Comment 1 for bug 367444

I can verify this behavior. Sometimes kpackagekit simply fails to complete the install of a metapackage; other times it silently crashes. Apt-get has no problems installing the requested packages.

Here's the output from an attempt to install kubuntu-restricted extras. The steps were as follows:
1) Open kpackagekit.
2) Search for "kubuntu-restricted-extras".
3) Click the package to see the description of the package.
4) Click the Plus to mark the package.
5) Click Apply -- note that installation silently failed here.
6) Repeat steps 4 and 5 -- this time kpackagekit silently crashed.

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scott@riogrande:~$ kpackagekit
KPackageKit(7599) kpackagekit::KPackageKit::newInstance: SHOW UI!
KPackageKit(7599) kpackagekit::KPackageKit::showUi: GO UI!
KPackageKit(7599) KpkAddRm::setCurrentAction:
enumFromString ( Group ) : converted "unknown" to "Unknown" , enum value -1
KPackageKit(7599) KpkTransactionBar::setBehaviors: Hide! 1
scott@riogrande:~$ KPackageKit(7599) KpkAddRm::on_actionFindName_triggered:
KPackageKit(7599) KpkAddRm::setCurrentAction:
New transaction with tid "/23_dabdebdc_data"
enumFromString ( State ) : converted "collection-available" to "CollectionAvailable" , enum value -1
removing transaction from pool : "/23_dabdebdc_data"
New transaction with tid "/24_eeccdabb_data"
enumFromString ( License ) : converted "unknown" to "Unknown" , enum value -1
removing transaction from pool : "/24_eeccdabb_data"
KPackageKit(7599) KpkReviewChanges::checkTask: task else
New transaction with tid "/25_abdcacec_data"
enumFromString ( State ) : converted "collection-available" to "CollectionAvailable" , enum value -1
removing transaction from pool : "/25_abdcacec_data"
KPackageKit(7599) KpkReviewChanges::checkTask: task else
New transaction with tid "/26_debdbead_data"
KPackageKit(7599) KpkAddRm::~KpkAddRm: Saving filters settings

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Current kpackagekit version: 0.4-0ubuntu8
Kubuntu version: 9.04