package gnome-menus 3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1 failed to install/upgrade: triggers looping, abandoned

Thanks for your report.

Could you please attach a tarball of the directory /var/log/dist-upgrade to this bug report?

Hi jibel, please refer to the attachment of comment #4. It is the tarball of /var/log/dist-upgrade

@Taihsiang,

Have you checked Ubuntu 16.04.0 and 16.04.1?
If not, could you check if they have the similar issues?

Thanks for the logs

This system Dell XPS 13 9360 (CID 201606-22338) could install stock ubuntu 18.04 daily build 49f7bfba24b829f39f8c6d64ee72dfb2 *bionic-desktop-amd64.iso

I reproduced the issue with the clone attached.

I've reproduced this with an XPS13 9370, same errors and now X is completely broken

After the initial reboot, x seems to keep crashing, but if you can get to a vt and run apt-get install -f, it seems to at least allow the system to boot

This trigger loop is almost certainly because bamfdaemon's trigger wasn't fixed to be interest-noawait until yakkety, and nothing forces it to deconfigure or upgrade early (ie: with a Breaks like we used in dpkg between trusty and xenial).

FWIW, this error (my bug was marked a duplicate) completely broke my Xenial - Bionic upgrade, leaving me with a nearly unbeatable system. I had to boot into Rescue Mode and do a lot of ctrl-C ing to get around this, and once I thought it had finally installed all the bionic packages, I rebooted into the OS proper, and STILL found it hadn't actually upgraded so I had to run 'apt-get -f install' again to finish the other 2400+ package updates.

I spent most of my morning just trying to get back to a bootable system that was only half-way upgraded (lsb-release told me I was in 18.04, name -a said I was still on 4.13 from 16.04.4, and apt said I still had 2400+ packages to update).

If I was not an experienced user who knew roughly how to manually kick this stuff to get around broken package updates, I'd have been considerably more upset than I already am.

Grr... autocorrect on OSX while I wait for Ubuntu to work again (finish upgrading). That should have said "leaving me with a nearly unbootable system."

@Jeff, did you use apt instead of the dist-upgrader as well? Was your xenial uptodate before the upgrade?

@seb, per discussion via IRC, here are my logs from /var/log/dist-upgrade (upgrade started last night and finally wrapped up this morning after a lot of coffee and swearing).

To answer the questions:

I started off with 'do-release-upgrade -d' last night and ended up this morning with a reboot into rescue mode and a lot of 'apt-get -f install', 'dpkg --reconfigure -a' and finally an 'apt-get dist-upgrade' (or was it a -f install again?) to get the remaining held 2400+ packages updated.

NOW I believe I'm finally updated to Bionic and running again.

Also, will asked if I had manually modified anything in /etc/apt/sources.list and the answer is no, all that was handled by the upgrader.

FWIW, it's entirely possible I had other issues that just also included this one, or just exposed this one where I may not have seen it otherwise. This just happened to be the only one that Apport was able to create and submit.

Reproduced similar issue on different platform and SKU (will attach /var/log/dist-upgrade in this bug report):

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-menus/+bug/1767153
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-menus/+bug/1767154

201606-22355.dist-upgrade.tar.gz 201610-25144.dist-upgrade.tar.gz are attachments for comment#18

Dell-XPS-13-9350.tar is a tarball log containing 3 different SKU log of 9350. All of them could reproduce this issue.

I believe the issue is with the libglib2.0-0 triggers which were changed to interest-noawait in bionic but probably also need fixing in xenial.

I also think we have enough information to work on this and no further logs are necessary.

Regarding Adam's comment and bamfdaemon that was fixed in Ubuntu 16.04, see bug 1589097.

Fixing the triggers in libglib2.0-0 and desktop-file-utils did not resolve the issue for me. Additionally, both of those packages are included in standard or the the ubuntu-desktop task and a stock system does not fail to upgrade.

I was also able to recreate this by editing sources.list from xenial to bionic after restoring the apt-clone file.

I did NOT encounter this bug, after restoring the clone file, and then editing sources.list from xenial to bionic and first installing the new version of apt which also pulled in libc among other things.

I performed another upgrade with the apt-clone file from this bug and editing sources.list from xenial to bionic but this time I first installed the version of libc6.

Start-Date: 2018-05-01 12:29:37
Commandline: apt-get install libc6
Requested-By: bdmurray (1000)
Upgrade: libc6-dbg:amd64 (2.23-0ubuntu10, 2.27-3ubuntu1), libc6-dev:amd64 (2.23-0ubuntu10, 2.27-3ubuntu1), libc6:amd64 (2.23-0ubuntu10, 2.27-3ubuntu1), locales:amd64 (2.23-0ubuntu10, 2.27-3ubuntu1), libc-bin:amd64 (2.23-0ubuntu10, 2.27-3ubuntu1), libc6-i386:amd64 (2.23-0ubuntu10, 2.27-3ubuntu1), libc-dev-bin:amd64 (2.23-0ubuntu10, 2.27-3ubuntu1)
End-Date: 2018-05-01 12:29:56

Again I did not encounter the bug when upgrading via this method.

