installation of chrome browser corrupts tahrpup 64

[howardshippin]

I've had this twice now. After installing Chrome browser via quickpet, it becomes impossible to use CUPS. It gives Internal Server Error. What's worse is that uninstalling Chrome does not reverse the situation. So be warned! The first time this happened, I was not sure what program had corrupted tahrpup, so I kept testing CUPS after installing every new program. It happened only after installing Chrome. I'm not sure what to do about this except performing a new installation. That's the only way I solved it the last time.

I needed Chrome only for its built in flash handler.

[musher0]

Hi howardshippin.

If you need Chrome only for the built-in PepperFlash, you may want to try
the Vivaldi-1.9 browser and see if IT damages your CUPS.
Own site for Vivaldi: https://vivaldi.com/?lang=en_US
Pet packages available through this forum:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 36&t=97978
and
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 6&t=110328

Vivaldi is based on a Chromium "heart", same as Chrome, but the layout
and interface loosely resemble the old Opera 12.16. (They were put
together by the same developer, actually.)

If not using 666philb's Vivaldi package, you'll need to install PepperFlash
separately. I successfully installed Mike Walsh's pet for PepperFlash on my
Vivaldi. If you go to MIke's thread for PepperFlash, I spelled out the
download link there the other day:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 847#956922

Finally, some other forum members here have recently announced pet
packages for other Chrome-derived browsers. I'm not too familiar with
them, though, so it may be worth your while to have a look around.

IHTH.

[Mike Walsh]

Hallo, Howard.

Now, then. Let's get to the bottom of this for ya, shall we?

You'll find this is a well-documented problem with Chrome in Puppy. Invariably, the .deb package (which is the culprit here) resets permissions all over the place.....including CUPS. This is down to the fact that Debian (and by extension, Ubuntu) are both multi-user systems. Puppy has been specifically designed to be a single-user system. It runs as root all the time. It would be pretty pointless for a single-user system to keep demanding your password every time you want to do maintenance on it..!

The Chrome .deb package doesn't know this, however, and merrily goes ahead and does what it's been designed to do, setting up things for a multi-user system.....

Musher's advice is good. If you specifically want Chrome, see my thread here:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107301

I've been producing a 64-bit SFS package for Puppy ever since I started using the 64-bit Pups. It uses the extracted contents of the .deb package, although with corrected permissions, adjusted for 'running as root', and with various 'switches' set in the launcher script to make it run as efficiently as possible.

I also produce 64-bit SFS packages for SlimJet and Iron, both of which are Chromium 'clones'. SlimJet has built-in adblocking, 'turbo' downloading, and various other enhancements. Iron is all about privacy, yet is more like Chrome in appearance than SlimJet; 'Slimmie' has square tabs, reminiscent of pre-Australis FireFox, whereas Iron has the angled tabs of Chrome/Chromium.

For all that, I think SlimJet is the better browser. All three use the WideVine modules, which let you watch stuff like NetFlix. Just look under 'Additional Software: Browsers and Internet'.....you'll soon find 'em. peebee's Chromium packages are somewhere there, too, though Chromium itself is refusing to run in Tahrpup these days; it insists Tahrpup's glibc is too old!

If you're not sure about using the SFS packages, just let us know, and we can soon explain it; it's not hard, and makes for easier upgrading when you use them.

One question, however. Are you running a 'full' install.....or the recommended 'frugal' install?


Mike.

[howardshippin]

thanks both to Musher0 and to Mike.

Musher0 : I already have been using Vivaldi part-time, but without a flash solution. Thanks for your suggestion.

Mike: I will try out your packages; it's great that you are making them.

However, before any of that, I'd like to find a way of repairing my installation now, without having to reinstall everything again. I have a frugal installation, installed to a directory on my flash drive. I know about .sfs's and when I discover them try to install these or pet programs. But this time I used Quickpet - it is a bit annoying that Chrome is lingering in there like a spider, waiting to mess up everyone's Puppy installations

Mike, it looks like, with your work on Chrome packages, you might be the expert on knowing how to fix things. I've tried to look around in /etc and elsewhere, but without managing to identify any culprit files with today's date. It looks like everything still belongs to root. So if you are able to tell me what permissions to revert back, in order to get CUPS to work again, I would be happy to know. Maybe this information ought to be out there for others to find.

The last time that this happened to CUPS, I spent a couple of hours in the forums hunting for what might have caused the problem. I was only able to discover that program installations, especially Chrome were often responsible (though I didn't find an explanation why, or any remedy).

[mostly_lurking]

In his very informative "How to install your printer" thread, our printer expert rcrsn51 mentioned a few things that may need specific permissions:

4. Some printer drivers use the /tmp folder, which must have a full set of write permissions. Right-click on the /tmp folder and select Properties. All the "Write" boxes must be checked. This is also true for /dev/null and /var/tmp. Check that /dev/random is all-readable.

Did some of this get messed up on your system?

[howardshippin]

thanks mostly_lurking. Well a couple of those files did have different permissions, but changing them hasn't solved the problem.

That thread on printers is really long though, I'm slowly poring through it.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi again, Howard.

Huh. Believe it or not, I had this same problem myself several months ago.....and I had help to correct the problem here on the Forum, but off the top of my head I can't remember exactly how it was done.

Bear with me for a while, and I'll track it down.....


Mike.

[howardshippin]

Mike: wow! I'm trying too. There is something similar described at
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... &start=105
but so far, I've had no luck in find anything.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi again, Howard.

Have a look here:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 865#728865

.....and read downwards from that post. You need to check the permissions of /initrd/pup_rw. To find this, go into ROX, then click on the upward pointing arrow at the top left hand corner; this takes you into the file system. Locate/initrd, open it up, then locate /pup_rw, and right-click on it. Then select 'Properties'.

The window that comes up should, in normal operation, show the 'Execute' permissions like this:-



If it doesn't, then tick/untick the checkboxes as necessary to achieve that arrangement. Then, click on 'Refresh'. Finally, 'Close' the window.

Now, perform a re-boot. Not strictly necessary, but it just ensures Pup's reading the changes from the save-file/folder properly on a fresh boot. Check to see whether printing now works.

You may be best off by manually uninstalling Chrome, in this case. Try what I've said here, first, then we'll go through the steps for removal of Chrome.


Mike.

[ndujoe1]

A new Chrome install always does this form a .deb form.

This is what I have done to fix the printing issue. The install changes the permissions of some files.

Navigate to the initrd folder in root. and then change the pup_rw folder to the imaged properties. You access those by right clicking the pup_rw folder and choosing properties.

----
If you prefer using Google Chrome as I do. I have bypassed this issue entirely by setting up my printer as a wireless Google Cloud Printer if you uses has a wireless ability.

[musher0]

(...)
Navigate to the initrd folder in root. and then change the pup_rw folder to
the imaged properties.
(...)

What?

No-no-no, you never do that. That's your pupsave.
Besides I don't think you can access it directly.

Anyway, it's much better to unpack the Chrome deb file and recreate a pet
archive from that unpack.

Mike_Walsh is already providing it, for Heaven's sake!

BFN.

[howardshippin]

So far, no luck.
Changed the permissions in all the places that various people have recommended.
Tried installing an old midori-cups file which somebody else said fixed it.
Uninstalled Chrome, but only through PPM.
Reinstalled CUPS, so I will have to reinstall my printer.
Probably a complete reinstallation of Puppy again is the easiest at this stage, though I was trying to avoid that, and don't really have time for it now, so I will probably just live without a printer for awhile.

[Mike Walsh]

At this point, I would recommend you do just that.

Start over with a fresh frugal install (it's not like it takes long), perform the PPM and Tahr updates.....and this time, use the SFS package for Chrome. Avoid the .deb like the plague.

Are you aware of the preferred procedure for taking care of your personal data in Puppy? I'm referring to keeping your data on a separate or external partition, then sym-linking it into the /root directory of your Pup. This way, no matter how often you 'break' Pup, your data is untouched by re-installs.

Also, once you have Pup how you want it, take a copy of your save-folder, and keep it safe somewhere. This is then your 'backup', if you ever wish to return to a previous working state. You can 'update' your back-up save-folder as often as you like, of course, to take account of new stuff you may have added.


Mike.

[howardshippin]

Thanks again for all the bits of advice. Installed Puppy again and put everything back, then made a backup of the save folder using rcrsn51's nice new tool (http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=110090)
So now I'll go hunting for a chromium-based browser and pepper flash, for the occasional pages that Palemoon can't handle.

[Mike Walsh]

Hallo, Howard.

Just to make things easier for you:-

64-bit Chrome 59.0.3071.86 is here:-

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zp266e1yt ... 4-tahr.sfs

64-bit SlimJet 14.0.14.0 is here:-

http://www.mediafire.com/file/t4qon59m8 ... 4-tahr.sfs

Hope that helps!


Mike.

[howardshippin]

thanks Mike - I haven't needed to come back to the forums lately, so didn't notice your kind reply. I eventually opted for your Iron browser build, and it works very well, thanks.

Just to report though, I had trouble with the installation of SlimJet. It gave me some error message - can't remember what the problem was. I may try again at some point.

Vivaldi, which I have used a lot previously, does work, but it tends to freeze up occasionally. Maybe it demands more resources than Iron.

Palemoon is still good for ordinary browsing, since it opens quickly and does most of what I need. But Iron works better for my work, as we are on G Suite.

[Mike Walsh]

You're very welcome. Glad to hear you're all sorted, now...


Mike.

[howardshippin]

Mike: fyi here is the error I get for slimjet (screenshot)

[howardshippin]

Hi Mike,

Decided to install that chrome package from your link after encountering a service that would only accept Chrome or Firefox (a closed beta for the new Flattr)
The exec worked only after installing libgtk-3 (from PPM).
After doing so it works fine.
Thanks again.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi again, Howard.

Yes, I'm afraid GTK3 is now necessary for Chrome to function in Puppy. It's the way of the world; most of the Linux community (devs, programmers, and the like) have been heading down that road for a while now, and GTK3 is standard fare for most mainstream distros nowadays. Pup will eventually catch up on all fronts, but of course, it's still primarily a lightweight distro for keeping old hardware alive.....and, as such, needs to cater for all that ancient hardware!


Mike.