Ubuntu 16.04.2 cannot login after installing xpra

Question

I'm using Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS (desktop). When I install xpra from official repository, I notice that it removes ubuntu-desktop and many xorg packages. Then as long as I don't log out or reboot, everything works fine. Once I log out or reboot, I cannot login any more. The login screen simply freezes and I can't type my password, nor can I turn to the terminal.

This problem can be easily reproduced in a virtual machine.

1. Fresh install Ubuntu Desktop 16.04.2
2. sudo apt-get install xpra
3. Reboot
4. Then you can't login.

I tried boot into a terminal and reinstall lightdm and ubuntu-desktop but it does not work. The only resolution at the moment is to purge xpra and install an older version (0.14.35-1) from http://xpra.org/dists/xenial/main/binary-amd64/xpra_0.14.35-1_amd64.deb and restore ubuntu-desktop mannualy.

I also tried xpra with Ubuntu 16.10 and 17.04 and both works perfectly. In 16.04, xpra in Ubuntu official repo (v0.15) and later releases (1.x, 2.x) do not work.

I'm wondering why this package in official repo by default removes so many important packages and somehow modifies system configuration so that even I don't run it at all it makes me unable to login again.

Related posts:

• https://superuser.com/questions/1222706/ubuntu-login-screen-hangs-after-installing-xpra
• xpra version on ubuntu 16.04

Answer 1

Install the official packages from xpra.org instead, and these problems will go away.