I could reproduce this issue with oem image (somerville 20170614-0). With exactly the same error "dpkg: cycle found while processing triggers:"

But can't reproduce this issue with oem image (columbia 20161201-0).

Attachment is the log for oem image (columbia 20161201-0).

I'll keep identifying root cause for this issue.

It's worth noting that when the apt-clone file is restored that the packages from PPAs are not installed (surely a bug in apt-clone) and so it is not related to the PPA packages rather some combination of the packages from the official archive.

I spent a bit of time looking into this one, and I really have no idea. I followed Brian's lead and restored the apt-clone file in comment #20, which makes the bug reproduce.

I upgrade all the machine to all of xenial-{proposed,security,updates} and it still reproduces. I updated desktop-file-utils and glib2.0 to have *all* of their triggers be noawait, even the one which actually needs to be await (schemas).

ubuntu@laney:/var/lib/dpkg/info$ more gnome-menus.triggers bamfdaemon.triggers libglib2.0-0\:amd64.triggers mime-support.triggers desktop-file-utils.triggers
::::::::::::::
gnome-menus.triggers
::::::::::::::
interest-noawait /usr/share/applications
#interest-noawait gmenucache
::::::::::::::
bamfdaemon.triggers
::::::::::::::
interest-noawait /usr/share/applications
interest-noawait gmenucache
::::::::::::::
libglib2.0-0:amd64.triggers
::::::::::::::
interest-noawait /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gio/modules
interest-noawait /usr/lib/gio/modules
interest-noawait /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas
# Triggers added by dh_makeshlibs
activate-noawait ldconfig
::::::::::::::
mime-support.triggers
::::::::::::::
interest-noawait /usr/lib/mime/packages
interest-noawait /usr/share/applications
::::::::::::::
desktop-file-utils.triggers
::::::::::::::
interest-noawait /usr/share/applications

My final attempt was to make *all* file triggers noawait, by editing /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.triggers and /var/lib/dpkg/triggers/File. This also failed, but maybe this isn't a good way to do cowboy that change.

What is this?

My investigation has shown that upgrading libc6 first produces a vastly different installation ordering. Also, turning off immediate configuration of essential packages in apt makes it work; but triggers bug 1771791 in systemd much more easily than now.

I think it might make sense to set Immediate-Configure to 0 for upgrades. There's a higher chance stuff gets messed up (because now most configuration is done at the end, even of essential packages); but essential packages are supposed to work unconfigured; so it "should" be fine...

Still failing with current -proposed enabled. Let's hope it solves itself once we fixed all other instances of triggers.

@juliank, I'll assign this to you for tracking purposes if you don't mind (the rls-bb-tracking page)

I tested this today by first restoring the clone file found in the tarball in comment #20 then enabling and installing all the packages in -proposed for Ubuntu 16.04. I then modified DistUpgradeController.py in the dist-upgrader tarball so that -proposed would*n't* be disabled during the upgrade. With all of that I still encountered the following error:

Removing webbrowser-app (0.23+16.04.20161028-0ubuntu2) ...
dpkg: cycle found while processing triggers:
 chain of packages whose triggers are or may be responsible:
  bamfdaemon -> desktop-file-utils
 packages' pending triggers which are or may be unresolvable:
  gnome-menus: /usr/share/applications
  bamfdaemon: /usr/share/applications
  libglib2.0-0:amd64: /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas
  desktop-file-utils: /usr/share/applications
  mime-support: /usr/share/applications
dpkg: error processing package gnome-menus (--remove):
 triggers looping, abandoned
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu5.2) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for libglib2.0-0:amd64 (2.48.2-0ubuntu3) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 gnome-menus

Here's some more information from the failure:

Errors were encountered while processing:
 libgoa-backend-1.0-1:amd64
 glib-networking-services
 libgtk-3-0:amd64
 libgoa-1.0-0b:amd64
 bamfdaemon
 glib-networking:amd64
 libclutter-gtk-1.0-0:amd64
 libgail-3-0:amd64
 libunity-control-center1
 libglib2.0-bin
 locales
 gir1.2-goa-1.0:amd64
 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37:amd64
 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37-gtk2:amd64
 libsoup2.4-1:amd64
 libsnapd-glib1:amd64
 libgrilo-0.3-0:amd64
 gir1.2-snapd-1:amd64

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-release-upgrader - 1:18.10.7

---------------
ubuntu-release-upgrader (1:18.10.7) cosmic; urgency=medium

  * Upgrade libc6 before other packages to work around trigger issues
    (LP: #1766890)

 -- Julian Andres Klode <email address hidden> Tue, 07 Aug 2018 23:01:50 +0200

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Hello Taihsiang, or anyone else affected,

Accepted ubuntu-release-upgrader into bionic-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-release-upgrader/1:18.04.23 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-bionic to verification-done-bionic. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-bionic. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

I tested an upgrade today from Ubuntu 16.04 to Ubuntu 18.04 using the dist-upgrader from -proposed but not using the clone attached in this bug report and the upgrade did complete successfully with libc6 being upgraded first.

