plainbox-provider-certification-client breaks Ubuntu 3D graphics in 12.04.5

[Kristin Chuang]

[Test steps]
1. Install plainbox related packages on a 12.04.5 system with the following commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:checkbox-dev/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install checkbox checkbox-ng plainbox plainbox-provider-certification-client

2. Reboot system

[Expected result]
(1) No graphic related packages are removed when installing plainbox-provider-certification-client
(2) Ubuntu should still be running in 3D after a system reboot

[Actual result]
(1) The following packages have been removed when installing plainbox-provider-certification-client
-------------------------------------------------------------------
u@u-Test:~$ sudo grep Removing /var/log/apt/term.log
Removing libegl1-mesa-drivers-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-all-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-input-all-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-input-evdev-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-vmware-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-vesa-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-trident-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-tdfx-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-sisusb-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-sis-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-savage-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-s3-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-openchrome-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-nouveau-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-neomagic-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-modesetting-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-mga-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-intel-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-fbdev-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-cirrus-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-input-wacom-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-input-mouse-lts-trusty ...
Removing x11-xserver-utils-lts-trusty ...
Removing 'diversion of /usr/bin/xrandr to /usr/bin/xrandr.orig by x11-xserver-utils-lts-trusty'
Removing libxatracker2-lts-trusty ...
Removing libwayland-egl1-mesa-lts-trusty ...
Removing libopenvg1-mesa-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-mach64-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-glamoregl-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-core-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-common-lts-trusty ...
Removing 'diversion of /usr/lib/xorg/protocol.txt to /usr/lib/xorg/protocol-precise.txt by xserver-common-lts-trusty'
Removing libglapi-mesa-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-radeon-lts-trusty ...
Removing libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-trusty ...
Removing libglamor-ltst0 ...
Removing libegl1-mesa-lts-trusty ...
Removing libgbm1-lts-trusty ...
Removing ubuntu-desktop ...
Removing xorg ...
Removing libgl1-mesa-dri-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-ati-lts-trusty ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-r128-lts-trusty ...
 Removing any system startup links for /etc/init.d/zzz-bootchart-stop ...
 Removing any system startup links for /etc/init.d/stop-bootchart ...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) Ubuntu runs in 2D mode after a system reboot

[Note]
1. Please see the attached file for installation logs (attached logs contain the section for plainbox-provider-certification-client installation only)
2. Issue is the same as https://bugs.launchpad.net/checkbox-satellite/+bug/1318084 , only we did not install plainbox via checkbox-satellite.

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

Dell XPS 13 9333 (CID: 201309-14238) seems to have the same issue on 12.04.5.

Would you please try to re-install

libegl1-mesa-lts-trusty
and
ubuntu-desktop

and see whether the system goes back to 3D mode?

Please note the sequence is importance, libegl1-mesa-lts-trusty first and then ubuntu-desktop.

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

it looks like relevant to LP: #1318084

[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

As Taihsiang mentioned, the root couse is bug 1318084. The issue here is that plainbox-provider-checkbox depends on glmark2-es2, which in turn requires packages providing libgles2-mesa and libglapi-mesa. The direct packages (named libgles2-mesa and libglapi-mesa) are older and do not take into consideration the updated X stack for 12.04 point releases, so in essence they try to downgrade the X stack back to 12.04.0.

The correct way to satisfy these dependencies with the enablement stacks is with the stack-specific packages that provide (via virtual package) those services. For 12.04.5, *before* installing checkbox, do this:

apt-get install -y --force-yes libgles2-mesa-lts-trusty libegl1-mesa-lts-trusty

It's not easy to solve on the packaging side (i.e. I can't really make apt-get install plainbox-provider-checkbox work correctly) because apt-get has no provision for this, and the fact that glmark2-es2 is not a directly-installed package but a recommends of our packages also complicates things.

Other than the workaround I suggested, the alternative we will explore is making the glmark2-es2 dependency arch-specific. glmark2-es2 should run only on arm systems, not x86, so by ensuring it doesn't have that dependency on x86, we can eliminate this problem.

[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

The fix I submitted should be available in stable checkbox packages by August 29th (and should be available in a testing package by Monday, in case you want to try it). In the meanwhile, please use the apt-get installation I described as a workaround. Thanks!

[Kristin Chuang (kristinchuang)]

Confirmed that the workaround in comment #4 works.