Linux 9 stretch What to do about reviving speakup?

Willem van der Walt wvdwalt at csir.co.za
Fri Mar 29 01:54:20 EDT 2019


Hi again <Martin,
If I were you, at this point, this is what I would try.
1. First make sure espeak still works.
espeak "do you still talk"
If it talks, you know that the tts will work.
2. apt-get purge espeakup
This is to try and get rid of the failed espeakup install which makes your 
package manager unhappy.
3. Grab and build espeakup from git.
git clone git://github.com/williamh/espeakup.git
cd espeakup
make
make install

4. try running by hand.
modprobe speakup_soft if not yet done.
espeakup
press enter and see if you hear your prompt.
If you do, just put a line that says espeakup in your rc.local and make 
sure rc.local has execute permitions.
chmod 755 /etc/rc.local

5. Check if the speakup_soft module is set to load at boot.
On my ubuntu, there is a file: /etc/modules-load.d/modules.conf which 
contains a line:
speakup_soft
I wou;ld suggest that, if you have such a file, you add the line to it if 
it is not there.
If your distro has another way of specifying modules to load at boot time, 
use that.
If all else fails you can add the line to your /etc/rc.local.

5. Try rebooting and see if you still have speech.
HTH, Willem


On Thu, 28 Mar 2019, Martin McCormick wrote:

