Comment 1 for bug 1689820

This is quite simple to reproduce:

$ pkcon get-updates
Getting updates [=========================]
Loading cache [=========================]
Querying [=========================]
Finished [=========================]
Bug fix linux-generic-4.4.0.77.83.amd64 (xenial-updates) Complete Generic Linux kernel and headers
Bug fix linux-headers-generic-4.4.0.77.83.amd64 (xenial-updates) Generic Linux kernel headers
Bug fix linux-headers-virtual-4.4.0.77.83.amd64 (xenial-updates) Transitional package.
Bug fix linux-image-generic-4.4.0.77.83.amd64 (xenial-updates) Generic Linux kernel image
Bug fix linux-image-virtual-4.4.0.77.83.amd64 (xenial-updates) This package will always depend on the latest minimal generic kernel image.
Bug fix linux-virtual-4.4.0.77.83.amd64 (xenial-updates) Minimal Generic Linux kernel and headers

$ pkcon get-update-detail linux-image-virtual
Resolving [=========================]
Getting update details [=========================]
Loading cache [=========================]
Downloading packages [ ] (0%) The daemon crashed mid-transaction!

This doesn't seem to be specific to the particular package. If I downgrade tzdata

$ sudo apt-get install tzdata=2016d-0ubuntu0.16.04

and query that it crashes as well:

$ pkcon get-update-detail tzdata
Downloading packages [ ] (0%) The daemon crashed mid-transaction!

0x00007ffff23ad6d5 in AcqPackageKitStatus::updateStatus(pkgAcquire::ItemDesc&, int) ()
   from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
(gdb) bt
#0 0x00007ffff23ad6d5 in AcqPackageKitStatus::updateStatus(pkgAcquire::ItemDesc&, int) ()
   from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
#1 0x00007ffff23ad7d3 in AcqPackageKitStatus::Fail(pkgAcquire::ItemDesc&) ()
   from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
#2 0x00007ffff1b2bd96 in pkgAcquire::Worker::RunMessages() () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.5.0
#3 0x00007ffff1b2d9dc in pkgAcquire::Worker::InFdReady() () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.5.0
#4 0x00007ffff1b2f1ba in pkgAcquire::RunFdsSane(fd_set*, fd_set*) () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.5.0
#5 0x00007ffff1b32dd2 in pkgAcquire::Run(int) () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.5.0
#6 0x00007ffff23b4be1 in downloadChangelog(AptCacheFile&, pkgAcquire&, pkgCache::VerIterator, std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >) () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
#7 0x00007ffff23c6888 in AptIntf::emitUpdateDetail(pkgCache::VerIterator const&) ()
   from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
#8 0x00007ffff23c73c5 in AptIntf::emitUpdateDetails(PkgList const&) ()
   from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
#9 0x00007ffff23cbffd in ?? () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
#10 0x000055555556e419 in ?? ()
#11 0x00007ffff6c0cbb5 in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0
#12 0x00007ffff69866ba in start_thread (arg=0x7ffff09ec700) at pthread_create.c:333
#13 0x00007ffff66bc82d in clone () at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86_64/clone.S:109
(gdb) bt full
#0 0x00007ffff23ad6d5 in AcqPackageKitStatus::updateStatus(pkgAcquire::ItemDesc&, int) () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
No symbol table info available.
#1 0x00007ffff23ad7d3 in AcqPackageKitStatus::Fail(pkgAcquire::ItemDesc&) () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/packagekit-backend/libpk_backend_aptcc.so
No symbol table info available.
#2 0x00007ffff1b2bd96 in pkgAcquire::Worker::RunMessages() () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.5.0