do-release-upgrade fails with confusing (gnu screen) message "Press x to destroy or r to resurrect window"

[James Hunt]

If do-release-update finds gnu screen installed, it will use it. However, if do-release-upgrade using screen fails, the screen shows:

    == Command terminated with exit status 1 (<date>) ==

If you press any key, we then get the truly bizarre message:

    Press x to destroy or r to resurrect window

I used gnu screen for quite a few years before moving to tmux and had never seen that message before. It is very unclear at this stage what is going on (aside from the fact the upgrade failed somehow) and what the correct response should be. In fact, initially, the assumption is that the message above is coming from do-release-upgrade itself which confuses further:

- Does 'r' imply the failed upgrade will be retried?
- What will 'x' destroy exactly? The window? The screen managed process? The upgrade attempt? My system?

Is there some way we can avoid this rather scary message appearing, or atleast customize it to explain in simple terms what choices the user has I wonder?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: update-manager-core 1:0.156.6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-16.25-generic-pae 3.2.6
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-16-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.93-0ubuntu2
Aptdaemon:
 Mar 1 08:45:36 azul AptDaemon: INFO: Quitting due to inactivity
 Mar 1 08:45:36 azul AptDaemon: INFO: Quitting was requested
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Mar 1 10:02:30 2012
DpkgHistoryLog.txt:
 Start-Date: 2012-03-01 08:45:01
 Commandline: apt-get -y dist-upgrade
 Upgrade: libncurses-ruby1.8:i386 (1.2.4-4, 1.2.4-4build1), ruby-ncurses:i386 (1.2.4-4, 1.2.4-4build1), libasound2:i386 (1.0.25-1ubuntu6, 1.0.25-1ubuntu7), libncurses-ruby:i386 (1.2.4-4, 1.2.4-4build1), libasound2-dev:i386 (1.0.25-1ubuntu6, 1.0.25-1ubuntu7)
 End-Date: 2012-03-01 08:45:36
GsettingsChanges:
 com.ubuntu.update-manager first-run false
 com.ubuntu.update-manager launch-time 1325929900
 com.ubuntu.update-manager show-details true
 com.ubuntu.update-manager window-height 600
 com.ubuntu.update-manager window-width 600
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: update-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-01-12 (48 days ago)

[James Hunt (jamesodhunt)]

This message was seen on a lucid system btw.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Jarkko Hakala (jshakala)]

Dingo->Eoan update also affected