Bug 502370

Summary:	Application fails to open; Command "pandoc", "multimarkdown", "cmark" is not available
Product:	[Applications] ghostwriter	Reporter:	Franco Speziali <franco.s>
Component:	general	Assignee:	megan.conkle
Status:	RESOLVED UNMAINTAINED
Severity:	major	CC:	john.kizer
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	23.08.5
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Kubuntu
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Franco Speziali 2025-04-03 19:07:44 UTC

SUMMARY

After installing the application from the Ubuntu store, - OR - manually by adding the ppa:wereturtle/ppa,
the application fails to open.

Uninstalling and re-installing ghostwriter has no effect.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Install Kubuntu 24.10
2. Install all available updates
3. Install and run ghostwriter from ubuntu store

OBSERVED RESULT
Ghostwriter fails to open. Running the application via the command line reveals the following error:

Command "pandoc" is not available.
Command "multimarkdown" is not available.
Command "cmark" is not available.
ghostwriter: ./src/blocks.c:283: finalize: Assertion `b->flags & CMARK_NODE__OPEN' failed.
Aborted (core dumped)

EXPECTED RESULT
The software should not fail on start.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
(available in the Info Center app, or by running `kinfo` in a terminal window)
Operating System: Kubuntu 24.10
KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.6.0
Qt Version: 6.6.2
Kernel Version: 6.11.0-21-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 8 × 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
Memory: 15.2 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® Xe Graphics

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The crazy thing is, it was working when I originally installed it. Then it just stopped for the aforementioned reason. That's when I tried removing / reinstalling it. The only modifications I've made to this OS are regularly installing the updates when they appear.

The snap version works because presumably the dependencies are packaged with the snap (but here I have problems with permissions).

Comment 1 John Kizer 2025-04-11 03:49:13 UTC

Hi - I'm afraid Ghostwriter 23.08.5 is unfortunately no longer eligible for support or maintenance from KDE. If you need support for Ghostwriter 23.08.5, please contact your distribution, who bears the responsibility of providing support for older software in their repositories.

Typically, keeping older versions running like that requires some work on packaging and patching by the downstream distribution - Ubuntu/Kubuntu in this case - so there may be some missing dependencies or files in how they are distributing Ghostwriter for the 24.10 release.

Thanks for understanding!