Anki fails to start

[the-country-of-jordan]

Is this a new report?

Yes

System Info

Void 6.18.44_1 x86_64

Package(s) Affected

anki-26.08.1_1, python3-protobuf-5.29.4_2

Does a report exist for this bug with the project's home (upstream) and/or another distro?

No response

Expected behaviour

The package installs and runs normally when started.

Actual behaviour

Anki installs successfully but fails to start with a protobuf version mismatch.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/anki", line 5, in <module>
    from aqt import run
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/aqt/__init__.py", line 51, in <module>
    import anki.lang
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/anki/lang.py", line 13, in <module>
    import anki._backend
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/anki/_backend.py", line 17, in <module>
    from anki import _rsbridge, backend_pb2, i18n_pb2
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/anki/backend_pb2.py", line 12, in <module>
    _runtime_version.ValidateProtobufRuntimeVersion(
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        _runtime_version.Domain.PUBLIC,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    ...<4 lines>...
        'anki/backend.proto'
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/google/protobuf/runtime_version.py", line 106, in ValidateProtobufRuntimeVersion
    _ReportVersionError(
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        'Detected mismatched Protobuf Gencode/Runtime major versions when'
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        f' loading {location}: gencode {gen_version} runtime {version}.'
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        f' Same major version is required. {error_prompt}'
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/google/protobuf/runtime_version.py", line 50, in _ReportVersionError
    raise VersionError(msg)
google.protobuf.runtime_version.VersionError: Detected mismatched Protobuf Gencode/Runtime major versions when loading anki/backend.proto: gencode 7.35.1 runtime 5.29.4. Same major version is required. See Protobuf version guarantees at https://protobuf.dev/support/cross-version-runtime-guarantee.

Anki was built successfully and installs without errors, but cannot be launched after installation.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install anki-26.08.1_1.
2. Run anki from desktop file.
3. Observe anki does not run.
4. Run anki from terminal.
5. Anki exits immediately with the traceback above.

[the-country-of-jordan]

@nazaradeh

[nazaradeh]

Fix ready to go: #62031