Anki-2.1.54-linux-qt5 does not start

Anki Desktop
1

Hi there,

I am a long time user of Anki and I never have any kind of trouble. This is a wonderful application!

I think I was using v2.1.49. I got the message that a new version was available. I downloaded v2.1.54 for qt5. This was the first time I noticed the difference between qt5 and qt6 versions, and also the use of zstd.

I use Debian Buster with KDE and I am pretty comfortable with the terminal.

When I ran anki just after the install, I got this message :

$ anki
Anki starting...
Initial setup...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "aqt.qt", line 13, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'PyQt6'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "aqt", line 45, in <module>
  File "aqt.gui_hooks", line 11, in <module>
  File "aqt.hooks_gen", line 18, in <module>
  File "aqt.qt", line 15, in <module>
  File "aqt.qt.qt5", line 11, in <module>
ImportError: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5: version `Qt_5.15' not found (required by /usr/local/share/anki/lib/PyQt5/QtCore.abi3.so)

Did I miss something?

Hints :

  • PyQt6 is mentioned but I really installed Qt5 package. Strange.
  • Qt_5.15 is not found. In Buster, I guess it comes with 5.11.3. 5.15 is only available with Bullseye. Would it mean that it is only compatible with Debian 11?

I reinstalled 2.1.49 and it works perfectly, so I am not stuck.

I can run some tests if you like.

Thanks very much for your help.

Best regards,

Samuel

2

Anki includes a copy of Qt inside the bundle, and it’s supposed to be used instead of your system libraries. Maybe something is different about your system which is affecting the order libraries are loaded in?

The mention of Qt6 is normal, as Anki tries that first. Did you try the Qt6 download instead? Presumably you don’t have that installed on your system, so it may not suffer from the same issue.

3

Hi Dae,
Thanks for the information. I use a pretty standard Debian 10, therefore, I don’t think core parameters (env. variables, paths…) have been changed.
What I can do is to test the install with a brand new out of the box Debian 10 install (VM). I will do it as soon as possible and get back to you.
Best regards,
Samuel

4

Is there any particular reason your are not upgrading to the latest version of Debian? If you don’t want that, you can still install “future” packages with backports (that is, install a package in Debian 10 that is only available in a future version, Debian 11).

5

Good point. But we have some professional constraints and I cannot upgrade right now. This would be planned for next year. Anyway, Buster is still supported (oldstable), and for my understanding, Anki should not be bound to one specific distribution release.

6

Hi Dae,
I tested on an out-of-the-box fresh installed Debian 10 with KDE in a VM, but I still cannot start Anki (last qt5 version). There is an error message when I launch Anki from terminal but I guess the error message is slightly different from the one I got. I don’t have it right now, but I would paste it in the thread.
Regards,
Samuel

7

It’s more the other way around: Debian has a “slow moving” policy, that is, they purposefully upgrade their packages a bit behind schedule to provide more stability. If you use Debian, in general, you should be ready not to use the bleeding edge version of the packages. Since Anki’s packaging is peculiar, you have to manually install it, which means you stumble against the fact that installed libraries are outdated (because there was no packager between you and Anki which kept Anki to a compatible version with your system).

8

You’re definitively right. I prefer stability even if I lose some new features. No problem with that. I can live with that.

Best regards,

Samuel

9

I’ve made a note to look into it: Investigate trouble loading Qt5 build on Debian Buster · Issue #1994 · ankitects/anki · GitHub

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