> [The e-mail server of the sender could not be verified (SPF Record)]
>
> Willem van der Walt <wvdwalt at csir.co.za> writes:
>> Hi Martin,
>> 
>> Firstly, speakup is a kernel module, so is likely installed with your
>> kernel packages, I.E. linux-image-some_numbers./
>> 
>> You can try to do:
>> modprobe speakup_soft
>> 
>> and if that just comes back to your prompt, the speakup_soft module 
>> loaded,
>
> It did.
>
>> prooving that speakup itself is fine.
>> 
>> In that case, I would suggest you do:
>> apt-get install --fix-missing
>
> I am not familiar with this but it sure sounds like a good idea.
>
> 	I tried it and it basically confirmed what I already know
> It tries to fix the problem.  The old script gives errors.  The
> new script gives errors so it gives up.  Here is it's output:
>
> Reading package lists...
> Building dependency tree...
> Reading state information...
> The following additional packages will be installed:
>  espeakup
> The following packages will be upgraded:
>  espeakup
> 1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 25 not upgraded.
> 12 not fully installed or removed.
> Need to get 0 B/37.2 kB of archives.
> After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
> Do you want to continue? [Y/n] apt-listchanges: Reading changelogs...
> (Reading database .
> Preparing to unpack .../espeakup_1%3a0.80-5+deb9u3_i386.deb ...
> Failed to stop espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service not loaded.
> invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "stop" failed.
> dpkg: warning: subprocess old pre-removal script returned error exit status 5
> dpkg: trying script from the new package instead ...
> Failed to stop espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service not loaded.
>
> That's odd if the new environment uses a different method of
> stopping and starting services.
>
>
> 	The rest is the crash log which is the same no matter if
> I try to deinstall/reinstall or run apt-get --fix-missing.
>
> Thanks anyway.
>
> invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "stop" failed.
> dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/espeakup_1%3a0.80-5+deb9u3_i386.deb (--unpack):
> subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 5
> update-rc.d: warning: start and stop actions are no longer supported; falling back to defaults
> Failed to start espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service is not loaded properly: Invalid argument.
> See system logs and 'systemctl status espeakup.service' for details.
> invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "start" failed.
> ● espeakup.service - Software speech output for Speakup
>   Loaded: error (Reason: Invalid argument)
>   Active: inactive (dead)
>     Docs: man:espeakup(8)
>
> Mar 28 16:37:27 wb5agz systemd[1]: [/lib/systemd/system/espeakup.service:12…CE}'
> Mar 28 16:37:27 wb5agz systemd[1]: espeakup.service: Service lacks both Exe…ing.
> Mar 28 16:41:11 wb5agz systemd[1]: [/lib/systemd/system/espeakup.service:12…CE}'
> Mar 28 16:41:11 wb5agz systemd[1]: espeakup.service: Service lacks both Exe…ing.
> Mar 28 16:41:13 wb5agz systemd[1]: [/lib/systemd/system/espeakup.service:12…CE}'
> Mar 28 16:41:13 wb5agz systemd[1]: espeakup.service: Service lacks both Exe…ing.
> Mar 28 16:41:19 wb5agz systemd[1]: [/lib/systemd/system/espeakup.service:12…CE}'
> Mar 28 16:41:19 wb5agz systemd[1]: espeakup.service: Service lacks both Exe…ing.
> Mar 28 16:41:21 wb5agz systemd[1]: [/lib/systemd/system/espeakup.service:12…CE}'
> Mar 28 16:41:21 wb5agz systemd[1]: espeakup.service: Service lacks both Exe…ing.
> Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.
> dpkg: error while cleaning up:
> subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
> Errors were encountered while processing:
> /var/cache/apt/archives/espeakup_1%3a0.80-5+deb9u3_i386.deb
> E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
>> which would try to sort out your half-installed packages.
>> Then try to re-install espeakup.
>> HTH, Willem
>> 
>> 
>> On Thu, 28 Mar 2019, Didier Spaier wrote:
>> 
>>
>>     [The e-mail server of the sender could not be verified (SPF Record)]
>>
>>     Hello Martin,
>>
>>     as the issue you describe is about Debian Stretch, maybe
>>
>>     you will find help on the Debian accessibility mailing list?
>>
>>     Best
>>
>>     Didier
>>
>>     On 28/03/2019 17:25, Martin McCormick wrote:
>>
>>         I know that speakup was upgraded some time ago and it quit
>>         starting on every system I had upgraded to Debian Stretch.  I
>>         have a couple of systems that mersifully still talk and usually
>>         log in to the stretch systems with no problem but this isn't
>>         rightas the stretch systems should have the ability  to talk on
>>         their own so I am trying to get this ability back and the error
>>         salad is uniquely opaque.
>>
>>                 I thought.  Let's just delete the speakup package and
>>         reinstall the new version and everything should be fine as we
>>         will get the new scripts.  Situation resolved right?
>>
>>                 Not exactly.  Speech is always harder than you think
>>         uness it just works from the get go.
>>
>>         Here's what happened when I tried to do that:
>>
>>         root at wb5agz:~# apt-get purge speakup
>>         E: Unable to locate package speakup
>>
>>         Okay.  Then I should be able to install speakup right?
>>
>>         root at wb5agz:~# apt-get install speakup
>>         The following packages were automatically installed and are no 
>> longer required:
>>           espeak espeak-data espeak-ng-data libespeak-ng1 libespeak1 
>> libpcaudio0
>>           libsonic0
>>         Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
>>         The following packages will be REMOVED:
>>           espeakup*
>>         0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 25 not upgraded.
>>         12 not fully installed or removed.
>>         After this operation, 79.9 kB disk space will be freed.
>>         Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
>>         dpkg: error processing package espeakup (--remove):
>>          package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should
>>          reinstall it before attempting a removal
>>         Errors were encountered while processing:
>>          espeakup
>>         E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
>>
>>                 My first response is, Ya.  Tell me something I don't
>>         already know.  Let's try the autoremove and see what happens.
>>
>>         root at wb5agz:~# apt-get autoremove
>>
>>         Reading package lists... 0%
>>
>>         Reading package lists... 100%
>>
>>         Reading package lists... Done
>>
>>         Building dependency tree... 0%
>>
>>         Building dependency tree... 0%
>>
>>         Building dependency tree... 50%
>>
>>         Building dependency tree... 50%
>>
>>         Building dependency tree... 60%
>>
>>         Building dependency tree... 75%
>>
>>         Building dependency tree... 91%
>> 
>>
>>         Building dependency tree
>>
>>         Reading state information... 0%
>>
>>         Reading state information... 0%
>>
>>         Reading state information... Done
>>         The following additional packages will be installed:
>>           espeakup
>>         The following packages will be upgraded:
>>           espeakup
>>         1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 25 not upgraded.
>>         12 not fully installed or removed.
>>         Need to get 0 B/37.2 kB of archives.
>>         After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
>>         Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
>>         Reading changelogs... 100%
>>
>>         Reading changelogs... Done
>>
>>         (Reading database ... (Reading database ... 5%
>>
>>         (Reading database ... 10%
>>         (Reading database ... 15%
>>         (Reading database ... 20%
>>         (Reading database ... 25%
>>         (Reading database ... 30%
>>         (Reading database ... 35%
>>         (Reading database ... 40%
>>         (Reading database ... 45%
>>         (Reading database ... 50%
>>         (Reading database ... 55%
>>         (Reading database ... 60%
>>         (Reading database ... 65%
>>         (Reading database ... 70%
>>         (Reading database ... 75%
>>         (Reading database ... 80%
>>         (Reading database ... 85%
>>         (Reading database ... 90%
>>         (Reading database ... 95%
>>         (Reading database ... 100%
>>         (Reading database ... 42616 files and directories currently 
>> installed.)
>>         Preparing to unpack .../espeakup_1%3a0.80-5+deb9u3_i386.deb ...
>>         Failed to stop espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service not loaded.
>>         invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "stop" failed.
>>         dpkg: warning: subprocess old pre-removal script returned error 
>> exit status 5
>>         dpkg: trying script from the new package instead ...
>>         Failed to stop espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service not loaded.
>>         invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "stop" failed.
>>         dpkg: error processing archive 
>> /var/cache/apt/archives/espeakup_1%3a0.80-5+deb9u3_i386.deb (--unpack):
>>          subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 5
>>         update-rc.d: warning: start and stop actions are no longer 
>> supported; falling back to defaults
>>         Failed to start espeakup.service: Unit espeakup.service is not 
>> loaded properly: Invalid argument.
>>         See system logs and 'systemctl status espeakup.service' for 
>> details.
>>         invoke-rc.d: initscript espeakup, action "start" failed.
>>         ● espeakup.service - Software speech output for Speakup
>>
>>                 At this point, the output of the scripts is so garbled
>>         with binary stuff, I can not really include any more but suffice
>>         it to say, I seem to be hosed in removing the old speakup and
>>         installing a new one so what is the least destructive way to
>>         purge all that is causing trouble and replace it with the proper
>>         new environment for speakup to work again as it used to.
>>
>>                 The version of espeakup shown right now is
>>
>>         ESpeakup 0.80
>>
>>         It was installed last November when I upgraded the system to
>>         stretch.
>>
>>                 Since I can't seem to get rid of the old way to start and
>>         stop services for speakup, it is no surprise that it isn't
>>         working but I am not sure where to slash and burn next as the
>>         rest of the system is fine so let's do as little harm as
>>         necessary.
>>
>>         Thanks for any good ideas.
>>
>>                 Martin McCormick  WB5AGZ
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         Speakup mailing list
>>         Speakup at linux-speakup.org
>>         http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>> 
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     Speakup mailing list
>>     Speakup at linux-speakup.org
>>     http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup at linux-speakup.org
>> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup at linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup


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