ubuntu-bug doesn't check if the argument is a program associated with a package

[Phil Dobber]

I type
Alt-F2 ubuntu-bugs VirtualBox
apport says Application not installed !
But when I just type
ubuntu-bugs VirtualBox
ubuntu starts VirtualBox (so it DOES know it's installed)

Since upgarding from 12.04 to 14.04 to 16.04 LTS VirtualBox locks up on the machine completely, I can't kill any processes cleanly (even as root equivalent) so I have to log out (attempt repeatedly) or mostly I need to do a console shutdown - r 0

I have reported this to Oracle VirtualBox, and have lots of info I can supply to help isolate the bug which I am well on way to isolating, but my question here is: Is there an alternate method (documented I may have missed) to report bug with VirtualBox (or any app) that crashes / fails to work with apport?

Thanks for any help!

Regards,
Phil

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: ubuntu-docs 16.04.4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-83.106-generic 4.4.70
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-83-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.6
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Jul 9 21:23:35 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-10-13 (1730 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ubuntu-docs
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-07-07 (2 days ago)

[Hans Joachim Desserud (hjd)]

Thanks for reporting.

First things, it should be "ubuntu-bug", not -bugs. Secondly, it looks like report a bug based on a program name, you need to enter the whole path, i.e. "ubuntu-bug /usr/bin/VirtualBox". (I am not sure if this is expected, hopefully someone can confirm/deny) Alternatively report against the package name, which would be virtualbox in lowercase letters, assuming it is the package from the Ubuntu archives.

You mention Oracle Virtualbox in your post, so I am not sure if you have the package from the Ubuntu archive, or installed from Oracle.

[Phil Dobber (phil-dobber)]

Thanks for that!
There were 2 problems...
One - My brain fade thanks - should have typed ubuntu-bug
Two - The location /usr/bin/VirtualBox worked (but without /usr/bin/ it failed)

On One there is no easy fix!

on Two maybe if the app's path can be found when launcing apport...since launchpad 'knows' the app therefore ubuntu-bug should also be able to find the executable path?

In any case thanks - I have successfully moved forward with the bug report...

Regards,
Phil

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The help for ubuntu-bug indicates that it can take the following arguments:

 $ ubuntu-bug --help
Usage: ubuntu-bug [options] [symptom|pid|package|program path|.apport/.crash file]

I think it'd be a bit of work to add in support to check whether or not the argument is a program e.g. VirtualBox and not a package or symptom.