check-new-release-gtk crashed with apt_pkg.Error in open(): E:flAbsPath on /var/ lib/dpkg/status failed

[Nick Rosbrook]

Apport was also crashing trying to file this bug, but I manually copied some of the good stuff:

== Title =================================
check-new-release-gtk crashed with apt_pkg.Error in open(): E:flAbsPath on /var/
lib/dpkg/status failed - realpath (2: No such file or directory), E:Could not op
en file - open (2: No such file or directory), E:Problem opening , E:The packag
e lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

== Traceback =================================
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/ubuntu-release-upgrader/check-new-release-gtk", line 199, in <m
odule>
    cnr = CheckNewReleaseGtk(options)
  File "/usr/lib/ubuntu-release-upgrader/check-new-release-gtk", line 81, in __i
nit__
    m = MetaRelease(useDevelopmentRelease=options.devel_release,
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/UpdateManager/MetaReleaseGObject.py", lin
e 45, in __init__
    MetaReleaseCore.__init__(self, useDevelopmentRelease, useProposed,
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/UpdateManager/Core/MetaRelease.py", line
103, in __init__
    cache = apt.Cache()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 152, in __init__
    self.open(progress)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 214, in open
    self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress)
apt_pkg.Error: E:flAbsPath on /var/lib/dpkg/status failed - realpath (2: No such
 file or directory), E:Could not open file - open (2: No such file or directory
), E:Problem opening , E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or
 opened.

Ultimately this is a dpkg issue, but u-r-u should probably catch exception.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

For the record this error came up when installing Ubuntu 22.10 with ZFS + encryption and /var/lib/dpkg not being mounted. It is also kind of weird that check-new-release-gtk is running on first boot.

[Benjamin Drung (bdrung)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Can you open a separate bug report for the crashing Apport?