[Bug 1313732] Re: Impossible to report a bug about samba-tool without answering inadequate questions

[Travisgevans]

I hit this today, and it absolutely infuriates me. Indeed, the questions
have either no valid answers or ask things I could not possibly know.
And I consider myself a reasonably experienced user. All I know is that
I tried to apply security updates and it told me something happened. It
withheld all the details until I gave up on the questions and cancelled,
and the whole thing closed **without once giving me a single clue what
the problem was**. I still have no idea what issue it was trying to
report or whether Samba is now usable, etc.

I really hate useless messages that say “an error occurred” with no
details, but refusing to give any information at all while
simultaneously demanding it from the user takes the cake. I am amazed to
find something so user-hostile in a bug-reporting tool. This isn't a
good way to get bug reports, and it probably isn't a very good way to
encourage users *not* to simply give up and permanently disable the bug
reporter *and* system updates altogether!

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1313732

Title:
  Impossible to report a bug about samba-tool without answering
  inadequate questions

Status in apport package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Trying to report a bug about samba I am first asked about if:
  *** How would you best describe your setup?
  Auswahl:
    1: I am running a Windows File Server.
    2: I am connecting to a Windows File Server.
    A: Abbruch
  Bitte wählen Sie (1/2/A):

  What shall I answer? 1 - isn't right, 2 - isn't either. A? Bailing out
  because it isn't thought of other possibilities??!

  
  I choose 1, because if all answers are wrong it seems not to matter how wrong they are! Next question:
  *** Did this used to work properly with a previous release?
  Was möchten Sie tun? Ihre Möglichkeiten sind:
    Y: Yes
    N: No
    A: Abbruch
  Bitte wählen Sie (Y/N/A):

  Wow! I do not konw if it did work or not - simply because I did not
  use it before! Fine. Just assume Yes and answer "Y"

  
  Next question:
  *** Which clients are failing to connect?
  Auswahl:
    1: Windows
    2: Ubuntu
    3: Both
    4: Other
    A: Abbruch
  Bitte wählen Sie (1/2/3/4/A):

  I do not connect a client! So what?? Since I learned "A" isn't good
  trying "4".

  *** The contents of your /etc/samba/smb.conf file may help developers diagnose your bug more quickly. However, it may contain sensitive information.  Do you want to include it in your bug report?
  Was möchten Sie tun? Ihre Möglichkeiten sind:
    Y: Yes
    N: No
    A: Abbruch
  Bitte wählen Sie (Y/N/A):

  Wow! The first question being concrete. I dislike to include this file
  without changing certain parts ... so 'N'.

  *** The contents of your /var/log/samba/log.smbd and /var/log/samba/log.nmbd may help developers diagnose your bug more quickly. However, it may contain sensitive information. Do you want to include it in your bug report?
  Was möchten Sie tun? Ihre Möglichkeiten sind:
    Y: Yes
    N: No
    A: Abbruch
  Bitte wählen Sie (Y/N/A):

  Same for the logs. Again 'N'.

  These questions are only helpful if there are connection problems, but
  they are not if there are other problems like not working samba-tool
  commands or else.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: apport 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
  ApportLog:
   
  ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
  Architecture: amd64
  CrashReports: 640:0:106:101243:2014-04-25 09:55:06.734537444 +0200:2014-04-25 11:11:09.272081356 +0200:/var/crash/_usr_sbin_samba_dnsupdate.0.crash
  Date: Mon Apr 28 12:05:46 2014
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-12-12 (501 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 12.04.1 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120817.3)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=screen-bce
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: apport
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2013-02-11 (440 days ago)

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