[Bug 1002729] [NEW] lexmark-08z-series-driver causes update to 12.04 LTS to fail ungracefully

[Ronan Mooney]

Public bug reported:

Summary:
A linebreak in the description field of lexmark-08z-series-driver in the files:
/var/lib/dpkg/status 
and
/var/lib/dpkg/available

Causes update to 12.04LTS to fail with error:
dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/available' near line 34639 package 'lexmark-08z-series-driver': blank line in value of field 'Description'
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg/returned with an error code (2)

(nb. this error also happens with var/lib/dpkg/status )

Workaround:
Had to fix setuid of  /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper due to ungraceful fail of update.
Had to manually remove the line breaks from the description field of /var/lib/dpkg/available and var/lib/dpkg/status

Possible solutions:
* Validate /var/lib/dpkg/available and var/lib/dpkg/status prior to installation to remove linebreaks
* Fail gracefully, notify user, and fix setuid if possible.
* black list lexmark-08z-series-driver until issue is fixed

Expected:

Run update to 12.04LTS successfully:

What happened:
Full details:

I was updating to 12.04LTS from 11.10 (xbuntu variant)
I was suing update manager, and it seemed to run through fine, it then asked to be rebooted. 
After I rebooted something was wrong, mouse not moving, UI not loading up correctly etc.

I dropped into a console and ran apt-get update && apt-get upgrade. I
said I had 899 packages to upgrade. To me this indicates that the
package installation caused an issue during the install.

When I pressed Y to continue with  apt-get upgrade,  it failed with (from memory) 
 "setuid invalid for dbus-daemon-launch-helper: The permission of the setuid helper is not correct"

I tried to correct this by fixing the setuid:
chmod 4755 /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper

When I ran apt-get upgrade the set UID problem had disappeared, but now it was failing with the error at the top of the report.
I manually checked the referenced files, and there is indeed a line break after the word "description".

To recreate:
Not tested:  but would recommend installing lexmark-08z-series-driver on 11.10 and then updating to 12.04LTS

NB. As of today all packages are current, I am in the middle of
recovering my install, so I will update with package version numbers etc
if required later.

** Affects: update-manager (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: 12.04lts dpkg update

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Title:
  lexmark-08z-series-driver causes update to 12.04 LTS to fail
  ungracefully

Status in “update-manager” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Summary:
  A linebreak in the description field of lexmark-08z-series-driver in the files:
  /var/lib/dpkg/status 
  and
  /var/lib/dpkg/available

  Causes update to 12.04LTS to fail with error:
  dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/available' near line 34639 package 'lexmark-08z-series-driver': blank line in value of field 'Description'
  E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg/returned with an error code (2)

  (nb. this error also happens with var/lib/dpkg/status )

  Workaround:
  Had to fix setuid of  /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper due to ungraceful fail of update.
  Had to manually remove the line breaks from the description field of /var/lib/dpkg/available and var/lib/dpkg/status

  Possible solutions:
  * Validate /var/lib/dpkg/available and var/lib/dpkg/status prior to installation to remove linebreaks
  * Fail gracefully, notify user, and fix setuid if possible.
  * black list lexmark-08z-series-driver until issue is fixed

  Expected:

  Run update to 12.04LTS successfully:

  What happened:
  Full details:

  I was updating to 12.04LTS from 11.10 (xbuntu variant)
  I was suing update manager, and it seemed to run through fine, it then asked to be rebooted. 
  After I rebooted something was wrong, mouse not moving, UI not loading up correctly etc.

  I dropped into a console and ran apt-get update && apt-get upgrade. I
  said I had 899 packages to upgrade. To me this indicates that the
  package installation caused an issue during the install.

  When I pressed Y to continue with  apt-get upgrade,  it failed with (from memory) 
   "setuid invalid for dbus-daemon-launch-helper: The permission of the setuid helper is not correct"

  I tried to correct this by fixing the setuid:
  chmod 4755 /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper

  When I ran apt-get upgrade the set UID problem had disappeared, but now it was failing with the error at the top of the report.
  I manually checked the referenced files, and there is indeed a line break after the word "description".

  To recreate:
  Not tested:  but would recommend installing lexmark-08z-series-driver on 11.10 and then updating to 12.04LTS

  NB. As of today all packages are current, I am in the middle of
  recovering my install, so I will update with package version numbers
  etc if required later.

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