apt-get failing to show progress with yes command

[Steven Shiau]

When running this command on Ubuntu 14.04 amd64 release:
yes "" | apt-get -y install tftpd-hpa
It never finishes... Only shows black screen on the terminal.
I know it's weird to use yes "" for this command. However, just to show it does not make any sense the command can not be finished.
This issue does not occur on Ubuntu 13.10, nor on Debian Sid.

The following is some info about this system:
ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu May 29 15:06:52 2014
Dependencies:
 dpkg 1.17.5ubuntu5.2
 gcc-4.8-base 4.8.2-19ubuntu1
 gcc-4.9-base 4.9-20140406-0ubuntu1
 gnupg 1.4.16-1ubuntu2
 gpgv 1.4.16-1ubuntu2
 libacl1 2.2.52-1
 libapt-pkg4.12 1.0.1ubuntu2
 libattr1 1:2.4.47-1ubuntu1
 libbz2-1.0 1.0.6-5
 libc6 2.19-0ubuntu6
 libgcc1 1:4.9-20140406-0ubuntu1
 liblzma5 5.1.1alpha+20120614-2ubuntu2
 libpcre3 1:8.31-2ubuntu2
 libreadline6 6.3-4ubuntu2
 libselinux1 2.2.2-1ubuntu0.1
 libstdc++6 4.8.2-19ubuntu1
 libtinfo5 5.9+20140118-1ubuntu1
 libusb-0.1-4 2:0.1.12-23.3ubuntu1
 multiarch-support 2.19-0ubuntu6
 readline-common 6.3-4ubuntu2
 tar 1.27.1-1
 ubuntu-keyring 2012.05.19
 zlib1g 1:1.2.8.dfsg-1ubuntu1
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: apt 1.0.1ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=screen
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-27.50-generic 3.13.11
SourcePackage: apt
Tags: trusty
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-27-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
_MarkForUpload: True

[Steven Shiau (stevenshiau)]

BTW, forgot to mention if the command is run as:
yes "" | apt-get -y install tftpd-hpa >/dev/null
It finishes successfully.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

Thanks Steven! This is fixed in the current debian/sid branch in commit a11f6c973bc0dc226d8953e3edb6333d526c3143. But I'm not overly happy with that fix as its a relatively big hammer so I will see if I can come up with something better.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

I reworked the pty handling in https://github.com/mvo5/apt/commits/bugfix/lp1324399-pty-stdin and it should work now with the commands that you outlined. Probably too big for a SRU, so we can go with a11f6c973bc0dc226d8953e3edb6333d526c3143.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Hello Steven, or anyone else affected,

Accepted apt into trusty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/1.0.1ubuntu2.2 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 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, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

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

[Mathew Hodson (mhodson)]

With http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/1.0.1ubuntu2.2 , the command finishes with this output.

$ yes "" | sudo apt-get -y install tftpd-hpa
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  tftpd-hpa
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 47 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/38.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 151 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Preconfiguring packages ...
E: Can not write log (Is stdout a terminal?) - tcgetattr (25: Inappropriate ioctl for device)
Selecting previously unselected package tftpd-hpa.
(Reading database ... 238423 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../tftpd-hpa_5.2-7ubuntu3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking tftpd-hpa (5.2-7ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-16) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1) ...
Setting up tftpd-hpa (5.2-7ubuntu3) ...
tftpd-hpa start/running, process 28508
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-16) ...

[Mathew Hodson (mhodson)]

This SRU has been shadowed by a security update and need to be re-merged.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I could reupload the fix that was previously uploaded, but I wonder if it is worth it since it remained unverified last time for two months.

[Mathew Hodson (mhodson)]

I am not sure what you mean by two months. apt was accepted into trusty-proposed on 2014-07-15, and I verified the fix four days later on 2014-07-19.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I believe I was referring to the fact that the SRU as whole (which includes multiple bug reports) was not verified in a timely fashion, not that this bug was unverified.