balena-etcher_2.1.4_amd64.deb fails on Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing): obsolete dependency + postinst expects /opt/balenaEtcher

[kairin]

Description

Installing the 2.1.4 amd64 .deb on Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka) fails dependency resolution because it depends on libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0, which no longer exists (replaced by libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0). Forcing install succeeds, but the postinst script expects /opt/balenaEtcher and errors because the package installs under /usr/lib/balena-etcher.

Etcher version

2.1.4 (from balena-etcher_2.1.4_amd64.deb)

OS

Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka) x86_64
Kernel: Linux 6.17.0-12-generic

lsb_release -a

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 25.10
Release: 25.10
Codename: questing

dpkg -s balena-etcher

Package: balena-etcher
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: utils
Installed-Size: 419898
Maintainer: Balena Ltd. <hello@balena.io>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 2.1.4
Depends: libgtk-3-0, libnotify4, libnss3, libxtst6, xdg-utils, libatspi2.0-0, libdrm2, libgbm1, libxcb-dri3-0, kde-cli-tools | kde-runtime | trash-cli | libglib2.0-bin | gvfs-bin, libasound2, libatk1.0-0, libc6, libcairo2, libcups2, libdbus-1-3, libexpat1, libfontconfig1, libfreetype6, libgcc1, libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0, libglib2.0-0, liblzma5, libnspr4, libpango1.0-0 | libpango-1.0-0, libstdc++6, libx11-6, libxcomposite1, libxcursor1, libxdamage1, libxext6, libxfixes3, libxi6, libxrandr2, libxrender1, libxss1, polkit-1-auth-agent | policykit-1-gnome | polkit-kde-1
Recommends: pulseaudio | libasound2
Suggests: gir1.2-gnomekeyring-1.0, libgnome-keyring0, lsb-release
Description: Flash OS images to SD cards and USB drives, safely and easily.
Homepage: https://github.com/balena-io/etcher

Dependency details

sudo apt install libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0
libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0 is already the newest version (2.42.12+dfsg-5).
libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0 set to manually installed.
Summary:
  Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 19

Steps to reproduce

1. sudo apt install ./balena-etcher_2.1.4_amd64.deb
2. Observe dependency failure: Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 but it is not installable
3. Force install:
   sudo dpkg -i --ignore-depends=libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 ./balena-etcher_2.1.4_amd64.deb
4. Observe postinst error:
   chmod: cannot access '/opt/balenaEtcher/chrome-sandbox': No such file or directory

Expected behavior

Install should succeed on current Ubuntu, with correct dependencies and postinst paths.

Actual behavior

Dependency failure on install; postinst path mismatch even after force install.

Workaround

Create symlink and reconfigure:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/balena-etcher /opt/balenaEtcher
sudo dpkg --configure -a

Additional logs / runtime output

After launching:

• (electron) 'session.getPreloads' is deprecated...
• (electron) 'session.setPreloads' is deprecated...
• [ERROR:crypto/nss_util.cc:344] NSS error code: -8018
• [ERROR:base/nix/mime_util_xdg.cc:137] Invalid mime.cache file...

System info (fastfetch)

                             ....              kkk@armaged
              .',:clooo:  .:looooo:.           -----------
           .;looooooooc  .oooooooooo'          OS: Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka) x86_64
        .;looooool:,''.  :ooooooooooc          Kernel: Linux 6.17.0-12-generic
       ;looool;.         'oooooooooo,          Uptime: 19 mins
      ;clool'             .cooooooc.  ,,       Packages: 2441 (dpkg), 43 (snap)
         ...                ......  .:oo,      Shell: bash 5.2.37
  .;clol:,.                        .loooo'     Display (P27FBA-RAGL): 1920x1080 in 27", 60 Hz [External]
 :ooooooooo,                        'ooool     DE: GNOME 49.0
'ooooooooooo.                        loooo.    WM: Mutter (Wayland)
'ooooooooool                         coooo.    WM Theme: Yaru-dark
 ,loooooooc.                        .loooo.    Theme: Yaru-dark [GTK2/3/4]
   .,;;;'.                          ;ooooc     Icons: Yaru-dark [GTK2/3/4]
       ...                         ,ooool.     Font: Ubuntu Sans (11pt) [GTK2/3/4]
    .cooooc.              ..',,'.  .cooo.      Cursor: Yaru (24px)
      ;ooooo:.           ;oooooooc.  :l.       Terminal: Ptyxis 49.1
       .coooooc,..      coooooooooo.           Terminal Font: Ubuntu Sans Mono (11pt)
         .:ooooooolc:. .ooooooooooo'           CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (12) @ 5.28 GHz
           .':loooooo;  ,oooooooooc            GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER [Discrete]
               ..';::c'  .;loooo:'             Memory: 6.04 GiB / 76.46 GiB (8%)
                                               Swap: 0 B / 8.00 GiB (0%)
                                               Disk (/): 95.32 GiB / 467.35 GiB (20%) - ext4
                                               Disk (/home): 74.09 GiB / 1.48 TiB (5%) - ext4
                                               Local IP (wlp9s0): 192.168.0.4/24
                                               Locale: en_US.UTF-8

[5kittlz]

i just unpacked the deb using dpkg-deb then changed the dependency from libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 to libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0 in the control file(it was missing the hyphen between "pixbuf" and "2.0-0"). Then installed using apt and it installed successfully for me.

[lurch]

See e.g. #4538