[Aptitude-devel] Bug#747442: aptitude: progs run by aptitude (apt-listbugs, how-can-I-help block apt when they crash

[Stephen McGregor]

Package: aptitude
Version: 0.6.10
Severity: grave
Justification: renders package unusable

Dear Maintainer,

the specific situation:
-	[ already filed as #747406 against ruby]
-	 a ruby corruption is crashing both apt-listbugs AND how-can-I-help 
-	thus aptitude returns a failure and does NOT install the desired packages
-	the apt system is now completely broken: these packages can not be removed
	and no others can be installed.
-	apt-get is also affected and no longer works.

the general case <--- important
-	any program run by aptitude (such as apt-listbugs or how-can-I-help) that 
	crashes will break the apt system.
-	this is a critical bug: any type of failure in sub-programs should have NO
	effect on aptitude.

The code should be changed so that any problem in sub-programs run by aptitude
will have NO effect on aptitude (or apt-get). Otherwise the apt system is at 
risk from any such program

The bug I have filed above is related to a collection of recent (the week up to today 
2014-05-08) bugs in ruby.

See that bug #747406  for more detail. 

HOWEVER, the problem is the general case: corruptions such as this ruby problem should
have NO effect on aptitude. 



-- Package-specific info:
Terminal: rxvt-unicode-256color
$DISPLAY is set.
which aptitude: /usr/bin/aptitude

aptitude version information:
aptitude 0.6.10 compiled at Feb 20 2014 18:22:07
Compiler: g++ 4.8.2
Compiled against:
  apt version 4.12.0
  NCurses version 5.9
  libsigc++ version: 2.2.11
  Ept support enabled.
  Gtk+ support disabled.
  Qt support disabled.

Current library versions:
  NCurses version: ncurses 5.9.20140118
  cwidget version: 0.5.17
  Apt version: 4.12.0

aptitude linkage:
	linux-gate.so.1 (0xb778f000)
	libapt-pkg.so.4.12 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.4.12 (0xb7227000)
	libncursesw.so.5 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.5 (0xb71ef000)
	libtinfo.so.5 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.5 (0xb71cc000)
	libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0xb71c6000)
	libcwidget.so.3 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libcwidget.so.3 (0xb70c2000)
	libept.so.1.aptpkg4.12 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libept.so.1.aptpkg4.12 (0xb7069000)
	libxapian.so.22 => /usr/lib/sse2/libxapian.so.22 (0xb6e6f000)
	libz.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0xb6e55000)
	libsqlite3.so.0 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libsqlite3.so.0 (0xb6d96000)
	libboost_iostreams.so.1.54.0 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libboost_iostreams.so.1.54.0 (0xb6d7d000)
	libpthread.so.0 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0 (0xb6d61000)
	libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0xb6c75000)
	libm.so.6 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libm.so.6 (0xb6c2e000)
	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0xb6c12000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libc.so.6 (0xb6a67000)
	libutil.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libutil.so.1 (0xb6a63000)
	libdl.so.2 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libdl.so.2 (0xb6a5e000)
	libbz2.so.1.0 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0 (0xb6a4b000)
	liblzma.so.5 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/liblzma.so.5 (0xb6a24000)
	libuuid.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libuuid.so.1 (0xb6a1e000)
	librt.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/librt.so.1 (0xb6a15000)
	/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7790000)

-- System Information:
Debian Release: jessie/sid
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 3.12-1-686-pae (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_US.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8) (ignored: LC_ALL set to en_US.utf8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash