Calibre crashes at startup with AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'cancel'

[grofaty]

[Impact]
Calibre crashes on startup with Ubuntu 20.04.

[Test Case]
- install new package
- see if Calibre launches or crashes immediately on startup

[Where problems could occur]
This update contains an upstream commit which corrects the specific error which is happening on Ubuntu 20.04. It simply skips calling cancel() when it is not available. The only regression I can think of is if this patch is incomplete, but it seems to work fine.

Original report:
On Ubuntu 20.04 few months ago I installed Calibre from Ubuntu Store official repository.

I have been using Calibre for months, but today opening it from Ubuntu Launcher and nothing happens, no error.

Executing:
calibre
from terminal and the output is:
============
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/calibre", line 20, in <module>
    sys.exit(calibre())
  File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/gui_launch.py", line 73, in calibre
    main(args)
  File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/gui2/main.py", line 543, in main
    listener = create_listener()
  File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/gui2/main.py", line 514, in create_listener
    return Listener(address=gui_socket_address())
  File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/utils/ipc/server.py", line 110, in __init__
    self._listener._unlink.cancel()
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'cancel'
============

Command:
calibre --version
outputs:
calibre (calibre 4.99.4)

I tried:
sudo apt purge calibre
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt install calibre
but the problem is the same.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: calibre 4.99.4+dfsg+really4.12.0-1build1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-48.52-generic 5.4.60
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-48-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.9
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Wed Oct 7 18:07:57 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-10-23 (350 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20190805)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: calibre
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-08-14 (54 days ago)
modified.conffile..etc.default.apport: [modified]
mtime.conffile..etc.default.apport: 2020-04-29T17:08:03.553351

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Juanjo Benages (juanjo-benages)]

The patch from https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre/commit/7b6416ac6522fc40f24f6baf3ca552b17a8b91d6 corrects de problem

[Juanjo Benages (juanjo-benages)]

I forgot to upload the patch.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "7b6416ac6522fc40f24f6baf3ca552b17a8b91d6.patch" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

[grofaty (grofaty)]

Duplicates:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calibre/+bug/1894061
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calibre/+bug/1898904
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calibre/+bug/1899259
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calibre/+bug/1899296

[Evan Huus (eapache)]

Per https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1840780#c2 this happens on python >= 3.8.3. As Focal ships 3.8.5 we get this bug. Juanjo linked and attached the upstream patch already, which is included in Calibre >= 4.15. Focal ships Calibre version 4.99.4 which I assume is some pre-release version of the Calibre 5 series which didn't yet include this fix. Calibre 5 is now available and presumably would also fix this issue.

[Evan Huus (eapache)]

As a work-around for those affected, I can confirm that manually applying the upstream patch to `/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/utils/ipc/server.py` does allow Calibre to start up successfully.

[grofaty (grofaty)]

Evans, great thanks for info how to fix, it works fine.

I have written bash file for the users that are not so technical.

Instructions:
1. Download file patch.sh from my post.
2. Open terminal, default keyboard shortcut is: CTRL+ALT+T
3. Set execution permissions: chown 700 patch.sh
4. Execute commands: ./patch.sh
5. Then you can delete patch.sh file: rm patch.sh

Hope this helps for others too.

P.S. For non-technical users, package maintainer that has packaged original Calibre program in Ubuntu 20.04, please update the package and push it to official Ubuntu repository.

[grofaty (grofaty)]

Ahhh, sorry bug in instructions above in step 3 should be:
chmod 700 patch.sh

[Juanjo Benages (juanjo-benages)]

I have uploaded a patched version of calibre to a ppa: https://launchpad.net/~juanjo-benages/+archive/ubuntu/fixes

It works for me. It should work as an interim until there is an updated package in the official Ubuntu repository.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Patch applied. Thanks!

Hope the package in the repository will be fixed soon.

[Bill (franksmcb) (franksmcb)]

Applied patch and can confirm it resolves the issue.

