migration-assistant exposes special handling of spaces to the preseeding interface

[Evan]

Binary package hint: ubiquity

migration-assistant.py shows the migration-assistant page in some cases when it shouldn't. This can be observed by a mostly blank migration-assistant page with "There were no users or operating systems suitable for importing from." in the treeview.

The expected result is that the migration-assistant page is skipped entirely in this case.

[Evan (ev)]

This and the previous log file are from a Wubi install that ultimately fails because the migration-assistant page is shown, triggering failure_command.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Rejecting upstream task; we use the Ubuntu ubiquity package for bug tracking.

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

Receiving reports of users that are now shown a migration-assistant question but cannot press the forward button (only cancel is enabled).

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4461540&postcount=6
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4475322&postcount=4

[Laurence (l-d-anderson)]

Same problem for me:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=731768

Attached a zip of my /var/log directory

[Evan (ev)]

Mar 23 11:08:15 debconf (filter): <-- INPUT high migration-assistant/sda2/Laurence:Anderson/items
debconf (developer): <-- FGET migration-assistant/sda2/Laurence:Anderson/items seen
debconf (developer): --> 0 false

Mar 23 11:08:15 debconf (filter): <-- INPUT high migration-assistant/sda2/Laurence:Anderson/user
debconf (developer): <-- FGET migration-assistant/sda2/Laurence:Anderson/user seen
debconf (developer): --> 0 false

Currently, migration-assistant uses a colon character in place of a space for any question that contains a username with a space in it. This is done because, as I understand it, debconf cannot handle questions with spaces in the name of the key. I imagine it might be possible to change the IFS to handle this situation, and I'll look into that.

Note that this *only* applies where the Windows username is part of the debconf question.

[Joseph Peterson (josephp35)]

I was able to successfully install Kubuntu inside of Windows Vista, but was not able to install any of the other desktop environments.

[dracon (picky2k)]

Similar problem with Hardy Beta migration assist. No Forward button and no option to continue but C-A-Bsp which yields same as Cancel. Cancel produces a CD live user install that attempts to complete the Wubi install process at each subsequent boot and fails at the same point. Tried Wubi+Hardy Daily Alternate iso but that never finishes building the swap.disk and has to be terminated by taskmaster and removed. (ubuntu disks folder shows boot folder, shared folder, root.disk and usr.disk)
Config is i386 Windows 2k on Primary Master, Gutsy 7.10 on Primary Slave (I know but there are reasons) both are independent and accessible only via BIOS at boot. (non Dual-boot config)
Hardy attempt to install is to Primary slave empty FAT32 partition (logical).
Primary slave config: (250Gig)
sdb1 - system (20Gig)
sdb2 - home (5Gig)
sdb3 - swap (2Gig) (1.5 gig RAM)
sdb4 - extended
    sdb5 - ext2 70Gig
    sdb6 - Fat32 (15 for Hardy rest for share with windoz)
    sdb7 - Fat32 share with windoz 70Gig.
forcing the install never gets past step 4 of 6, (attempting to prepare /dev/sda1 partition).
Problem installing to Fat32?? why? will be very common need I think.

[Kasper Primdal Lauritzen (kplauritzen)]

I experience a similar problem. I use Windows XP, and when I try to install Ubuntu 8.04 with wubi I get stuck at the screen claiming that "there were no users or operatings systems suitable for importing from". Up until this point my Windows account name was "Kasper Primdal", but when I read that the bug might be caused by the space in the username I first changed my username to "Kasper", and afterwards created a second account in Windows "test". I read several forum threads about this, and finally found this http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=719157 pointing me here. So this is a log from my latest installation attempt, created via the step-by-step procedure described in the thread above.

[Evan (ev)]

Marking as Invalid per the discussion from #ubuntu-installer below:

09:49:05 < evand> cjwatson: before I embark on this task, any objection to me modifying debconf-set-selections to include an option to use the escape capability? I can get m-a to work with spaces in the key name via escape, but wubi fails on debconf-set-selection as its not using the capability.
09:49:22 < cjwatson> spaces in the *key* name?
09:49:47 < cjwatson> evand: can we avoid using spaces in question names? I really don't think it's a good idea ...
09:50:49 < evand> cjwatson: I don't think I can remove the Windows username from the keys in question, so my options are to either use spaces or continue to replace them with a colon and have wubi carry that wart. Would you prefer the latter?
09:51:10 < cjwatson> I think it's definitely preferable to replace them with something
09:51:48 < evand> ok, works for me. I'll have Ago make the change and leave m-a as is.
09:51:51 < cjwatson> So, what do we need to store in a variable template? Of course we need a
09:51:54 < cjwatson> name to identify the template. Template names are made up of components
09:51:57 < cjwatson> separated by the character `/' (slash). Each component is limited to
09:52:01 < cjwatson> alphanumerics and `+' `-' `.' (plus, minus, full stop).
09:52:03 < cjwatson> /usr/share/doc/debian-policy/debconf_specification.txt.gz

[Evan (ev)]

To clarify my above statement, the bug is still valid for Wubi.

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

Wubi will now replace whitespaces in windows username with "+" when such name is used within a preseed key.

