Ubuntu Software Centre (USC) has a few problems with displaying applications

[Paddy Landau]

The "Installed" tab of Ubuntu Software Centre (USC) has a few problems with displaying applications.

*A* SHOW OR HIDE TECHNICAL ITEMS

1. Go to the Installed tab of USC. Type "libreoffice" into the search bar. You get a number of items, with a prompt at the bottom of the bar to "Show 20 technical items".
2. Now select the down-arrow and select Canonical Partners, For Purchase, or Unknown. Although the screen goes blank, the "Show 20 technical items" (or "Hide 20 technical items" if you have selected it) continues to show. This is confusing.

*B* DISPLAYING ITEMS AVAILABLE OR INSTALLED FROM ELSEWHERE IN THE MAIN TAB ("All Software")

Consider an item available from non-Canonical repositories, e.g. yad (ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager) or Oracle's Virtual Box Guest Additions (direct from the Oracle website).

If the item is not yet installed (e.g. yad), USC simply does not display it:

1. In USC, go to the "All Software" tab.
2. Type yad into the search bar.
3. Only Yade displays. It should also display yad. (It can be seen in Synaptic Package Manager.)
4. Fascinatingly, if you install (see next point) and then uninstall yad, USC will display it even after restarting.

*C* DISPLAYING ITEMS AVAILABLE OR INSTALLED FROM ELSEWHERE IN THE INSTALLED TAB ("Installed")

If the item is already installed, there can be inconsistent results.

Example 1 (using yad):

1. Install yad (through the terminal or Synaptic Package Manager, as you cannot do it through USC).
2. In USC, go to the "Installed" tab and enter "yad". Nothing displays; it should show yad. It will display only if you select the down-arrow and choose the appropriate PPA Manager. I would expect the default to show everything installed.

Example 2 (using Oracle's Virtual Box Guest Additions when running from Virtual Box):

(Actually, you can replicate this in a system that is not running in a Virtual Box, omitting steps 1 & 2.)

1. Run Ubuntu in a Virtual Box (the latest one available from virtualbox.org).
2. Install the Extension Pack (i.e. Guest Additions).
3. Open USC and go to the "Installed" tab.
4. Enter "virtualbox guest" into the search bar. Nothing shows.
5. Select the down-arrow and choose any item, e.g. "Canonical Partners", "Unknown".
6. The "thinking" circle (sorry, I don't know its name) in the window turns around and around, and nothing else happens even when leaving for several minutes. It should display either nothing or the installed package.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: software-center 5.1.14.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-21.34-generic 3.2.13
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-21-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Apr 3 11:29:51 2012
ExecutablePath: /usr/share/software-center/software-center
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120301)
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python2.7
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: software-center
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Gary Lasker (gary-lasker)]

Hello Paddy. Thank you very much for your bug report and for taking the time to include so much detailed information. Unfortunately, it's difficult to track/manage a bug when there are actually multiple separate bugs contained in a single report. Would you mind opening a separate bug for each issue? Of course, you just need cut and paste the detailed information that you've already provided.

Once you do that, we can close this one and then triage/work on the issues separately.

Thank you for your help!

[Paddy Landau (paddy-landau)]

Sorry -- I thought these were all closely related.

Having done as you requested, however, I can see the value in your request.

I have created new bugs as follows.

Bug 973217: Show or hide technical items remains when nothing is there in Ubuntu Software Centre

Bug 973218: Ubuntu Software Centre does not display certain items in the All Software tab

Bug 973219: Ubuntu Software Centre does not display certain items in the Installed tab

Bug 973220: Ubuntu Software Centre halts when trying to display certain items in the Installed tab

[Gary Lasker (gary-lasker)]

Paddy, thank you!! This is very, very helpful! I know that was a pain, and I want you to know that I appreciate the time and trouble you took to do this. Now I will go through the four bugs and confirm/triage them.

Thank you again!!
Gary

[Gary Lasker (gary-lasker)]

Setting this one invalid, and I will attend to the four separate bugs separately. ;)

Thanks!

[Paddy Landau (paddy-landau)]

Gary, it's a pleasure. Ubuntu is free to me, and I am not a programmer, so I contribute any way I can.