[Aptitude-devel] Bug#995256: aptitude: TUI loops "Can't find a source to download ..." error

Tue Sep 28 16:16:56 BST 2021

Package: aptitude
Version: 0.8.13-3
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

thanks for aptitude, I'm using it daily.

I'm typically running on Debian/unstable, and frequently experience the
following problem with the TUI:

- open 'aptitude'
- select a package PACKAGE to be installed
- hit 'g'
- aptitude opens new *red* window where it prints

> E: Can't find a source to download version 'VERSION' of 'PACKAGE'

- the error window grows as one such line is printed about every 500ms
  until it finally fills the entire height of the screen
- aptitude remains somewhat operational (e.g. you can 'q'uit in the background)
  but refuses to install the actual package
- quitting aptitude and restarting it makes the problem go away

I have no idea why this happens, but originally thought it might be related to
not having run 'update' as a first step.
in the meantime i'm not so sure about this anymore (e.g. as i think i don't have
to run 'update' in the restarted aptitude).

in any case, i have not been able to find a way to reliably reproduce the
problem (it just happens every now and then).

i've seen this problem for a "long time" by now (probably pre 2021)

i've attached a screenshot.

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

aptitude version information:
aptitude 0.8.13
Compiler: g++ 10.2.1 20210110
Compiled against:
  apt version 6.0.0
  NCurses version 6.2
  libsigc++ version: 2.10.4
  Gtk+ support disabled.
  Qt support disabled.

Current library versions:
  NCurses version: ncurses 6.2.20210905
  cwidget version: 0.5.18
  Apt version: 6.0.0

aptitude linkage:
	linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fffb0fb7000)
	libapt-pkg.so.6.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.6.0 (0x00007f4fbaa3b000)
	libncursesw.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.6 (0x00007f4fbaa00000)
	libtinfo.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.6 (0x00007f4fba9ce000)
	libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0x00007f4fba9c5000)
	libcwidget.so.4 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcwidget.so.4 (0x00007f4fba8bf000)
	libsqlite3.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsqlite3.so.0 (0x00007f4fba774000)
	libboost_iostreams.so.1.74.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libboost_iostreams.so.1.74.0 (0x00007f4fba759000)
	libxapian.so.30 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxapian.so.30 (0x00007f4fba537000)
	libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f4fba516000)
	libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007f4fba30a000)
	libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007f4fba1c5000)
	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007f4fba1ab000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f4fb9fe4000)
	libresolv.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libresolv.so.2 (0x00007f4fb9fca000)
	libz.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x00007f4fb9fad000)
	libbz2.so.1.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0 (0x00007f4fb9f9a000)
	liblzma.so.5 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/liblzma.so.5 (0x00007f4fb9f72000)
	liblz4.so.1 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/liblz4.so.1 (0x00007f4fb9f4f000)
	libzstd.so.1 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libzstd.so.1 (0x00007f4fb9e72000)
	libudev.so.1 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libudev.so.1 (0x00007f4fb9e4b000)
	libsystemd.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsystemd.so.0 (0x00007f4fb9d97000)
	libgcrypt.so.20 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcrypt.so.20 (0x00007f4fb9c5b000)
	libxxhash.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxxhash.so.0 (0x00007f4fb9c42000)
	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f4fbb088000)
	libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f4fb9c3c000)
	librt.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/librt.so.1 (0x00007f4fb9c2f000)
	libuuid.so.1 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libuuid.so.1 (0x00007f4fb9c26000)
	libcap.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcap.so.2 (0x00007f4fb9c1b000)
	libgpg-error.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgpg-error.so.0 (0x00007f4fb9bf4000)

-- System Information:
Debian Release: bookworm/sid
  APT prefers unstable-debug
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable-debug'), (500, 'oldstable-updates'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'oldstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 5.14.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=C.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages aptitude depends on:
ii  aptitude-common           0.8.13-3
ii  libapt-pkg6.0             2.3.9
ii  libboost-iostreams1.74.0  1.74.0-11
ii  libc6                     2.32-4
ii  libcwidget4               0.5.18-5
ii  libgcc-s1                 11.2.0-8
ii  libncursesw6              6.2+20210905-1
ii  libsigc++-2.0-0v5         2.10.4-2
ii  libsqlite3-0              3.36.0-2
ii  libstdc++6                11.2.0-8
ii  libtinfo6                 6.2+20210905-1
ii  libxapian30               1.4.18-3

Versions of packages aptitude recommends:
ii  libdpkg-perl    1.20.9
ii  sensible-utils  0.0.17

Versions of packages aptitude suggests:
pn  apt-xapian-index                <none>
pn  aptitude-doc-en | aptitude-doc  <none>
pn  debtags                         <none>
ii  tasksel                         3.68

-- no debconf information
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