[Bug 1740026] Re: ubiquity crashed with UnicodeDecodeError in decode(): 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x91 in position 269: invalid start byte

[Michal J]

This issue has timed out due to inactivity, but I have recently come
across it while trying to install elementary OS 5.0 Juno, as well as KDE
Neon and a few other Ubuntu-based distros that all use the ubiquity
installer. The issue, I think, boils down to a call to parted_devices,
which returns a list of the available devices and partitions. This can
be seen in the UbiquitySyslog.txt attachment above, where the Hynix MMC
device returns the device name "HBG4a" suffixed by the unicode character
U+FFFD, ie the replacement character when it's unable to read the rest
of the string. I believe this is the cause of the crash since it is a
non-UTF8 character. Hopefully someone else has run into this and can
confirm it.

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to ubiquity in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1740026

Title:
  ubiquity crashed with UnicodeDecodeError in decode(): 'utf-8' codec
  can't decode byte 0x91 in position 269: invalid start byte

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  Expired

Bug description:
  Trying to install

  ProblemType: Crash
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
  Package: ubiquity 17.10.10
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-16.19-generic 4.13.4
  Uname: Linux 4.13.0-16-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.387
  Date: Mon Dec 25 13:19:57 2017
  ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity
  InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python3.6
  LiveMediaBuild: Lubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Release amd64 (20171017.1)
  ProcCmdline: /usr/bin/python3 /usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity gtk_ui
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=unknown
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=C.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.6, Python 3.6.3, python3-minimal, 3.6.3-0ubuntu2
  PythonArgs: ['/usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity', 'gtk_ui']
  PythonDetails: /root/Error: command ['which', 'python'] failed with exit code 1:, Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: "/root/Error: command ['which', 'python'] failed with exit code 1:": "/root/Error: command ['which', 'python'] failed with exit code 1:", unpackaged
  SourcePackage: ubiquity
  Title: ubiquity crashed with UnicodeDecodeError in decode(): 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x91 in position 269: invalid start byte
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  UserGroups:

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1740026/+subscriptions