Invalid 'Date' entry in Release file /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_yakkety-proposed_InRelease

This is caused by the usage of relatively new c++11 features, namely std::get_time, as described in this libstdc++6 upstream bug: https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=71556

The Release for yakkety-proposed currently reads: "Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2016 6:30:29 UTC". Note the "6" as hour.

Reverting commit 9febc2b238e1e322dce1f94ecbed46d595893b52, which introduced the usage of std::get_time has the disadvantage of opening the 'problem' it is supposed to fix again and the 'bonus' the commit mentions is removed, too, which seems small, but is a surprising gotcha in unsuspecting applications (which are either not fiddling with locale at all or are multithreaded).

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

David, Julian (et al) - I'm going to revert this for now, because it is causing builds to fail (the buildds are using apt from proposed). Let me know when exp3 is available and I'll gladly sync that over.

apt (1.3~exp2ubuntu1) yakkety; urgency=medium

  * Revert use of std::get_time, since a bug in libstdc++6 (upstream bug
    #71556) means that apt fails to parse some date fields correctly. (LP:
    #1593583)

 -- Iain Lane <email address hidden> Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:38:06 +0100

upgrade to the above version, then reload the sources:

- no error with the ubuntu archives
- but still get it with some ppa

W: Invalid 'Date' entry in Release file /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/ppa.launchpad.net_ricotz_unstable_ubuntu_dists_yakkety_InRelease
W: Invalid 'Date' entry in Release file /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/ppa.launchpad.net_ubuntu-wine_ppa_ubuntu_dists_xenial_InRelease

@dino99: Are you sure you haven't (partially) upgraded just the 'apt' package? In that case this would be expected as the "fix" is in libapt-pkg5.0 build by the apt source package – the ubuntu repository was most-recently updated in a 2-digit hour, while both PPAs were last updated in single-digit hours…

Anyway, I wrote a patch upstream avoiding the use of std::get_time by doing the parsing of the timestamps more manually for the "time" being which accepts days/hours even if they are single-digit…

@David

confirm apt has been fully upgraded. To check again, i've re-enabled the ppas, and the warnings are seen again. (but its not a show stopper anyway)

It works for me with those PPAs.

(yakkety-amd64)root@nightingale:/build# apt update
Hit:1 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ricotz/unstable/ubuntu yakkety InRelease
Hit:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-security InRelease
Get:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-wine/ppa/ubuntu xenial InRelease [17.6 kB]
Get:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-wine/ppa/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages [2008 B]
Hit:5 https://swift.canonistack.canonical.com/v1/AUTH_e8074875467b46b7ab3c41ac60ccfbe7/yakkety yakkety InRelease
Get:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-wine/ppa/ubuntu xenial/main Translation-en [966 B]
Hit:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety InRelease
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-updates InRelease [92.2 kB]
Hit:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-proposed InRelease
Fetched 113 kB in 0s (191 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
(yakkety-amd64)root@nightingale:/build#
laney@nightingale> GET http://ppa.launchpad.net/ricotz/unstable/ubuntu/dists/yakkety/InRelease | grep Date
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2016 7:35:25 UTC
laney@nightingale> GET http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-wine/ppa/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InRelease | grep Date
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 2:27:15 UTC

@laney

is that report can be closed now ? that error is gone since a while

The 1.2.16 SRU also references this bug, but there's no actual test case for that: It just fixes a regression that would be introduced otherwise in the very same upload.

Marking as Fix released as per previous comment.

Hello dino99, or anyone else affected,

Accepted apt into xenial-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/1.2.18 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 to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

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

We are testing this exact case in the test suite, and it ran successfully for 1.2.18, hence verification-done.

This bug was fixed in the package apt - 1.2.18

---------------
apt (1.2.18) xenial; urgency=high

  * SECURITY UPDATE: gpgv: Check for errors when splitting files (CVE-2016-1252)
    Thanks to Jann Horn, Google Project Zero for reporting the issue
    (LP: #1647467)
  * gpgv: Flush the files before checking for errors

apt (1.2.17) xenial; urgency=medium

  [ David Kalnischkies ]
  * apt-key: warn instead of fail on unreadable keyrings (LP: #1642386)
  * show apt-key warnings in apt update (Closes: 834973)

  [ Julian Andres Klode ]
  * test-releasefile-verification: installaptold: Clean up before run

apt (1.2.16) xenial; urgency=medium

  [ David Kalnischkies ]
  * avoid changing the global LC_TIME for Release writing
  * use de-localed std::put_time instead rolling our own
  * accept only the expected UTC timezones in date parsing (Closes: 819697)
  * avoid std::get_time usage to sidestep libstdc++6 bug (LP: #1593583)
  * imbue datetime parsing with C.UTF-8 locale (Closes: 828011)
  * prevent C++ locale number formatting in text APIs (try 2) (Closes: 832044)
  * prevent C++ locale number formatting in text APIs (try 3) (LP: #1611010)
    (LP: #1592817)
  * imbue .diff/Index parsing with C.UTF-8 as well

  [ Julian Andres Klode ]
  * Use C locale instead of C.UTF-8 for protocol strings
  * Add shippable.yml for CI on Shippable
  * Revert "if the FileFd failed already following calls should fail, too"
    (LP: #1641905)

 -- Julian Andres Klode <email address hidden> Thu, 08 Dec 2016 15:28:08 +0100

The verification of the Stable Release Update for apt 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.