Log started: 2018-08-09 09:56:06
(Reading database ... ^M(Reading database ... 5%^M(Reading database ... 10%^M(Reading database ... 15%^M(Reading database ... 20%^M(Reading database ... 25%^M(Reading database ... 30%^M(Reading database ... 35%^M(Reading database ... 40%^M(Reading database ... 45%^M(Reading database ... 50%^M(Reading database ... 55%^M(Reading database ... 60%^M(Reading database ... 65%^M(Reading database ... 70%^M(Reading database ... 75%^M(Reading database ... 80%^M(Reading database ... 85%^M(Reading database ... 90%^M(Reading database ... 95%^M(Reading database ... 100%^M(Reading database ... 278731 files and directories currently installed.)^M
Preparing to unpack .../libc-dev-bin_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...^M
Unpacking libc-dev-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...^M
Preparing to unpack .../libc6-dev_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...^M
Unpacking libc6-dev:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...^M
Preparing to unpack .../libc6-dbg_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...^M
Unpacking libc6-dbg:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...^M
Preparing to unpack .../locales_2.27-3ubuntu1_all.deb ...^M
Unpacking locales (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...^M
Preparing to unpack .../libc6_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...^M
Checking for services that may need to be restarted...^M
Checking init scripts...^M
Nothing to restart.^M
Unpacking libc6:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...^M
Setting up libc6:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu.conf ...^M
Checking for services that may need to be restarted...^M
Checking init scripts...^M
Nothing to restart.^M
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...^M
(Reading database ... ^M(Reading database ... 5%^M(Reading database ... 10%^M(Reading database ... 15%^M(Reading database ... 20%^M(Reading database ... 25%^M(Reading database ... 30%^M(Reading database ... 35%^M(Reading database ... 40%^M(Reading database ... 45%^M(Reading database ... 50%^M(Reading database ... 55%^M(Reading database ... 60%^M(Reading database ... 65%^M(Reading database ... 70%^M(Reading database ... 75%^M(Reading database ... 80%^M(Reading database ... 85%^M(Reading database ... 90%^M(Reading database ... 95%^M(Reading database ... 100%^M(Reading database ... 278807 files and directories currently installed.)^M
Preparing to unpack .../libc-bin_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...^M
Unpacking libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...^M
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...^M
Setting up libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...^M
Setting up libc-dev-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...^M
Setting up libc6-dev:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...^M
Setting up libc6-dbg:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...^M
Setting up locales (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...^M
Installing new version of config file /etc/locale.alias ...^M
Generating locales (this might take a while)...^M
...
Generation complete.^M
Log ended: 2018-08-09 09:56:24

Log started: 2018-08-09 09:57:01
(Reading database...

I also performed an upgrade from Ubuntu 16.04, with the apt-clone file restored, to Ubuntu 18.04 using the dist-upgrader from -proposed.. The upgrade proceeded without error and libc6 was installed first.

bdmurray@clean-xenial-amd64:~$ grep -n "libc6\|gnome-menus" /var/log/dist-upgrade/apt-term.log
9:Preparing to unpack .../libc6-dev_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
10:Unpacking libc6-dev:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...
11:Preparing to unpack .../libc6-dbg_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
12:Unpacking libc6-dbg:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...
15:Preparing to unpack .../libc6_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
19:Unpacking libc6:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...
20:Setting up libc6:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
32:Preparing to unpack .../libc6-i386_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
33:Unpacking libc6-i386 (2.27-3ubuntu1) over (2.23-0ubuntu10) ...
36:Setting up libc6-dev:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
37:Setting up libc6-dbg:amd64 (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
59:Setting up libc6-i386 (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
224:Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
237:Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
305:Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
701:dpkg: gnome-menus: dependency problems, but processing triggers anyway as you requested:
702: gnome-menus depends on python3:any (>= 3.1~); however:
705:Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
4150:Preparing to unpack .../gnome-menus_3.13.3-11ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb ...
4151:Unpacking gnome-menus (3.13.3-11ubuntu1.1) over (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
12060:Setting up gnome-menus (3.13.3-11ubuntu1.1) ...
14849:Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-11ubuntu1.1) ...
14901:Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-11ubuntu1.1) ...
14923:Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-11ubuntu1.1) ...

Hello Taihsiang, or anyone else affected,

Accepted ubuntu-release-upgrader into bionic-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-release-upgrader/1:18.04.24 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-bionic to verification-done-bionic. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-bionic. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

I also did some more verification with the graphical frontend and the apt-clone file restored, and it worked perfectly well, with libc6 upgraded first. Progress reporting was a bit weird as it went to 100% for the libc stuff, and then down again, but it could be worse.

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-release-upgrader - 1:18.04.24

---------------
ubuntu-release-upgrader (1:18.04.24) bionic; urgency=medium

  * DistUpgradeController.py: Remove an unnecessary debugging entry when
    calculating the debs to remove.

ubuntu-release-upgrader (1:18.04.23) bionic; urgency=medium

  * Upgrade libc6 before other packages to work around trigger issues
    (LP: #1766890)

 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Thu, 09 Aug 2018 10:54:40 -0700

The verification of the Stable Release Update for ubuntu-release-upgrader has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.