I’m a glutton for punishment. I’ll install software at the drop of a hat whether I need it or not. This is especially true about Linux desktop environments if they’re pretty enough. I looked at the latest KDE Plasma desktop, 5.26, and thought “shiney!” Because Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, as is Kubuntu, I decided to install 5.26. After all, with apt, how hard could it be? Turns out an installation would be a bit of a mess. But I’ll get to that further down. First, I had to check to make sure my Linux Mint 21 installation was up to date.

mint ~ sudo apt updateHit:1 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InReleaseHit:2 http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable InReleaseIgn:3 http://packages.linuxmint.com vanessa InReleaseHit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InReleaseHit:5 http://packages.linuxmint.com vanessa ReleaseHit:6 https://atl.mirrors.clouvider.net/ubuntu jammy InReleaseHit:7 https://atl.mirrors.clouvider.net/ubuntu jammy-updates InReleaseIgn:8 https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb stable InReleaseHit:9 https://atl.mirrors.clouvider.net/ubuntu jammy-backports InReleaseHit:10 https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb stable ReleaseReading package lists... DoneBuilding dependency tree... DoneReading state information... DoneAll packages are up to date.

Great. Nothing needed to be updated. I then went searching for directions on how to add the necessary repo to my local apt so I could install the up-to-date KDE. I found what I thought was a good set of directions, checked to make sure the publication date was recent, and it was, and then attempted to follow the directions. Thus I ran the following.

mint ~ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backportsYou are about to add the following PPA:Backports of new versions of KDE Platform, Plasma and Applications as well as major KDE apps for Kubuntu.sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backportsThis PPA will receive major version updates backported from later Kubuntu releases (and our development release);so if instead you want early access to just point (bugfix) releases of the versions of applications shipped with a Kubuntu release, then our updates PPA provides those: https://pad.lv/ppa/kubuntu-ppaMore info: https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-ppa/+archive/ubuntu/backportsPress Enter to continue or Ctrl+C to cancel

Nothing out of the ordinary, so I typed Enter. Then this was displayed.

Warning: apt-key is deprecated. Manage keyring files in trusted.gpg.d instead (see apt-key(8)).Executing: /tmp/apt-key-gpghome.ineZ8M22VJ/gpg.1.sh --keyserver hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com:443 --recv-keys E4DFEC907DEDA4B8A670E8042836CB0A8AC93F7Agpg: key 2836CB0A8AC93F7A: public key "Launchpad Kubuntu Updates" importedgpg: Total number processed: 1gpg:   imported: 1

*sign* I’ve seen this once before. I wanted to install the latest GCC/G++ compiler tools (version 12), so I attempted to add that repo with the same method above, and got the same dire warning. Rather than stopping I bulled ahead trying to install the latest, only to wind up with something of a mess. When I went searching for the proper way to migrate to the correct way to add a repo, those directions were a convoluted mess. In the end I removed everything including the repo entries down /etc/apt. Fortunately there was a backup of /etc/apt/trusted.gpg, so I restored that backup. There’s a second entry for the new repo in /etc/apt/sources.list.d, which in this instance is kubuntu-ppa-backports-jammy.list, so that gets deleted as well.

I have no idea if, let alone when, I’ll try this again. But before I do it sure would be nice if the apt tools would provide a way to automatically convert the old deprecated way into the new-hotness way. The way it currently is is just bullshit.