[Bug 1913726] Re: /usr/lib/update-notifier/list-oem-metapackages:apt_pkg.Error:/usr/lib/update-notifier/list-oem-metapackages at 43:__init__:open

[Łukasz Zemczak]

Hello errors.ubuntu.com, or anyone else affected,

Accepted update-notifier into focal-proposed. The package will build now
and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-
notifier/3.192.30.6 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed
repository.

Please help us by testing this new package.  See
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how
to enable and use -proposed.  Your feedback will aid us getting this
update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug,
mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been
performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-
focal to verification-done-focal. If it does not fix the bug for you,
please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-
failed-focal. In either case, without details of your testing we will
not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification .  Thank you in
advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s)
fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in
-proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

** Changed in: update-notifier (Ubuntu Focal)
       Status: In Progress => Fix Committed

** Tags added: verification-needed verification-needed-focal

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1913726

Title:
  /usr/lib/update-notifier/list-oem-metapackages:apt_pkg.Error:/usr/lib
  /update-notifier/list-oem-metapackages at 43:__init__:open

Status in update-notifier package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in update-notifier source package in Focal:
  Fix Committed

Bug description:
  [ Description ]

  If you have malformed apt lists, list-oem-metapackages, a script which
  update-notifier runs before it launches update-manager, can crash.

  [ Fix ]

  Catch failures to construct an apt.Cache object and exit.

  [ QA ]

  1. Edit a list file in /var/lib/apt/lists which is being used - for example that for the Ubuntu archive's 'main' component.
  2. Type some gibberish at the top.
  3. Run /usr/lib/update-notifier/list-oem-metapackages as a regular user.
  4. When using the current version of update-notifier this should crash. After updating it should print an error and exit 0.
  5. Now you can `apt update` or revert what you did in step 2 manually.

  [ Where problems could occur ]

  We're proceeding to run update-manager now when we know that apt is in
  a bogus state. This was the status quo for a long time before the
  recent update which introduced list-oem-metapackages, but we could
  maybe do something different there.

  [ Original description ]

  The Ubuntu Error Tracker has been receiving reports about a problem regarding update-notifier.  This problem was most recently seen with package version 3.192.38, the problem page at https://errors.ubuntu.com/problem/e8eeed367adc9f2602fec155d19013736a59b99c contains more details, including versions of packages affected, stacktrace or traceback, and individual crash reports.
  If you do not have access to the Ubuntu Error Tracker and are a software developer, you can request it at http://forms.canonical.com/reports/.

  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/lib/update-notifier/list-oem-metapackages", line 43, in <module>
      cache = apt.Cache()
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 170, in __init__
      self.open(progress)
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 232, in open
      self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress)
  apt_pkg.Error: E:can not open /var/lib/apt/lists/fr.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_focal_InRelease - fopen (13: Permission denied), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

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