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

Reopening, see: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=757040

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

If you are still experiencing this I would need (and extremely quickly if you want it fixed before release):

* You have to uninstall and reinstall (make sure to use a release-candidate ISO or later)
* You have to choose verbose mode (at reboot, after "Ubuntu", press "esc", and select verbose mode.
* Post your windows username (I am interested whether any special char is in there)
* Attach c:\ubuntu\install\custom-installation\preseed.cfg
* When installation stops press ctrl+alt+f2 and run: sudo sh /custom-installation/hooks/failure-command.sh
* Attach c:\ubuntu\installation-logs.zip

[JcMaco (lqb5hzj02)]

Windows username: Julian
Windows type: Windows XP Home (Windows XP Édition Familliale)

I noticed that in preseed.cfg it recognizes Windows as "XP Pro" while is the other logs (i.e. syslog) it says "Windows XP dition familiale". The "é" is not displayed properly.

Also, in the Ubuntu boot menu, all "é" are replaced by a symbol that looks like a theta.

The installation failed at 88% "Importing documents and settings".

[flowerdealer (elbuenpepe)]

Unfortunately I don't have the same test machine anymore (I was trying to test on a friends laptop). I will try to install though on a different computer.

Jose Fernandez de Castro
<email address hidden>

> From: <email address hidden>
> To: <email address hidden>
> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:03:45 +0000
> Subject: [Bug 195905] Re: migration-assistant exposes special handling of spaces to the preseeding interface
>
> If you are still experiencing this I would need (and extremely quickly
> if you want it fixed before release):
>
>
> * You have to uninstall and reinstall (make sure to use a release-candidate ISO or later)
> * You have to choose verbose mode (at reboot, after "Ubuntu", press "esc", and select verbose mode.
> * Post your windows username (I am interested whether any special char is in there)
> * Attach c:\ubuntu\install\custom-installation\preseed.cfg
> * When installation stops press ctrl+alt+f2 and run: sudo sh /custom-installation/hooks/failure-command.sh
> * Attach c:\ubuntu\installation-logs.zip
>
> --
> migration-assistant exposes special handling of spaces to the preseeding interface
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/195905
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.

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[JcMaco (lqb5hzj02)]

This might need a second bug report, but when I came back to windows, the time had shifted by -2.5 hours. I think I saw in the logs something about assigning my timezone to St-John's. My timezone is supposed to be EDT.

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

Reopening since there seem to be other issues unrelated to the username

[Evan (ev)]

Could someone who is experiencing this bug follow the instructions Agostino mentioned in:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/195905/comments/14

but when you see the install window, hit ctrl-alt-f2 and add `set -x` to the top of /usr/lib/ubiquity/migration-assistant/ma-apply (sudo nano /usr/lib/ubiquity/migration-assistant/ma-apply). You should have some time to do this as it gets called after the file copy procedure runs. When the install fails copy out the log files and attach them using the above instructions.

Thanks!

[JcMaco (lqb5hzj02)]

all logs are in the zip.

Why does the time change happen? It's quite annoying.

From user.log

Apr 23 13:58:52 ubuntu clock-setup: Time read from Hardware Clock: 2008/04/23 13:58:52
Apr 23 13:58:52 ubuntu clock-setup: Hw clock time : 2008/04/23 13:58:52 = 1208968132 seconds since 1969
Apr 23 13:58:52 ubuntu clock-setup: Time elapsed since reference time has been 0.960213 seconds.
Apr 23 13:58:52 ubuntu clock-setup: Delaying further to reach the next full second.
Apr 23 13:58:52 ubuntu clock-setup: Setting Hardware Clock to 11:28:52 = 1208959132 seconds since 1969

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

JcMarco thanks. For the time change issue, would you mind opening a different bug? It's easier for us to track one issue per bug.

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

Back to fix released for Wubi since the remaining issue seems to be related to special chars in the OS name which is to be addressed in ubiquity

[JcMaco (lqb5hzj02)]

Here's the bug report number for the time issue: 221192

[verroitn (nicolas-verroit)]

Here is my log files as suggested in the following topic of the ubuntu-wubi forum :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4800687

my problem : installation stops at 88% during the import documents and settings phase.

windows XP SP2
windows usernames : "Nico" and "Invité"

[Arthur Schlomoff (arthur-sdp)]

Like verroitn, and some others who had the bug (install error at 88%, during import doc etc.), I'm French, and my Windows is in French... And the french version of Windows XP Home Edition is called : Windows XP Édition Familiale. And by the way each version of Windows XP or Vista have an "Édition" in it.

I have two users, Arthur and Invité (invité = guest account) and the registered user is called : Arthur S.

Other details : in the boot menu, where we choose the verbose mode and everything, each "é" is a theta (θ) (and this menu is in french, even if I ask Wubi to install in English).

I'm attaching my log file (i've donne what Agostino asked at #14, running sudo sh [...] failure-command.sh.

[Arthur Schlomoff (arthur-sdp)]

And there is the preseed.cfg :)

[verroitn (nicolas-verroit)]

If needed, here is also the pressed.cfg file of my installation attempt.

[verroitn (nicolas-verroit)]

I don't know who to ask for this but do you think we shall open a new bug at this one seems not to reflect the actual problem faced : install failed during "import document and setting" at 88%

[verroitn (nicolas-verroit)]

A new bug reference was created to follow the dedicated 88% problem:
Bug #222690 - https://bugs.launchpad.net/wubi/+bug/222690

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

The issue of whitespace in username was fixed, for problems with special chars in the OS name see #222690