Crash on Upgrade preparation from 18.04 to 18.10 in APT::Update::Post-Invoke-Success

[Scott S]

E:Problem executing scripts APT::Update::Post-Invoke-Success 'if /usr/bin/test -w /var/cache/app-info -a -e /usr/bin/appstreamcli; then appstreamcli refresh-cache > /dev/null; fi', E:Sub-process returned an error code
The above error is in the small box. The information below is in the terminal window that I thought might give clues on what happened on disto upgrade to 18.10 from command line.

QStandardPaths: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set, defaulting to '/tmp/runtime-root'
kdeinit5: Got EXEC_NEW '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/plugins/kf5/kio/http.so' from launcher.
kdeinit5: preparing to launch '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/plugins/kf5/kio/http.so'
QStandardPaths: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set, defaulting to '/tmp/runtime-root'
kdeinit5: Got EXT_EXEC '/usr/bin/firefox' from launcher.
kdeinit5: preparing to launch '/usr/bin/firefox'
kdeinit5: PID 5799 terminated.

(appstreamcli:6926): GLib-CRITICAL **: 21:59:50.626: g_variant_builder_end: assertion '!GVSB(builder)->uniform_item_types || GVSB(builder)->prev_item_type != NULL || g_variant_type_is_definite (GVSB(builder)->type)' failed

(appstreamcli:6926): GLib-CRITICAL **: 21:59:50.626: g_variant_new_variant: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(appstreamcli:6926): GLib-ERROR **: 21:59:50.626: g_variant_new_parsed: 11-13:invalid GVariant format string
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)
QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 792, resource id: 39845978, major code: 40 (TranslateCoords), minor code: 0

(appstreamcli:8091): GLib-CRITICAL **: 22:00:11.961: g_variant_builder_end: assertion '!GVSB(builder)->uniform_item_types || GVSB(builder)->prev_item_type != NULL || g_variant_type_is_definite (GVSB(builder)->type)' failed

(appstreamcli:8091): GLib-CRITICAL **: 22:00:11.961: g_variant_new_variant: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(appstreamcli:8091): GLib-ERROR **: 22:00:11.961: g_variant_new_parsed: 11-13:invalid GVariant format string
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)

(appstreamcli:8899): GLib-CRITICAL **: 22:00:17.376: g_variant_builder_end: assertion '!GVSB(builder)->uniform_item_types || GVSB(builder)->prev_item_type != NULL || g_variant_type_is_definite (GVSB(builder)->type)' failed

(appstreamcli:8899): GLib-CRITICAL **: 22:00:17.376: g_variant_new_variant: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(appstreamcli:8899): GLib-ERROR **: 22:00:17.376: g_variant_new_parsed: 11-13:invalid GVariant format string
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)

(appstreamcli:9701): GLib-CRITICAL **: 22:00:21.530: g_variant_builder_end: assertion '!GVSB(builder)->uniform_item_types || GVSB(builder)->prev_item_type != NULL || g_variant_type_is_definite (GVSB(builder)->type)' failed

(appstreamcli:9701): GLib-CRITICAL **: 22:00:21.530: g_variant_new_variant: assertion 'value != NULL' failed

(appstreamcli:9701): GLib-ERROR **: 22:00:21.530: g_variant_new_parsed: 11-13:invalid GVariant format string
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)
kdeinit5: PID 6868 terminated.

[Scott S (luvallcomputers1)]

I ran sudo apt-get autoclean, and other command line clean up tools and
tried again.

I was able to upgrade then.  Not sure why just running some cleaning
programs worked but did and now I have 18.10 running.

Thank you

You can marked this solved.

Scott Stehno

On 09/25/2018 08:46 AM, Colin Watson wrote:
> ** Project changed: launchpad => appstream (Ubuntu)
>

[Christian Kirbach (christian-kirbach-e)]

I can confirm, experiencing the same.

So from what I understand is that apt executes

if /usr/bin/test -w /var/cache/app-info -a -e /usr/bin/appstreamcli; then appstreamcli refresh-cache > /dev/null; fi

which fails. It checks whether the two files /var/cache/app-info and /usr/bin/appstreamcli both exist and if so it attempts to run appstreamcli. appstreamcli handles AppStream metadata and the AppStream index.

/var/cache/app-info does not exist on my system. Not sure if it is supposed to be there all the time or just during the uggrade process.

Leaving my VM in the current condition so I can gather more information if needed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Christian Kirbach (christian-kirbach-e)]

ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-02-12 (380 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Release amd64 (20180105.1)
Package: appstream 0.12.0-3
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-32.35-generic 4.15.18
Tags: bionic third-party-packages
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-32-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2019-02-27 (0 days ago)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo vboxsf
_MarkForUpload: True

[Christian Kirbach (christian-kirbach-e)]

apport information

[Christian Kirbach (christian-kirbach-e)]

apport information

[Christian Kirbach (christian-kirbach-e)]

I forgot to mention: of course, network connectivity is given.
And the system is up-to-date.

[Christian Kirbach (christian-kirbach-e)]

OK, so /var/cache/app-info/ exists before and after software-updater runs. But it does not exist in between while it prepáres the upgrade.

[Matthias Klumpp (ximion)]

This is resolved in `appstream >= 0.12.7` (since the code doesn't exist there anymore). The original issue was likely caused by AppStream not handling broken metadata correctly, which is an area that has also been improved greatly.