installer crash with ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''

[Ahdan Hamz]

the installer that i'm used for installing ubuntu oneiric ocelot had been crashed.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: ubiquity 2.8.7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: i386
CasperVersion: 1.287
Date: Fri Oct 28 10:10:58 2011
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111012)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Robert Roth (evfool)]

Exception during installation:
Error in function start
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/install_misc.py", line 256, in start
     self.db.progress('START', 0, 100, self.title)
   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 60, in <lambda>
     lambda *args, **kw: self.command(command, *args, **kw))
   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 81, in command
     status = int(status)
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Exception during installation:
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu ubiquity: Error in function start
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py: Traceback (most recent call last):
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/install_misc.py", line 256, in start
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py: self.db.progress('START', 0, 100, self.title)
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 60, in <lambda>
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py: lambda *args, **kw: self.command(command, *args, **kw))
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 81, in command
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py: status = int(status)
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py: ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''
Oct 28 10:10:31 ubuntu plugininstall.py:

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

I have a kind-of unit-test reproducer. What happens is that debconf database is locked and status ends up as empty string.

test_empty (test_ubi_partman.TestCalculateAutopartitioningOptions) ... debconf: DbDriver "configdb": /home/tdlk/canonical/installer/adv-crypto/tests/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable
ERROR

Which results in:

======================================================================
ERROR: test_question_dialog (test_gtkui.TestFrontend)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/tdlk/canonical/installer/adv-crypto/tests/test_gtkui.py", line 46, in test_question_dialog
    ui = gtk_ui.Wizard('test-ubiquity')
  File "./ubiquity/frontend/gtk_ui.py", line 208, in __init__
    BaseFrontend.__init__(self, distro)
  File "./ubiquity/frontend/base.py", line 113, in __init__
    self.start_debconf()
  File "./ubiquity/frontend/base.py", line 330, in start_debconf
    self.db = self.debconf_communicator()
  File "./ubiquity/frontend/base.py", line 325, in debconf_communicator
    return DebconfCommunicator('ubiquity', cloexec=True)
  File "./ubiquity/debconfcommunicator.py", line 37, in __init__
    write=self.dccomm.stdin)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 50, in __init__
    self.setUp(title)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 53, in setUp
    self.version = self.version(2)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 62, in <lambda>
    lambda *args, **kw: self.command(command, *args, **kw))
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 83, in command
    status = int(status)
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''

My guess is that debconf shouldn't trust 'status' to be a valid value castable to an int, instead it possibly should check if it's empty and raise appropriate error.

[dino99 (9d9)]

That version is no more maintained