Manually installed deb package with no AppStream metadata cannot be uninstalled

[AsciiWolf]

This happens on the latest GNOME Software 3.34.2 on Ubuntu Focal. Manually installed deb package (that does not contain any AppData), for example Steam from Valve (https://store.steampowered.com/about/), cannot be uninstalled using Ubuntu Software. The manually installed package appears under Add-ons section on the Installed tab, but it is gone after Ubuntu Software is restarted. When right clicking the Steam icon in GNOME Shell Overview mode and selecting "Show Details", details page with Ubuntu repository version of steam-launcher is displayed instead. The only way to remove the deb package using GUI is downloading it again, clicking "Install", then clicking "Remove" before closing the app details page.

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

Same issue on latest Ubuntu Focal with GNOME Software 3.35.91. I have tried multiple different deb packages (Skype, Visual Studio Code, BlueJeans etc.) and there was exactly the same problem with all of them.

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

I have also added snap-store to this ticket, but it seems that deb packages cannot be opened in Snap Store (see #1867610). However, when installing a deb package manually using apt or non-Snap gnome-software, the same issue happens as with non-Snap gnome-software: The package is not displayed on the "Installed" tab of Snap Store.

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

Upstream gnome-software issue: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-software/issues/912

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

Upstream issue: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-software/-/issues/966

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

This issue does most likely happen only for packages that have no AppStream metadata and it is expected behaviour.

#1750818 should be fixed instead to allow uninstallation of the packages.

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/snap-store/+bug/1750818

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

(However, it is an upstream issue.)

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

I can confirm that this happens only for packages with no AppStream metadata and it is considered an expected behaviour there. Uninstallation of such packages will be resolved after #1750818 is fixed. Closing this issue.