Installing SOFA on Ubuntu 16.04 and 16.10

tl;dr

echo "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu wily main universe" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wily-copies.list

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python-wxgtk2.8
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wily-copies.list
sudo apt update
Download latest deb from http://www.sofastatistics.com/downloads.php
cd ~/Downloads
sudo dpkg -i sofastats-1.4.6-1_all.deb

Details

Even though SOFA is developed on Ubuntu (16.10 at present) there was a problem installing SOFA onto 16.04 or 16.10. The root cause related to Ubuntu support for different versions of wxPython and I spent a lot of time trying different solutions. Fortunately there is a simple workaround that only requires about six terminal commands (see below). Obviously, having to run commands is not as good as a standard installation but it will have to do for now because the main alternatives aren’t currently viable. E.g. some parts of SOFA don’t seem to play nicely with the packaged versions of wxPython 3.0. Snap packaging holds some promise but that will have to wait for later depending on the next releases of Ubuntu.

Thanks to bbobbo for finding a general solution to wxPython 2.8 installation problems on Ubuntu 16 and relating them to the specific SOFA problem and Domenico Somma for bringing it to my attention via the SOFA forum. Here are the steps (Solution from SOFA (statistics) – python 2.8 request – unable installation):

1. Add needed repository and update package list

echo "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu wily main universe" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wily-copies.list

sudo apt update

2. Install it
sudo apt install python-wxgtk2.8

3. Remove repository entry and update package list again
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wily-copies.list

sudo apt update

4. Install SOFA Statistics
Download latest deb from http://www.sofastatistics.com/downloads.php

cd ~/Downloads

sudo dpkg -i sofastats-1.4.6-1_all.deb

5. Success?
sofastats

Extra info – Warning from http://askubuntu.com/questions/789302/install-python-wxgtk2-8-on-ubuntu-16-04 – “Following this method on large scale can lead to unmet dependency hell. So keep in mind this is similar to PPA’s.” This comment also has more details too about solving issues with broken packages.

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