[The Big Monkey (wipmonkey)]

I also applied patch and can confirm it resolves the issue.

[Carlos Pita (carlosjosepita)]

When this started to happen? I would be surprised if it was an update to focal (why?), but I have the feeling this was working at the beginning.

[Carlos Pita (carlosjosepita)]

Maybe a python upgrade to 3.8.5 at some point since the release of focal?

[Juanjo Benages (juanjo-benages)]

Yes, Ubuntu Focal had Python 3.8.2 at release time, but there was a security update to Python 3.8.5.

[Carlos Pita (carlosjosepita)]

Here https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2020-October/041237.html is a suggestion to sync from Groovy to Focal in order to fix the issue:

> I checked Calibre in Groovy (version 4.99.12+dfsg+really4.23.0-1) and it works fine. As per bug report #1898904 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calibre/+bug/1898904/comments/7), Calibre >=4.15 has the required patch. So, instead of waiting for 5.2, can we backport current Groovy version of Calibre to Focal?

[carsten (carsten2)]

Thanks grofaty, I'm a not so technical user and you instructions work fine. I did it!

Only one question: The terminal output ends with:

patching file /usr/lib/calibre/calibre/utils/ipc/server.py
Failed to parse old style options string with error: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xd9 in position 1: ordinal not in range(128)

Is there anything to worry about?

When I download a tecnical file, I never know where to put it. Can you give some advice?
Thanks a lot!

[Mauro (mauromol)]

When will this fix land to Ubuntu official repository?

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

Attached is a debdiff with the minimal fix for this issue. I've uploaded an updated package for processing by the SRU team also.

[Norbert (nrbrtx)]

Still happens as per https://askubuntu.com/q/1303977/66509 .

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Hello grofaty, or anyone else affected,

Accepted calibre into focal-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calibre/4.99.4+dfsg+really4.12.0-1ubuntu1 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 on 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, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-focal to verification-done-focal. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-focal. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

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

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

[Fredda (wiegner)]

Thanks for releasing a fixed package.

BUT, could you consider using a release version of calibre instead of a development
version at a kind of random state. I see, that at the time focal was released there
was no 5.x version available, but meanwhile official 5.x releases are.

For a LTS version it's IMHO not a good idea to go with a development version, where
other bugs might be still in or there might be a good chance calibre plugins are broken
with this version.

In the ubuntu dev list https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2020-October/041236.html
the debian caliber maintainer provided a 5.2 version for focal. I'm using it since he released
it and it works fine.

Source and amd64 packages are available there:
  deb http://www.preining.info/debian focal main
  deb-src http://www.preining.info/debian focal main

Could you consider using this (or another 5.x version) instead?

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

Let's fix the immediate problem first, then someone can file a new bug and do the proper procedure to try and get a newer version into focal and groovy.

[Mauro (mauromol)]

I have installed the calibre 4.99.4+dfsg+really4.12.0-1ubuntu1 package version from the proposed archive in Kubuntu 20.04. Calibre starts successfully. However, please note that I previously had patched the 4.99.4+dfsg+really4.12.0-1build1 version as suggested in #9, so it was starting anyway in my system.
No conflict was given on apt install of the new version though, perhaps the patch being applied is exactly the same as that in #9?

[Juanjo Benages (juanjo-benages)]

I have installed calibre version 4.99.4+dfsg+really4.12.0-1ubuntu1 from the proposed repository and now it starts successfully.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package calibre - 4.99.4+dfsg+really4.12.0-1ubuntu1

---------------
calibre (4.99.4+dfsg+really4.12.0-1ubuntu1) focal; urgency=medium

  * Fix error during startup (LP: #1898904)
    - debian/patches/fix_cancel_attribute.patch: upstream patch to fix
      unknown attribute error in src/calibre/utils/ipc/server.py.

 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Wed, 23 Dec 2020 12:53:50 -0500

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for calibre has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.