better error message if -c file does not exist

[arvind]

when i try(using /usr/share/apport/apport-gtk -c %f) to open APPORT it shows an error;
This problem report is damaged and cannot be processed.

i have even reinstalled it.

this error is in hardy heron alpha 6.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Can you please attach the report you were trying to process?

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

arvind, have you maybe tried the mentioned command literally? At least then the error gets displayed, too.
You're supposed to replace "%f" with an existing crash file name (from /var/crash).

Apport should fail with "File does not exist" then.

[Duncan Lithgow (duncan-lithgow)]

I am seeing this bug reported to bug #241363. On my Intrepid system '/var/crash' is empty.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package apport - 0.142

---------------
apport (0.142) jaunty; urgency=low

  * apport/report.py: Do not include lsb_release's stderr in the
    DistroRelease: output.
  * apport/hookutils.py: Fix attach_printing():
    - Correct spelling or "error_log".
    - Do not call fgrep with no file names (if /etc/cups/ppd/ is empty), since
      that hangs forever.
  * apport/report.py, _gen_stacktrace_top(): Fix parsing of stacktraces
    with some addresses missing. Add test cases. (LP: #269133)
  * apport/ui.py, run_report_bug(): Show details of collected information and
    give the user a chance to cancel. Previously, collected data was sent
    directly to Launchpad. Nowadays lots of packages have hooks, so we cannot
    guarantee any more that bug reports only have non-sensitive information.
    (LP: #195514) This also allows the user to cancel if (s)he inadvertedly
    clicked on "Report a problem". (LP: #279033)
  * apport/ui.py: Fix crash in get_complete_size() for reports that are
    constructed on the fly instead of loaded from a file (i. e. for bug
    reports). Fixes displaying of report in apport-cli.
  * apport/report.py: Slight robustification of test_add_gdb_info_script()
    test case.
  * debian/local/ubuntu-bug: Fix invocation with "--help". (LP: #305841)
  * apport/ui.py, load_report(): Clearer error message if report file does not
    exist. (LP: #204198)
  * Remove redundant verbiage from test suite docstrings.
  * apport/report.py, anonymize(): Fix crash when processing root-owned
    reports. (LP: #338033)
  * apport/report.py, anonymize(): Do not anonymize single-character user and
    host names, since they create an utter mess in bug reports, and also are
    very low-sensitive.
  * debian/apport.init: Also start apport if force_start=1 is given. This
    provides a convenient method of starting apport just for a session without
    changing the default file. Add a comment to debian/apport.default about
    this possibility. Thanks to Milan for the suggestion and the initial
    patch! (LP: #320467)
  * backends/packaging-apt-dpkg.py, _get_mirror(): Only consider http://
    mirrors for fetching Contents.gz. (LP: #315797)

 -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden> Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:01:05 +0100