libabiword-2.8 depends on libgoffice-0.8-8 (>= 0.8.8); however:
    Package libgoffice-0.8-8 is not installed.
    libabiword-2.8 depends on libjpeg62 (>= 6b1); however:
    Package libjpeg62 is not installed.

    dpkg: error processing libabiword-2.8 (--install):
    dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libwv-1.2-3:
    libwv-1.2-3 depends on libjpeg62; however:
    Package libjpeg62 is not installed.

    dpkg: error processing libwv-1.2-3 (--install):
    dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of abiword-plugin-grammar:
    abiword-plugin-grammar depends on libabiword-2.8 (= 2.8.6-0.3ubuntu2); however:
    Package libabiword-2.8 is not configured yet.
    abiword-plugin-grammar depends on abiword (= 2.8.6-0.3ubuntu2); however:
    Package abiword is not configured yet.

    dpkg: error processing abiword-plugin-grammar (--install):
    dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of abiword-plugin-mathview:
    abiword-plugin-mathview depends on libabiword-2.8 (= 2.8.6-0.3ubuntu2); however:
    Package libabiword-2.8 is not configured yet.
    abiword-plugin-mathview depends on abiword (= 2.8.6-0.3ubuntu2); however:
    Package abiword is not configured yet.

    dpkg: error processing abiword-plugin-mathview (--install):
    dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
    Processing triggers for shared-mime-info ...
    Unknown media type in type 'all/all'
    Unknown media type in type 'all/allfiles'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/mms'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/mmst'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/mmsu'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/pnm'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/rtspt'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/rtspu'
    Processing triggers for menu ...
    Processing triggers for man-db ...
    Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
    Processing triggers for mime-support ...
    Errors were encountered while processing:
    abiword
    libabiword-2.8
    libwv-1.2-3
    abiword-plugin-grammar
    abiword-plugin-mathview

    Hope this helps you sort things out. Love your site, you've always got some really helpful info! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry. I'm also using 12.10 and I thought that I had all dependencies solved. I'll solve this ASAP.

      Delete
    2. Those dependencies are now installed by the script. It should be working now.

      Delete
  3. Thanks Mr. Santos. :-)
    I just read your reply, and I'll give it a shot again when I can pry my husband away from my computer... LOL
    I'll keep you posted. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just a thought- since I have a fresh install of 12.10 and I don't want to muck things up on my nicely running system.
    I have already UNinstalled Abiword 2.9 when I first tried the script.
    Should I be running the above script just to install version 2.86?
    Just wondering, as I'm not exactly a CLI guru like you are and I don't want to create problems... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can run the script with Abiword uninstalled.

      Delete
  5. Hi, Wilson.

    It's me again. Last week, I had problems with the script. It created a problem with repositories and dependences: everytime the system asked me to update but nothing happends. I tried to open Abiword, but nothing happens either. Fortunately, I tried the script in my netbook, where I don't have any important file, so I reinstalled the whole Xubuntu 12.10.

    Now, I just tried the script and it works very well. Thank you very much. I'm happy because I hope I can work with Abiword without problems.

    Until next time,

    Carlos-Xfce.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, Wilson!

    It's possible to have Firefox ( Thunderbird, Radio Try, etc) in the panel? I've tried with add items AND SEARCH but don't work.
    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is this what you're looking for: http://goo.gl/iTKPs?

      Delete
  7. Hi

    I've just switched from ubuntu 10.04 to xubuntu 12.10 and your blog has been a great discover!

    I downgradeded abiword but today are available some updates to abiword, ¿have you prove them?

    I mean, if this update give to abiword 2.9 the same stability that 2.8 has ¿how I can unlock the updates for abiword?

    Thanks in advance

    Miguel

    ReplyDelete
  8. According to Abiword's website, 2.8 is still the latest stable version. If the developers themselves are saying this, I won't expect 2.9 to be any stabler than 2.8.

    You can unlock Abiword's version so it'll be automatically updated using this five commands:
    echo "abiword install" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
    echo "abiword-plugin-grammar install" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
    echo "abiword-plugin-mathview install" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
    echo "abiword-common install" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
    echo "libabiword-2.8 install" | sudo dpkg --set-selections

    ReplyDelete
  9. It worked perfectly for me! Thank you very very much!

    Andrew

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have Xubuntu 12.04 and it works perfect. God job!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you so very much!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your script is just. That. Awesome. I plugged into the cli for the latest stable version but still got 2.92, unfortunately. Used your script and it still worked successfully, for my Linux Mint 13 XFCE. Thank you sir, you are a scholar.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you, Wilson, your solution worked like a charm.
    Vic

    ReplyDelete
  14. Works perfect! Thanks a lot! (Xubuntu 12.04)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Worked perfect to downgrade on Kubuntu 12.04 . Thank-you greatly.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Tried the script in ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10. It worked very well.
    Thank you for the work.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wilson,

    I think maybe something was reverted back to a prior version because it looks like I'm receiving the same error as mrsfixit did on 2/22/13. After the script runs for a while the installation finishes with these lines:

    (There are several 'dependency problem' errors prior to this one.)
    dpkg: error processing libwv-1.2-3 (--install):
    dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
    Processing triggers for shared-mime-info ...
    Unknown media type in type 'all/all'
    Unknown media type in type 'all/allfiles'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/mms'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/mmst'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/mmsu'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/pnm'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/rtspt'
    Unknown media type in type 'uri/rtspu'
    Processing triggers for man-db ...
    Errors were encountered while processing:
    abiword-plugin-grammar
    abiword-plugin-mathview
    abiword
    libabiword-2.8
    libwv-1.2-3

    Do you still maintain this script? If so, would you please fix these errors for me?

    Thank you,
    Ken

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could you tell me which Xubuntu version are you running? This script was meant for 12.04 and 12.10.

      Delete
    2. Oh, sorry, I meant to include that, but I ended up forgetting it. I'm using Kubuntu 12.04.

      Ken

      Delete
    3. Wilson,

      I didn't see a reply from you, so I wasn't sure if you have been able to look into this yet. I gave it another try, and i still received the same error. I'm using Kubuntu 12.04 rather than Xubuntu, but since it is the 12.04 version I would tend to expect it to still work, and I saw a comment above saying it worked for another Kubuntu 12.04 user.

      Ken

      Delete
    4. Sorry for the delay.
      I installed Kubuntu 12.04 in a virtual machine and got dependency errors as well. I updated the script to install those packages. Please retry and tell me if it's working.

      Delete
    5. No, it didn't work for me. I received the same errors as I did previously.
      Ken

      Delete
    6. Could you list the packages that are missing? Also you can try:
      sudo apt-get -f install

      Usually this installs all the missing dependencies.

      Delete
    7. Wilson,
      That seems to have taken care of things. I used apt-get-f and then retried your script. I can now run abiword 2.8.6.
      Thank you so much for your script and the additional help you gave me.
      Ken

      Delete
    8. I'm glad your problem is resolved.

      Delete
  18. Is there a mirror of this script anywhere?

    Or at least a rough idea of what it does

    Right now the goo.gl address gives a 404.


    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was stored at google code. I'll store it somewhere else as soon as possible.

      Delete

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