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I installed via the backports ppa but experiencing pretty much bugs. Is there any way to downgrade?

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You can use the programm ppa-purge to revert back to the current state. This is achieved via terminal-console:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

This installs the package.

Then make sure that the ppa-repository is ticked to "activated". One outline that is important, if the packages in the ppa-repository are newer than the ones you have installed, the programm fails, as it has to compare. Make sure that your system is up-to-date.

The correct command to revert is:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

Then you are presented with a long list what packages are going to be removed/installed once you strike the "y" for yes. You can try to interpret the list before hitting the "y". If anything seems to be suspicious to you, just don't do it.

If you want to make sure no essential package is missing, reinstall, the meta-package after the purge:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

And to make sure missing dependencies are resolved correctly:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Last not least to mention: turn off "auto-login" if enabled. Enable "Start with empty session" via the systemsettings. If you downgrade, you may want to avoid hitting a Plasma-problem with your personal cache. When everything so far seemed to have been successful, do not reboot yet, but logout from the current session. Then use the keys ALT+CTRL+F1 to come to a virtual terminal VT1 (ALT+F7 would bring you back, just to mention).

There login with your user-name and password (not echoed), then proceed to clear the personal cache:

rm -rf ~/.cache (Compare twice that you type this correctly)

This command deletes all content of the personal cache and it's subfolders.

To restart the machine from VT1 then use sudo reboot and cross fingers.

Notice that the 1st start may be a bit delayed, as the personal cache needs to build up again, and the indexing (if enabled) may asks for it's tribute as well.

(/offtopic) It would be of personal interest, what the bugs were you encountered. I'm using the Kubuntu-backports-ppa and it solved numberous bugs for me, so maybe you can try the cache-cleaning beforehand. (offtopic/)

If anything is unclear for you, don't mind asking.

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I am adding this answer here for anyone for whom ppa-purge method didnt work.

For me, for some reason ppa-purge was unable to remove the ppa and downgrade the packages. I had to manually do it.

  1. First go to /etc/apt/sources.list.d. This is a directory that contains all the PPA files.

    . Delete the PPA files for backports. In my case they were : kubuntu-ppa-ubuntu-backports-bionic.list and kubuntu-ppa-ubuntu-backports-bionic.list.save. (You may need to open the terminal and do sudo rm for this)

  2. Remove plasma: sudo apt remove plasma*

  3. Remove kdeplasma : sudo apt remove kdeplasma*

  4. This might remove kde-runtime. So install it again. sudo apt install kde-runtime

  5. Install plasma desktop again. sudo apt install plasma-desktop

  6. Now it is time to reinstall everything you had deleted.
    sudo apt install kdeplasma*
    sudo apt install plasma*

    While doing this you may get errors like unmet-dependencies and broken packages. Every package that is broken, you need to reinstall it to previous version. In the error , you will get a list of packages that could not be installed. So if one of the entry is something like:

    [package1] : Depends: [package2] (>= [some number]) but [some number]ubuntu1 is to be installed...

All you have to do is reinstall package2.
sudo apt remove [package2]
sudo apt install [package2]

  1. Now restart plasma shell
    killall plasmashell
    kstart plasmashell
    If you get errors like kstart:command not found, make sure you have installed kde-runtime.
    sudo apt install kde-runtime

  2. Now it may appear as if in the system tray and start menu, everything is out of place , font is not proper etc. This should be fixed on rebooting. But before you reboot you should install login theme, else you might have problems logging back in during reboot.
    sudo apt install sddm-theme-breeze

  3. reboot

  4. Once you have rebooted, you can check the version of your shell to make sure you have successfully downgraded to stable version. plasmashell -v

  5. Now you can remove unnecessary packages that might have been installed by doing sudo apt autoclean

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