[Bug 2125687] Re: Fail to upgrade from plucky to questing in a basic Ubuntu

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-release-upgrader - 1:26.04.5

---------------
ubuntu-release-upgrader (1:26.04.5) resolute; urgency=medium

  * DistUpgrade: keep a disabled copy of .list files that could not be migrated
    (LP: #2130273)
  * DistUpgradeFetcherCore: use gpgv to verify signatures
    (LP: #2125687)
  * DistUpgrade: refuse to upgrade without unified cgroupv2 hierarchy
  * Run pre-build.sh: updating mirrors and translations.

 -- Nick Rosbrook <enr0n at ubuntu.com>  Wed, 28 Jan 2026 08:18:55 -0500

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

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2125687

Title:
  Fail to upgrade from plucky to questing in a basic Ubuntu

Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader source package in Plucky:
  Won't Fix
Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader source package in Questing:
  New
Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader source package in Resolute:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Reproducer is very straightforward:
  ```
  podman run -it ubuntu:plucky sh -c "apt update && apt upgrade -y && apt install -y ubuntu-release-upgrader-core && do-release-upgrade -d"
  ```
  This is an interactive session, so make sure to provide answers.

  Just when confirming the upgrade, the tool instantly crashes, complaining about a missing `gpg`:
  ```
  Continue [yN] y
  Get:1 Upgrade tool signature [833 B]
  Get:2 Upgrade tool [966 kB]
  Fetched 967 kB in 0s (0 B/s)
  /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeFetcherCore.py:180: Warning: W:Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file 'questing.tar.gz.gpg' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)
    result = fetcher.run()
  authenticate 'questing.tar.gz' against 'questing.tar.gz.gpg'
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/bin/do-release-upgrade", line 229, in <module>
      fetcher.run()
      ~~~~~~~~~~~^^
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeFetcherCore.py", line 215, in run
      if not self.authenticate():
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeFetcherCore.py", line 104, in authenticate
      if self.gpgauthenticate(f, sig):
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeFetcherCore.py", line 119, in gpgauthenticate
      ret = subprocess.call(gpg, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
    File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 395, in call
      with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as p:
           ~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 1039, in __init__
      self._execute_child(args, executable, preexec_fn, close_fds,
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                          pass_fds, cwd, env,
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      ...<5 lines>...
                          gid, gids, uid, umask,
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                          start_new_session, process_group)
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 1969, in _execute_child
      raise child_exception_type(errno_num, err_msg, err_filename)
  FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'gpg'
  ```

  
  Working around that is as simple as installing `gnupg` alongside `ubuntu-release-upgrader-core`, and for that reason, the bug usually doesn't happen on less basic installation.

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