MobileSheets Forums

Hi all, I just started using MobileSheets, and want to install the Companion app on Linux (Ubuntu Studio 25.10), but there appear to be several unsatisfied dependencies which are preventing install.  Specifically, several versions of "libicu" are reported as "uninstallable".  

From suggestions I've found I've tried 'sudo apt install' and 'sudo dpkg -i'.  I've tried running directly from the download directory (which is on a separate internal drive, mounted persistently) and from root with the proper directory in the command path.  What am I missing?  How do I get these dependencies satisfied?  And why is the system "selecting 'mobilesheets' instead of './MobileSheetsCompanion.deb'?"  

I usually prefer installing from a package manager (Ubuntu Studio's default 'Discover' and also 'Synaptic'), but can't find MobileSheets Companion.  I can still dual-boot Windows 10, but I'm trying to completely wean myself off Windows.
Thanks in advance!  -Randy

I don't have the companion app managed and published from a public repository that would support a package manager. I don't know what kinds of changes I would have to make to be able to distribute my app from a package manager either. I'm not a Linux expert at all, and the companion app is the first Linux app I have distributed. Looking through posts like this https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=432536, they say to have your app in the Debian package manager, you have to get it into the Debian repository. I'm definitely not going to do that. To have it distributed through Flathub, I have to have a public repository that I distribute the app through. I also don't want to deal with that. All of these things eat up development time which I have very little of.

As far as what is happening in your terminal, I really have no idea what is going on there. I generally use "sudo dpkg -i MobileSheetsCompanion.deb" which seems to work fine (I tested it as I wrote this). I have found that Ubunto Studio seemed to be way more problematic than just standard Ubuntu the last time I tested all of this. I would recommend using the flatpak installation instead of the .deb package. I think you'll have more success with that. Or just use the zip file distribution and run the app out of the folder after unzipping it. That also works perfectly fine.

Mike

Thanks for the very prompt reply!  On a previous version of Ubuntu Studio I tried to get Flatpack working, but there seemed to be some conflict with the default (Discover) package manager, so I let it go.  I've heard that Flatpack installations have some advantages across the Linux landscape, so I may pursue that again.  Meanwhile, I've got the .zip file version and I'll try running that directly.  Thank you for providing the options.

Success.  I extracted the .zip file and moved it all to /opt/MobileSheetsCompanion/ on my primary drive.  Double click the "MobileSheetsCompanion" executable file (the one with no file-type suffix) and the program opened fine.  I had to manually configure the tablet's IP address to make the connection, and now it all works great!

I'm glad to hear it! With all of the different variants of Linux, I wanted to make sure I provided multiple installation options for just that reason.

Mike

Hi all!

First post

I encountered the exact same issue as the OP with libicu library and here is my experience in case it helps.

I'm on Debian Trixie 13.2. The issue in my case (and probably the OP) is that the version shipped with the distribution is newer than those accepted by the .deb package:


So libicu76 is the version that ships with Debian Trixie.
The dependencies listed in the control file:

So there are a bunch of accepted libicu versions, but nothing newer than 74.
I unpackaged the .deb file (dpkg-deb -R), edited DEBIAN/control file adding "| libicu76" to the dependencies line, repackaged (dpkg-deb -b) and it got installed without any issue. The program also runs smoothly (it's great, love it, thanks soooo much!!!)

There might be a reason for not to list newer versions, but my guess is that any version of libicu would work just fine?

Cheers!

(12-14-2025, 09:55 PM)mono Wrote: [ -> ]Hi all!

First post

I encountered the exact same issue as the OP with libicu library and here is my experience in case it helps.

I'm on Debian Trixie 13.2. The issue in my case (and probably the OP) is that the version shipped with the distribution is newer than those accepted by the .deb package:

Code:

$ apt search libicu icu-devtools/stable,now 76.1-4 amd64 [installed,automatic]   Development utilities for International Components for Unicode libicu-dev/stable,now 76.1-4 amd64 [installed]   Development files for International Components for Unicode libicu4j-4.4-java/stable 4.4.2.2-4 all   Library for Unicode support and internationalization libicu4j-java/stable 73.2-1 all   Library for Unicode support and internationalization libicu76/stable,now 76.1-4 amd64 [installed]   International Components for Unicode

So libicu76 is the version that ships with Debian Trixie.
The dependencies listed in the control file:

Code:

Depends: libx11-6, libice6, libsm6, libfontconfig1, ca-certificates, tzdata, libc6, libgcc1 | libgcc-s1, libgssapi-krb5-2, libstdc++6, zlib1g, libssl1.0.0 | libssl1.0.2 | libssl1.1 | libssl3, libicu | libicu74 | libicu72 | libicu71 | libicu70 | libicu69 | libicu68 | libicu67 | libicu66 | libicu65 | libicu63 | libicu60 | libicu57 | libicu55 | libicu52

So there are a bunch of accepted libicu versions, but nothing newer than 74.
I unpackaged the .deb file (dpkg-deb -R), edited DEBIAN/control file adding "| libicu76" to the dependencies line, repackaged (dpkg-deb -b) and it got installed without any issue. The program also runs smoothly (it's great, love it, thanks soooo much!!!)

There might be a reason for not to list newer versions, but my guess is that any version of libicu would work just fine?

Cheers!

Plus one! That solution worked for me too.
If the Debian repository contained a dummy package "libicu" pointing to the current version, then this problem would go away. 
ie a package named libicu that depended on libicu76

Regards, Rob

I've updated the control file for the next release so it will accept more versions of libicu.

Thanks,
Mike