Screen reader doesn't read installer's GUI during a live session installation

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement]

Ubuntu Cosmic Desktop RC

During a live session installation, the screen reader is activated and working (for example it's reading this message while I'm typing) but it doesn't read Ubiquity's windows.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.10
Package: ubiquity 18.10.9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.18.0-10.11-generic 4.18.12
Uname: Linux 4.18.0-10-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.10-0ubuntu13
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.398
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Oct 15 09:15:14 2018
InstallCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd quiet splash --- maybe-ubiquity
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 18.10 "Cosmic Cuttlefish" - Beta amd64 (20181013.1)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1797861

[Iain Lane (laney)]

It seems to be due to it being root here; can you confirm that? e.g. 'sudo gedit' also is not read.

I wonder if that was problem in bionic already?

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

I verified in Bionic and this is a new problem in Cosmic.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

"sudo gedit" works fine and the screen reader reads the UI and what I type.

[Iain Lane (laney)]

ok, then I'm sorry but I guess we're seeing different things

[Iain Lane (laney)]

additionally I just tried with a UEFI system booting from today's ISO to a live session and it seems to work OK; comment #3 happened in an ISO that I booted from maybe-ubiquity in virt-manager/kvm.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

Confirm what Iain is seeing, in maybe-ubiquity mode with kvm, if you select then the live session.

More info:
* if you enable accessibility in maybe-ubiquity and right away:
  - try to select options (languages) in maybe-ubiquity, nothing is read by orca
  - switch right away to Try ubuntu, the accessibility doesn't work at all (despite being enabled back) on the live session. Also, turning it off and on again via the shortcut or menu doesn't work either. There is an orca process which doesn't exit. Note that this orca process has a PID way inferior to GNOME Shell, which may leads to the previous maybe-ubiquity session (the session isn't shut down). Only killing the process and restarting accessibility lead to same state as below.
* if you enable accessibility in maybe-ubiquity, but wait for a little bit (like 20s):
  - orca then read options in maybe-ubiquity
  - if you select "install ubuntu" -> orca continues reading successfully
  - or if you select "Try ubuntu", live session has orca turned on, with a recent PID (older than GNOME Shell), regular apps ar read by orca, but any root/sudo apps aren't read.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Confirming this bug with today's groovy (20.10) daily image (20201013.1).

The screen reader initially works in the installer (first nine steps of http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/testcases/1309/info), but then when launching the installer again in the live session, orca doesn't read anything in the installer. Orca hasn't crashed, it's running and able to read the content of other applications.