Can't use lsb_release on Ubuntu Core 16

[Brian Murray]

brian-murray@localhost:~$ snap list
Name Version Rev Developer Notes
core 16.04.1 888 canonical -

brian-murray@localhost:~$ lsb_release
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/lsb_release", line 95, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/lsb_release", line 59, in main
    distinfo = lsb_release.get_distro_information()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lsb_release.py", line 383, in get_distro_information
    distinfo = guess_debian_release()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lsb_release.py", line 281, in guess_debian_release
    get_distro_info(distinfo['ID'])
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lsb_release.py", line 41, in get_distro_info
    RELEASES_ORDER.sort(key=lambda n: float(n[0]))
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lsb_release.py", line 41, in <lambda>
    RELEASES_ORDER.sort(key=lambda n: float(n[0]))
ValueError: could not convert string to float: '16.04 LTS'

brian-murray@localhost:~$ lsb_release -a
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/lsb_release", line 95, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/lsb_release", line 59, in main
    distinfo = lsb_release.get_distro_information()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lsb_release.py", line 383, in get_distro_information
    distinfo = guess_debian_release()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lsb_release.py", line 281, in guess_debian_release
    get_distro_info(distinfo['ID'])
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lsb_release.py", line 41, in get_distro_info
    RELEASES_ORDER.sort(key=lambda n: float(n[0]))
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lsb_release.py", line 41, in <lambda>
    RELEASES_ORDER.sort(key=lambda n: float(n[0]))
ValueError: could not convert string to float: '6.06 LTS'

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[SHIINA Hideaki (shiina)]

This bug is quite different from bug #1619420.
The duplicate status is wrong.

[SHIINA Hideaki (shiina)]

My image is "Ubuntu Core 16 (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-1030-raspi2 armv7l)".
And, `snap list core` results are
  Name Version Rev Developer Notes
  core 16-2 1267 canonical -

It has same bug.

And, my classic snap environment has same bug.
`snap list classic` results are
  Name Version Rev Developer Notes
  classic 16.04 17 canonical devmode

Because of this bug, snapcraft with plugin python can't work .

[SHIINA Hideaki (shiina)]

I modified the file '/usr/share/pyshared/lsb_release.py'.
And, It works well.

41c41
< RELEASES_ORDER.sort(key=lambda n: float(n[0].split()[0]))
---
> RELEASES_ORDER.sort(key=lambda n: float(n[0]))

But, I don't know how to tell it to the person in charge.

[Mateus Ferreira (dalbinaco)]

Also happening to me when I try to `sudo add-apt-repository`

[Mateus Ferreira (dalbinaco)]

#4 Didn't work for me. I still get:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/add-apt-repository", line 95, in <module>
    sp = SoftwareProperties(options=options)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 114, in __init__
    self.reload_sourceslist()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 607, in reload_sourceslist
    self.distro.get_sources(self.sourceslist)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 89, in get_sources
    (self.id, self.codename))
aptsources.distro.NoDistroTemplateException: Error: could not find a distribution template for Ubuntu/n/a

[Alan AZZERA (azzera-alan)]

Hi, why this bug is invalid ? I just ran into it after upgrading from Ubuntu 18.04 to 20.04. After finding and applying with success the fix of @shiina, I downloaded the package lsb-release_11.0.1ubuntu1_all.deb, wich still contains the line RELEASES_ORDER.sort(key=lambda n: float(n[0])) in the file /usr/share/pyshared/lsb_release.py. So, it seems there's only 2 possibilities :
- the bug is still here and nobody relies anymore on lsb_release ;
- there is another problem somewhere in my system.

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

first of all the bug is a duplicate, secondly you can not install deb packages on Ubuntu Core, snap packages (of which Ubuntu Core is built) do use /etc/os-release. Additionally Ubuntu Core only ships the most minimal set of python ...

If you see an issue on a Classic Ubuntu installation newer than Ubuntu Core 16, you should open a new bug.