Ubuntu
aptdaemon package

"An unknown error occurred - This should not happen" is unhelpful

Bug #549877 reported by Matthew Paul Thomas
16
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
aptdaemon (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: aptdaemon

aptdaemon 0.11+bzr342-0ubuntu1, software-center 1.1.20

While trying to install a package in Ubuntu Software Center, an error alert appeared:
    An unknown error occurred
    This should not happen.
    |> Details

This bug report is *not* about the particular bug that caused this error; I have reported that as bug 549867.

This bug report, like bug 441686, is about the presentation of the error. I guess the alert is targeted mainly at aptdaemon developers, ;-) but nevertheless most people who will see it will be end users. And it's not obvious what the problem is, whether there's anything they can do about it, or even that the message came from Ubuntu Software Center. And "This should not happen" is redundant.

I suggest something like this:
    Sorry, there was a problem installing “Specimen Font Previewer”.
    Try installing updates and then try again.
    |> Details

... Or whatever might have a shot of helping in this situation.

Related branches

lp:aptdaemon
Revision history for this message
Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor) wrote :

This is the new error text:

UN UNHANDABLE ERROR OCCURED

There seems to be a programming error in aptdaemon,
the software that allows you to install/remove
software and to perform other package management
related tasks. Please report this error at
http://launchpad.net/aptdaemon/+filebug and retry.

I will check if it is possible to file the bug automatically with apport instead of prompting the user.

Changed in aptdaemon (Ubuntu):
status: New → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

Unfortunately I think that new text would be worse than the old. User-facing words shouldn't be all-caps. "Unhandable" is not an English word (and if you meant "unhandlable", that's an extremely uncommon word). It is not obvious what "programming" refers to. And even when it goes badly wrong, people who don't expand the "Details" section shouldn't ever need to know that there is such a thing as "aptdaemon" -- it should be hard-working but anonymous.

Integration with apport is an excellent idea, but we still need to explain what went wrong with the user's goal, e.g. "there was a problem installing “Specimen Font Previewer”".

Revision history for this message
Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor) wrote : Re: [Bug 549877] Re: "An unknown error occurred - This should not happen" is unhelpful

On Tue, Jun 01, 2010 at 12:05:19PM -0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> Unfortunately I think that new text would be worse than the old. User-
> facing words shouldn't be all-caps. "Unhandable" is not an English word
> (and if you meant "unhandlable", that's an extremely uncommon word). It
> is not obvious what "programming" refers to. And even when it goes badly
> wrong, people who don't expand the "Details" section shouldn't ever need
> to know that there is such a thing as "aptdaemon" -- it should be hard-
> working but anonymous.
>
> Integration with apport is an excellent idea, but we still need to
> explain what went wrong with the user's goal, e.g. "there was a problem
> installing “Specimen Font Previewer”".

This cannot be done on the aptdaemon level, since we don't know any
applications - only packages. But you could use a custom error message
in software-center (the application is stored in the Transaction meta
data by software-center).

Each transaction has got an error (code) and
error_details attribute. The first one only contains an enum of the
error type. So it won't be hard to implement custom error dialogs. You
could even reuse the secondary text and only replace the
header, so that the header for all errors reads "Failed to install
Specimen" and only the secondary text would explain what went wrong.

By the way I am one of the founding members of the blatant errors and
awkward grammar team in Launchpad :)

Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor)
Changed in aptdaemon (Ubuntu):
status: In Progress → Fix Released
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.
Subscribing...

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.