apport-bug on .crash file for a stable release doesn't notify crash was sent

[Ryan Finnie]

When giving apport-bug a .crash file and telling it to send the report, it writes an empty .upload file, but does not appear to send the report:

ryan@feh:~$ sudo apport-bug /var/crash/_usr_lib_squid3_pinger.0.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 (63.2 KB)
  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
ryan@feh:~$ ls -lsa /var/crash/_usr_lib_squid3_pinger.0.*
64 -rw-r----- 1 root root 63854 Apr 15 10:33 /var/crash/_usr_lib_squid3_pinger.0.crash
 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 15 10:44 /var/crash/_usr_lib_squid3_pinger.0.upload
ryan@feh:~$

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: apport 2.14.1-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportLog:
 ERROR: apport (pid 16419) Tue Apr 15 07:37:43 2014: called for pid 10115, signal 11, core limit 0
 ERROR: apport (pid 16419) Tue Apr 15 07:37:43 2014: executable: /usr/lib/squid3/pinger (command line "(pinger)")
 ERROR: apport (pid 16419) Tue Apr 15 07:37:43 2014: is_closing_session(): no DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS in environment
 ERROR: apport (pid 16419) Tue Apr 15 07:37:43 2014: wrote report /var/crash/_usr_lib_squid3_pinger.0.crash
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CrashReports:
 640:0:0:16086:2014-04-12 19:58:08.832940604 -0700:2014-04-13 03:55:12.546230475 -0700:/var/crash/_usr_lib_mailman_bin_list_lists.0.crash
 640:0:0:63854:2014-04-15 10:33:06.036259174 -0700:2014-04-15 10:36:21.278098132 -0700:/var/crash/_usr_lib_squid3_pinger.0.crash
 644:0:0:0:2014-04-15 10:36:23.354031253 -0700:2014-04-15 10:36:23.354031253 -0700:/var/crash/_usr_lib_squid3_pinger.0.upload
 640:33:33:982302:2014-04-12 19:47:16.481460672 -0700:2014-04-13 03:55:12.478232672 -0700:/var/crash/_usr_bin_php5.33.crash
 640:0:0:42350107:2014-04-15 05:24:07.978228219 -0700:2014-04-15 05:23:28.267508485 -0700:/var/crash/_usr_sbin_apache2.0.crash
Date: Tue Apr 15 10:40:38 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-04-17 (728 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120415)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=screen
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: apport
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-04-13 (2 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Matthias Andree (matthias-andree)]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Reporting_an_application_crash_in_the_stable_release

but apparently the error is not uploaded to errors, unlike claimed there...

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

That page doesn't claim to send crashes to errors rather talks about how to get crashes about stable releases sent to Launchpad.

"Even when enabled, apport will not upload crash reports to Launchpad for a stable release... To file a report on Launchpad anyway, one may open the following file via a command line:"

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

@Ryan - where you trying to send the crash to Launchpad or the Ubuntu Error Tracker?

[Matthias Andree (matthias-andree)]

For me, no upload whatsoever took place, neither to the error tracker,
nor to launchpad, while other networked applications (browser, pidgin,
...) worked flawlessly.

[nanog (sorenimpey)]

I can confirm that apport generates empty files at /var/crash/ and fails to report crashes. This is a major regression.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

apport creates .crash files in /var/crash which contain information about the crashing application, then after data collection is done a zero byte .upload file is created corresponding to the .crash file. This is a signal to whoopsie to upload the .crash file to the Ubuntu Error Tracker, and whoopsie then creates a zero byte .uploaded file in /var/crash with the same name as the .crash and .upload file. So empty files in /var/crash is normal.

If you are running a release other than Utopic, which will become Ubuntu 14.10, you can run the command "grep whoopsie /var/log/syslog" to find information about whoopsie's status and OOPS_IDs for the crashes you've uploaded to the Error Tracker.

You can also goto System Settings -> Security & Privacy -> Diagnostics to:

1) verify that "Send error reports" is checked
2) click "Show Previous Reports" to see the crashes you've reported

Unlike when crashes are reported to Launchpad, there is no user interaction (like a web browser page opening) after the .crash file is uploaded to the Error Tracker. So its entirely possible they are reported and you just don't realize it.

[Neal McBurnett (nealmcb)]

Thanks, Brian for the clarifications. But note that I see nothing via

  grep whoopsie /var/log/syslog

even though I do see the zero-length "/var/crash/bzr.1000.2014-11-30T18:42.uploaded' file you talk about.

I'm running precise 12.04. with the 14.04 kernel HWE.

Another note, for anyone else who was still expecting to be put in a launchpad window in their browser: that changed in Precise. See bug 994921, and this discussion:

How can I track a bug that caused a crash and was reported via apport / whoopsie?
 http://askubuntu.com/questions/140379/how-can-i-track-a-bug-that-caused-a-crash-and-was-reported-via-apport-whoopsie

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

I ran into this issue in the unstable Vivid release, and I had to comment out the "'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package']," line in /etc/apport/crashdb.conf to get apport-bug working again. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs suggests that you only need to do this for stable releases, though.

[Karl Kastner (kastner-karl)]

Had to follow Rocko's advice to be able to report bugs in zesty 17.04, this is annoying, apport should be more verbatim instead of silently not uploading the report

[Karl Kastner (kastner-karl)]

This bug still persists on 18.10 Cosmic Cuttlefish

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

This is still present in 19.04.