[Bug 2110594] Re: Upgrade error window says: Can't install ''

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-release-upgrader - 1:25.10.4

---------------
ubuntu-release-upgrader (1:25.10.4) questing; urgency=medium

  * setup.cfg: xml-files -> xml_files to fix FTBFS

 -- Nick Rosbrook <enr0n at ubuntu.com>  Tue, 03 Jun 2025 14:42:33 -0400

** Changed in: ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu)
       Status: Fix Committed => Fix Released

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2110594

Title:
  Upgrade error window says: Can't install ''

Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader source package in Plucky:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]

  On upgrade, if a user does not have a package listed in the
  Distro.MetaPkgs section of DistUpgrade.cfg, they may be presented with
  an error saying:

  Can't install ''
  It was impossible to install a required package. Please report this as a bug using 'ubuntu-bug ubuntu-release-upgrader-core' in a terminal.

  This happens in particular with minimal desktop installations, because
  ubuntu-desktop-minimal is not listed in Distro.MetaPkgs (this is
  likely a historical oversight, and addressing this is out of scope
  here).

  It is important to note that:

  (1) This only presents on graphical upgrades; on non-graphical frontends, the error is logged and ignored
  (2) When the error window is closed, the upgrade continues unaffected.

  Nonetheless, this error is confusing and alarming to users, and is
  enough for some users to decide to cancel the upgrade.

  [Test Plan]

  In short, the test plan is to perform an upgrade from 24.10 to 25.04
  on an installation where the minimal installation option was chosen.
  This means that ubuntu-desktop-minimal should be installed, but not
  ubuntu-desktop.

  1. Install Ubuntu 24.10 Desktop in a VM. In the installer, make sure
  to only select the "minimal" installation.

  2. After rebooting into the installation, ensure that ubuntu-desktop-
  minimal is installed, but not ubuntu-desktop:

  $ apt policy ubuntu-desktop-minimal ubuntu-desktop

  3. Perform an upgrade with a graphical frontend. On the command line:

  $ do-release-upgrade --proposed -f DistUpgradeViewGtk3

  4. Complete the steps of the upgrade. There should not be any errors
  shown during the upgrade. In particular, there should never be a pop-
  up window with the message:

  Can't install ''
  It was impossible to install a required package. Please report this as a bug using 'ubuntu-bug ubuntu-release-upgrader-core' in a terminal.

  5. Examine the logs to ensure that neither of the following messages
  are present:

  2025-05-13 18:02:53,324 DEBUG guessing '' as missing meta-pkg
  2025-05-13 18:02:53,324 ERROR failed to mark '' for install ("The cache has no package named ''")

  [Where problems could occur]

  This bug itself demonstrates the what can go wrong when modifying
  DistUpgrade.cfg. Errors in the formatting can affect the resulting
  lists parsed from the configuration.

  The test plan attempts to cover this better by examining logs for
  these errors too, because these messages would be present even if the
  graphical pop up is not shown. For example, if doing an upgrade
  *without* this patch in a LXD container, no error will be shown to the
  user. However, the errors would still be present in the logs.

  [Original Description]

  25.04 Upgrade error window says:
  Can't install ''
  It was impossible to install a required package. Please report this as a bug using 'ubuntu-bug ubuntu-release-upgrader-core' in a terminal.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.10
  Package: ubuntu-release-upgrader-core 1:24.10.14
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.11.0-25.25-generic 6.11.11
  Uname: Linux 6.11.0-25-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.30.0-0ubuntu4.2
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
  CrashDB: ubuntu
  CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
  Date: Tue May 13 18:09:46 2025
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2022-04-28 (1111 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS "Jammy Jellyfish" - Release amd64 (20220419)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  ProcEnviron:
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   SHELL=/bin/bash
   TERM=xterm-256color
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
  RebootRequiredPkgs: Error: path contained symlinks.
  SourcePackage: ubuntu-release-upgrader
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oracular on 2025-05-13 (0 days ago)
  VarLogDistupgradeTermlog:

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