Ubuntu
slingshot package

slingshot won't lauch (unable to read font filename)

Bug #1400460 reported by Fabio M. Panico on 2014-12-08

This bug affects 6 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	slingshot (Debian)	Fix Released	Unknown	debbugs #758623
	slingshot (Ubuntu)	Fix Released	High	Unassigned

Bug Description

Slingshot will not launch.

When I try to lauch with the GUI, nothing happen. But when I try to lauch via terminal there's an error message.

Below, I give details on what's happening.

I've install slingshot with "apt-get install slingshot" on a fresh installed and updated system (Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca, but same thing happened on Ubuntu 14.04).
When I try to lauch slingshot using terminal, I receive the following error:

fabio@ThinkPad-T60 ~ $ slingshot
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/games/slingshot", line 61, in <module>
    class Game:
  File "/usr/games/slingshot", line 67, in Game
    Settings.font = pygame.font.Font(get_data_path("FreeSansBold.ttf"), 14)
IOError: unable to read font filename

I've looked into the above-mentioned file (/usr/games/slingshot) but found nothing strange to my non-developer eyes.
I've looked into the Internet, but could not find a solution to this problem.
I've try to change the FreeSansBold.ttf to FreeSans.ttf (which apparently is installed in my system, because I can see/use it whithin libreoffice-writer), in all 4 places the font is mentioned on the file (/usr/games/slingshot) but the problem persist.

Hope this help track down the problem.
I can provide further info if needed.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: slingshot 0.9-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-37.64-generic 3.13.11.7
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-37-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.6
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Dec 8 17:03:36 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-12-03 (5 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Linux Mint 17.1 "Rebecca" - Release i386 20141126
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: slingshot
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Fabio M. Panico (fbugnon) wrote on 2014-12-08:

Dependencies.txt Edit (4.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcEnviron.txt Edit (281 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2015-02-12:

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in slingshot (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

Volodya (volodya) wrote on 2015-05-20:

This is a regression on 14.04. The game worked very well on all versions before.

Revision history for this message

alstein (fogeiner) wrote on 2015-11-04:

Problem is the broken symlink: /usr/share/games/slingshot/data/FreeSansBold.ttf -> ../../../pyshared/pygame/freesansbold.ttf (probably it is pygame modification that caused this regression).

As a temporary workaround it is possible to install fonts-freefont-ttf package and replace the symlink:
sudo apt-get install fonts-freefont-ttf
sudo rm -f /usr/share/games/slingshot/data/FreeSansBold.ttf
sudo ln -s /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont/FreeSansBold.ttf /usr/share/games/slingshot/data/FreeSansBold.ttf

Revision history for this message

Christian Biamont (christianbiamont) wrote on 2016-09-22:

Add dependency and update symlink. Edit (1.6 KiB, text/plain)

Hi!

As alstein wrote, the problem is the broken symlink. I made a debdiff that updates the symlink and adds a dependency on fonts-freefont-ttf.

This debdiff is made for Ubuntu Xenial.

Christian

Mathew Hodson (mhodson) on 2016-09-23

tags:	added: packaging patch regression-release trusty xenial removed: rebecca
Changed in slingshot (Ubuntu):
importance:	Undecided → High

Revision history for this message

Daniel Holbach (dholbach) wrote on 2016-10-04:

I saw the bug is reported at https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=758623 too - do you think you could forward the patch there too? Or follow up with your analysis?

Revision history for this message

Daniel Holbach (dholbach) wrote on 2016-10-04:

Uploaded the patch, but as we're in freeze mode right now, it will probably take a bit until the archive admins get to review it and push it through.

Changed in slingshot (Ubuntu):
status:	Confirmed → Fix Committed

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2016-10-04:

This bug was fixed in the package slingshot - 0.9-1ubuntu1

---------------
slingshot (0.9-1ubuntu1) yakkety; urgency=medium

* Update symlink location to FreeSansBold.ttf. (LP: #1400460)
* Add dependency on fonts-freefont-ttf, where FreeSansBold.ttf resides.

-- Christian Biamont <email address hidden> Thu, 22 Sep 2016 22:12:57 +0200

Changed in slingshot (Ubuntu):
status:	Fix Committed → Fix Released

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater) on 2016-10-04

Changed in slingshot (Debian):
status:	Unknown → New

Revision history for this message

fidel (el-fidel) wrote on 2016-11-17:

I can reproduce the same problem in Ubuntu 16.04 using the 0.9-1 version of slingshot coming from the universe repository.

So i can NOT confirm that 0.9-1ubuntu1 is fixing the issue (regarding the 'Launchpad Janitor (janitor)' comment from 2016-10-04.

Revision history for this message

Christian Biamont (christianbiamont) wrote on 2016-12-10:

#10

The debdiff I submitted is tested on Ubuntu Xenial.

> Christian Biamont (christianbiamont) wrote on 2016-09-22:
>
> Hi!
>
> As alstein wrote, the problem is the broken symlink. I made a debdiff
> that updates the symlink and adds a dependency on fonts-freefont-ttf.
>
> This debdiff is made for Ubuntu Xenial.
>
> Christian