User name shown as [Invalid UTF-8] in live session

Bug #837246 reported by Otus
112
This bug affects 25 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Session Menu
Fix Released
Medium
Conor Curran
Unity Foundations
Fix Released
High
Conor Curran
indicator-session (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned
Oneiric
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

Using the beta iso testing image 20110830 the user name displayed in unity-2d panel is [Invalid UTF-8]. Clicking the indicator still shows Guest Session in the menu.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: indicator-session 0.3.3.2-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-9.14-generic 3.0.3
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-9-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.280
Date: Tue Aug 30 09:27:41 2011
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Beta amd64 (20110830)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: indicator-session
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Revision history for this message
Otus (jan-varho) wrote :
tags: added: iso-testing
Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Changed in indicator-session:
status: New → In Progress
importance: Undecided → Medium
assignee: nobody → Conor Curran (cjcurran)
milestone: none → 0.3.4
Changed in indicator-session (Ubuntu):
status: New → In Progress
Changed in indicator-session (Ubuntu Oneiric):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Changed in indicator-session:
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Changed in unity-foundations:
milestone: none → oneiric-beta-2
status: New → Fix Committed
importance: Undecided → High
assignee: nobody → Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Changed in indicator-session:
status: Fix Released → Fix Committed
Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Changed in indicator-session:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package indicator-session - 0.3.4.1-0ubuntu1

---------------
indicator-session (0.3.4.1-0ubuntu1) oneiric; urgency=low

  [Ken VanDine]
  * New upstream release.
    - in a Guest session user menu is not visible (LP: #834948)
    - User name shown as [Invalid UTF-8] in live session (LP: #837246)
    - "Reboot Required" menu opens Update Manager, doesn't reboot (LP: #837658)
    - indicator-session-service crashed with SIGSEGV in
      g_str_hash() (LP: #824243)
    - indicator-session-service crashed with SIGSEGV in
      g_variant_unref() (LP: #833965)
  * +debian/patches/revert_icon_change.patch
    - revert the icon change in greeter mode until a UIF exception is
      approved
  * +debian/source/format

  [Ted Gould]
  * debian/control: Adding a depend on gnome-settings-daemon to ensure that
    the required schemas are available. (LP: #833965)
 -- Ken VanDine <email address hidden> Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:53:50 -0400

Changed in indicator-session (Ubuntu Oneiric):
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Guy Stone (stoneguy3) wrote :

Booted fresh Beta-1 Live DVD from iso dd'd to 4GB USB key. Username shows as [Invalid UTF-8]
System is ASUS eeePC-900 with external KVM

Revision history for this message
Nathan Haines (nhaines) wrote :

Guy, as noted in the Beta 1 release notes, this was not fixed in time for Beta 1 and is fixed for Beta 2.

Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Changed in unity-foundations:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Richard Peake (yourtechfriend) wrote :

- User name shown as [Invalid UTF-8] in live session (LP: #837246)

I upgraded today from 11.04 to 11.10 and the [Invalid UTF-8] shows up rather than the User_account_name.
This is an issue for all user accounts. I haven't changed any user IDs or group IDs, nor have I added or removed or changed users or user group memberships. I didn't do anything but upgrade to 11.04 to 11.10. My installation is completely up to date and there's nothing left to do in the way of installing new updates -- so this bug isn't fixed. It's very much alive and kicking for me.

$ dpkg -s indicator-session|grep Version
Version: 0.3.6-0ubuntu2

$ env | grep LANG
LANG=en_US.UTF-8

similar notes on
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-session/+bug/834137

Revision history for this message
Niklas Fischer (niklasfi) wrote :

This affects me, too. If you want any particular info, I will provide it to you.

Revision history for this message
0dB (nbaatz) wrote :

I have this bug, too. Performed a dist-upgrade a few days after the 11.10 release, did not change anything otherwise.

Revision history for this message
Ofer Cohen (oc666) wrote :

Unfortunately, the bug affect me too.

Revision history for this message
matthias (matthias-schwellenberg) wrote :

I'm affcted, too. Any workarounds available?

Revision history for this message
matthias (matthias-schwellenberg) wrote :

OK, you can use this workaround (taken from Bug #834137 which seems to handle the same issue):

You have to ensure that your user id is above or equal to the value of UID_MIN in /etc/login.defs (1000 per default).

In my case the user id was 501 so I set the UID_MIN to 500 (the Debian style).

Revision history for this message
Niklas Fischer (niklasfi) wrote :

@#10 Thanks, that fixed it for me.

Revision history for this message
Steven Lindsey (lindss2) wrote :

I still have the problem if there are more than 41 lines in /etc/passwd (of which 6 are non-system accounts)
I can swap in/out working users, but if I add more, it goes back to "Invalid UTF-8" for names even after picking up the latest updates a couple of minutes ago.

Revision history for this message
jhouse (jhouse) wrote :

Just (today) upgraded from 10.10 to 11.10 and I have this problem. All my user ids are above 1000 and I have 38 lines in /etc/passwd .

Revision history for this message
Ace (linuxrawkstar) wrote :

also affected. tweaking /etc/login.defs is not an acceptable solution and could lead to big problems. we need to get this fixed folks.

Revision history for this message
Richard Peake (yourtechfriend) wrote :

Upgraded.
michael@saturn:~$ dpkg -s indicator-session|grep Version
Version: 0.3.7.1-0ubuntu1.1

The package manager version sets /etc/login.defs to 500; but it is not needed on my system. I had more than 6 users defined on this system -- and the new version is working just fine with /etc/login.defs set to 1000.

It's all fixed as far as I can see. Thanks, folks!

Revision history for this message
0dB (nbaatz) wrote :

Fixed since last upgrade, thanks.

Revision history for this message
Steven Lindsey (lindss2) wrote :

I couldn't seem to get the latest version of the package manager with a normal update, but after re-installing the OS, I got the newer version and was able to get things working. (Just in case anyone else is having trouble).

Revision history for this message
Ken Pratt (kenpratt) wrote :

Bug is in indicator-session-0.3.7.1

I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 64bit. My account info comes from NIS. Perhaps indicator is not NIS aware? I guessed this may be the problem so created an override in /etc/passwd for my account GECOS field.

Here is my entry

+kpratt::::Ken Pratt:/mnt/home/users/kpratt:

I still get [Invalid UTF-8] as the indicator displayed user name.

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