Several programs can't be started: dependency libavg dropped gameapp, newer versions needed

Thanks for taking your time to report this issue and help making Ubuntu better.

I get the same error message when attempting to run sponc 1.0+svn6822-0ubuntu2on Ubuntu Vivid.

Looks like the underlying reason is that gameapp.py was removed from python-libavg as mentioned in the title. (Compare http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/i386/python-libavg/filelist with http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/i386/python-libavg/filelist) I don't know whether it was removed completely or whether there is now a drop-in replacement which should be imported instead.

(Also related to bug 1409877 which seems to have the same underlying cause.)

Since gameapp.py was intentionally removed from libavg upstream (see https://github.com/libavg/libavg/commit/7e1b4d89cdfe15d1ac37383375ce75adf7fdf04c for details), I reckon this issue won't be fixed in the libavg package. Instead the apps will need to be updated/ported.

Looked like the same commit ported a demo program to use app instead, which presumably can be used as an example for what will need to be changed.

6 packages in total are affected (empcommand, magictouch, mttroff, multitet, planarity, sponc).
I can take care of fixing the apps upstream, then it'll be just matter of updating the packages.

Fixed upstream for all games

Great job. Thanks OXullo. :)

I guess all that remains now is that the various packages mentioned should package the latest version to get things working again. (I checked the other ones you mentioned too, and the had similar error messages on startup.)

I'm still getting this error:
ERROR: Cannot find planarity package: reinstall the game.
(yes I did re-install)

I'm at
Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS \n \l
Linux 4.4.0-45-generic #66-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 19 14:12:37 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Where do I find the updated version of planarity?

Thanks

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I'm getting this on planarity version:
planarity Version: 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2
Depends: python (>= 2.7.1-0ubuntu2), python-libavg (>= 1.7.0)
libavg Version: 1.8.1-2

python-libavg itself is now obsolete and dropped in Debian as a python2-only library. I'm sorry that these fixes for the completely unusable packages were never landed in Ubuntu before now, but given that no one has cared for them up til now I believe the right course of action is to remove the packages rather than try to fix them.

If someone cares enough about these packages as a user to want them back in the archive, please feel free to use the ubuntu sponsorship queue to submit a new version, provided it uses python3 instead of python2.

Removing packages from eoan:
 magictouch 0.1+svn6821+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan
  magictouch 0.1+svn6821+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan amd64
  magictouch 0.1+svn6821+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan arm64
  magictouch 0.1+svn6821+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan armhf
  magictouch 0.1+svn6821+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan i386
  magictouch 0.1+svn6821+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan ppc64el
  magictouch 0.1+svn6821+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan s390x
Comment: Unmaintained, program will not start, depends on obsolete python-libavg; LP: #1409879
1 package successfully removed.

Removing packages from eoan:
 mttroff 1.0+svn6432+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan
  mttroff 1.0+svn6432+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan amd64
  mttroff 1.0+svn6432+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan arm64
  mttroff 1.0+svn6432+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan armhf
  mttroff 1.0+svn6432+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan i386
  mttroff 1.0+svn6432+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan ppc64el
  mttroff 1.0+svn6432+dfsg-0ubuntu2 in eoan s390x
Comment: Unmaintained, program will not start, depends on obsolete python-libavg; LP: #1409879
1 package successfully removed.

Removing packages from eoan:
 multitet 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2 in eoan
  multitet 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2 in eoan amd64
  multitet 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2 in eoan arm64
  multitet 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2 in eoan armhf
  multitet 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2 in eoan i386
  multitet 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2 in eoan ppc64el
  multitet 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2 in eoan s390x
Comment: Unmaintained, program will not start, depends on obsolete python-libavg; LP: #1409879
1 package successfully removed.

Removing packages from eoan:
 sponc 1.0+svn6822-0ubuntu2 in eoan
  sponc 1.0+svn6822-0ubuntu2 in eoan amd64
  sponc 1.0+svn6822-0ubuntu2 in eoan arm64
  sponc 1.0+svn6822-0ubuntu2 in eoan armhf
  sponc 1.0+svn6822-0ubuntu2 in eoan i386
  sponc 1.0+svn6822-0ubuntu2 in eoan ppc64el
  sponc 1.0+svn6822-0ubuntu2 in eoan s390x
Comment: Unmaintained, program will not start, depends on obsolete python-libavg; LP: #1409879
1 package successfully removed.

empcommand was already removed from Ubuntu in the xenial cycle due to its use of the deprecated python-support (LP:# 1535318).

Removing packages from eoan:
 planarity 1.0+svn6432-0ubuntu2 in eoan
Comment: Unmaintained, program will not start, depends on obsolete python-libavg; and also the binary package name has been taken over by edge-addition-planarity-suite source since Ubuntu 18.04. LP: #1409879
1 package successfully removed.