Add common error checks: Dpkg produces unclear error messages if out of disk space

[Thibault D]

If the systems runs out of disk space during installation we get very strange error messages. Apt will only fail with an InstallArchives error.

We should add some checks for common errors to give the user a better way idea about what could be wrong.

For whatever reason I got the following error message when updating Ubuntu (see screenshot here attached) :

installArchives() failed: (Reading database ...
(Reading database ... 5%%
(Reading database ... 10%%
(Reading database ... 15%%
(Reading database ... 20%%

There might be a spare "%" and a missing ")" somewhere ?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: software-center 5.1.8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-15.24-generic-pae 3.2.5
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-15-generic-pae i686
ApportVersion: 1.91-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
CasperVersion: 1.304
Date: Thu Feb 9 19:13:01 2012
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha i386 (20120209)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: software-center
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor)]

Could you please copy and paste the whole error details from the dialog?

[Thibault D (thibdrev)]

Full details of the message in the file attached.

[Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor)]

Hello, this isn't a bug in aptdaemon.

It seems that there isn't any disk space available on your system. Clean the apt-cache to free some space by running "sudo apt-get clean" in a Terminal or try to delete some files (if you are using a single parition for your system and your home)

[Thibault D (thibdrev)]

Hello Sebastian,

The bug i am reporting is not on the error itself but on how it is displayed.

The details show :
(Reading database ... 5%%

and probably should show :
(Reading database ... 5%)

However you're right : it is also a disk space issue with my 2Gb usb disk !

[Raphaël Hertzog (hertzog)]

dpkg is giving the proper error message:
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/oxygen-icon-theme_4%%3a4.8.0-0ubuntu1_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to create `/usr/share/icons/oxygen/16x16/actions/meeting-participant-request-response.png.dpkg-new' (while processing `./usr/share/icons/oxygen/16x16/actions/meeting-participant-request-response.png'): No space left on device

Then the subsequent errors are APT/update-manager trying to tell dpkg to install files that do not exist for some reasons. I wonder why BTW, the deb files are supposed to be downloaded before the start of the installation process, no?

There's thus nothing to fix at the dpkg level, I'm afraid.