Apport no longer uploads bugs to Launchpad (since final version of Precise)

[Aurélien RIVIERE]

I run Ubuntu 12.10 64bits and Apport is useless : it never upload the bugs that it generates (so I copy manually the important collected data and I upload the crash file as an attachment myself).
This bug was already present for Precise, few weeks before the final version.

I did more than one reinstallation since the problem appears (the last one was one week ago) and it didn't solved anything.

Here's my Apport.log : https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evince/+bug/997131/+attachment/3138807/+files/apport.log

Whith Ubuntu-Bug and apport-cli, nothing happens, no file is sent on the internet and the browser is not opened :
ubuntu@ubuntu-devel:~$ ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_usr_bin_evince.1000.crash
ubuntu@ubuntu-devel:~$

ubuntu@ubuntu-devel:~$ apport-cli /var/crash/_usr_bin_evince.1000.crash

*** Send problem report to the developers?

After the problem report has been sent, please fill out the form in the
automatically opened web browser.

What would you like to do? Your options are:
  S: Send report (3.4 MB)
  V: View report
  K: Keep report file for sending later or copying to somewhere else
  I: Cancel and ignore future crashes of this program version
  C: Cancel
Please choose (S/V/K/I/C): S
ubuntu@ubuntu-devel:~$

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

They do get uploaded, we just disabled their uploading to Launchpad as this is way too much overhead/too complicated for "real" users of a released version. The reports are being uploaded to whoopsie now, see https://errors.ubuntu.com/ .

[Chris Bainbridge (chris-bainbridge)]

Do Launchpad bugs still get generated from apport bug reports?

If it is no longer possible to use apport to report a bug on Launchpad, do we have to go back to manually opening bug reports on Launchpad?

This seems like quite a change in behaviour, it would be nice if apport at least said "Your report has been sent", and perhaps included some more information (like a Launchpad url for the bug).

At the moment, a user just checks "Send an error report", clicks Continue, and it appears that nothing happens. The user has no idea if the bug has been reported successfully, or where to go to get more information on the bug. Launchpad is not just a statistical tool for counting bugs, it is a valuable tool for users to investigate fixes and communicate workarounds.

[Ryan Kitty (gothickitty93)]

Is it possible to bring back this function by editing a .conf file or somthing, that way a normal user would not see it?

[Chris Bainbridge (chris-bainbridge)]

After some investigation, I have opened bug #1000945 apport should depend on whoopsie. As far as I can tell from wireshark, no data is actually getting uploaded unless whoopsie is installed.

[Ryan Kitty (gothickitty93)]

Why is this bug invalid? This seems to be a valid issue to me, as people who are comfortable with the bug reporting process are now being left out because of "user experience"

[Chris Bainbridge (chris-bainbridge)]

Martin Pitt: can you please confirm that apport is no longer to be used for reporting bugs on Ubuntu? Because https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs is still telling people to use apport to report their bugs, and kubuntu-desktop, xubuntu-desktop etc. are still shipping apport instead of whoopsie. Disabling apport-launchpad has broken all of the existing bug reporting documentation, and bug reporting for alternative desktops.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

No, apport is still being used for reporting bugs to Launchpad, and there is no replacement. We just disable the filling of crash reports to Launchpad post-release and only report to whoopsie. Bug reports continue to function normally.

[Chris Bainbridge (chris-bainbridge)]

> Bug reports continue to function normally.

This does not appear to be the case. I was trying to report a bug using 'apport-bug /var/crash/x.crash' but it does not work any more.

The man page still says it should ("Finally, you can use this program to report a previously stored crash or bug report: apport-bug /var/crash/_bin_bash.1000.crash")

The ReportingBugs page also says you can do this: ("After copying it to a different system you can file that report using the following command: ubuntu-bug -c <apport_file.extension> .... You will need to answer a few questions, and a web browser will be launched to complete the bug report. ")

The apport-cli man page also says ("-c report, --crash-file=report
              Upload a previously processed stored report in an arbitrary file location. This is useful for copying
              a crash report to a machine with internet connection and reporting it from there. Files must end in
              .crash or .apport.")

Example use, note the bug is not uploaded and no web browser is opened, despite choosing Send and it saying "After the problem report has been sent, please fill out the form in the automatically opened web browser" :

$ apport-cli -c /var/crash/_usr_share_oneconf_oneconf-service.1000.crash

*** Send problem report to the developers?

After the problem report has been sent, please fill out the form in the
automatically opened web browser.

What would you like to do? Your options are:
  S: Send report (21.1 MB)
  V: View report
  K: Keep report file for sending later or copying to somewhere else
  I: Cancel and ignore future crashes of this program version
  C: Cancel
Please choose (S/V/K/I/C): S

(aside from this issue, I would also add to Ryan's request that it be possible to re-enable the previous behaviour, where you can just click the notification to submit the crash to Launchpad. It does not seem optimal that an experienced user gets a notification of a crash, but then has to drop to the shell and navigate /var/crash to find the associated bug report on Launchpad).

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Chris Bainbridge [2012-05-18 18:19 -0000]:
> > Bug reports continue to function normally.
>
> This does not appear to be the case. I was trying to report a bug using
> 'apport-bug /var/crash/x.crash' but it does not work any more.

This is a crash report, though. As I said, these do not get filed to
Launchpad any more. It's debatable whether it should work in this
mode, but in general we don't want crash reports for the
non-development version on Launchpad.

> The man page still says it should

All those programs still _do_ upload the crash report, just not to
Launchpad (but it does not say that anywhere). We simply changed our
primary crash database from Launchpad to errors.ubuntu.com, but that
is mostly an implementation detail.

> Example use, note the bug is not uploaded

That should happen, by the whoopsie daemon.

> and no web browser is opened, despite choosing Send and it saying
> "After the problem report has been sent, please fill out the form in
> the automatically opened web browser"

Right, this is a wart indeed. That's part of bug 957177.

Martin

[Chris Bainbridge (chris-bainbridge)]

I have opened bug #1001630 for alternative desktops to add whoopsie; ubuntu-desktop now has a dependency but the others don't.

[Chris Bainbridge (chris-bainbridge)]

I just discovered bug #994921 which also covers manual bug filing in stable releases.