[Bug 441686] Re: "Task cannot be monitored or controlled" alert is unhelpful and scary

[Tom Francis]

The question in the above comment has been "voluntarily removed by its
author", but I too am seeing the problem.

I am running Natty (upgraded through the last few releases I think). I
just ran update manager and got this dialog. On my system, the GUI is
frozen as a result. I am able to move the mouse, but nothing on the
screen responds to a mouse click. The clock is also not updating. The
system is not frozen as I am able to ssh in to try to diagnose the
problem.

I'm leaving it with the error up for a few mins if anyone wants me to
check anything.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/441686

Title:
  "Task cannot be monitored or controlled" alert is unhelpful and scary

Status in “aptdaemon” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: aptdaemon

  While trying to install an application in the Ubuntu Software Center,
  an error alert appeared with this wording:

      Task cannot be monitored or controlled

      The connection to the daemon was lost.
      Most likely the background daemon crashed
      _
      \/ Details
      It seems that the daemon died.

                                    (  OK  )

  xprop suggests that this alert belongs to software-center, but bug
  438797 shows the same alert also appearing with update-manager, so I
  guess the alert is produced by aptdaemon. (If not, please move this
  report.) This bug report is not about any particular case when the
  alert appears, it is about the alert itself.

  The alert does not satisfy any of the requirements of a good error
  message: it does not say what went wrong, it does not explain why it
  went wrong, and it does not say how to fix or work around the problem.
  It also uses the words "daemon", "crashed", and "died", none of which
  should appear in interfaces intended for ordinary people.

  Unfortunately, because of the first problem (it doesn't say what went wrong), and because the case where it appeared for me is different from bug 438797, I can't yet give a good suggestion on how to redesign the alert. Answers to these questions would help me:
  1. Why does the alert appear? Is it always a bug in aptdaemon, or might it appear for other reasons?
  2. Does aptdaemon know what it was trying to do (e.g. install the "Epiphany Web Browser" application, or update the "initramfs-tools" package) when the problem occurred? If not, what would it take for it to become smart enough to know this?
  3. If "the daemon died", how does it display the alert? Has it restarted?
  4. Would trying the same transaction automatically help? If not, what would?