"Error communicating with the backend" could be more understandable

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

Binary package hint: update-manager

Ubuntu Hardy, daily live CD

On starting up, a big error icon appears in the panel, with a tooltip: "Error communicating with the backend. Please report this as a bug."

This bug report is *not* about whatever causes the error (e.g. bug 181762, bug 182027); it is about the error message itself, as it will appear for any future bugs of the same type.

"Backend" isn't really a word, but even if it was, the message isn't really understandable. What is it that has an error? Whose back end is it? What's a "bug"? Where should I report it? What information should the bug report contain?

I suggest replacing this tooltip with an error alert that more fully explains the problem. If the tooltip has been an important source of update-manager bug reports, the alert should contain a button that goes to exactly the right URL for reporting a bug on the relevant package. Otherwise, remove any mention of reporting bugs, and rely on the sort of people who usually report bugs to know what to do about it.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks for your report.
This has been fixed and changed to:
"An error occurred, please run Package Manager from the right-click menu or apt-get in a terminal to see what is wrong."