[Bug 1550846] Re: package identification is awful

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

[Expired for apport (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60
days.]

** Changed in: apport (Ubuntu)
       Status: Incomplete => Expired

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1550846

Title:
  package identification is awful

Status in apport package in Ubuntu:
  Expired

Bug description:
  Recently I reported a bug against the kernel - apport made this very
  difficult.

  The instructions at <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage>
  clearly state that the correct thing to do is to report kernel bugs
  against the package "linux".  That does not work.

  "ubuntu-bug linux" reports that linux is not installed!

  After some head-scratching I tried "ubuntu-bug linux-image", that also
  failed.  It did finally work with "ubuntu-bug linux-image-generic",
  but that is not an obvious choice *and it is contrary to the
  instructions*.  The obvious choice was "ubuntu-bug kernel" (which I
  tried first) that also failed.

  So, I tried to report a bug against ubuntu-bug with "ubuntu-bug
  ubuntu-bug", not installed!  According to the web site
  <https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+search> ubuntu-bug does not belong to
  any package!  OK it is a link.  Try again with the real binary name;
  apport-bug is not installed either!

  If you want feedback from ordinary users, bugs in the bug reporting
  system are serious.

  When apport is given a name that is not a package name it could follow a few simple steps to at lest provide hints to user; 
  "ls -l $(which ubuntu-bug)" shows that it is a link, 
  "ls -l --dereference $(which ubuntu-bug)" shows what it links to, and
  "dpkg-query --search $(ls  --dereference $(which ubuntu-bug))" even reports "apport: /usr/bin/ubuntu-bug".  
  That would be a useful clue to most users.  Note, "dpkg-query --search ubuntu-bug" is less useful.  

  As for kernel bugs, it should at least behave as documented.  Please
  add an extra line of code so that as a special case both "ubuntu-bug
  linux" and "ubuntu-bug kernel" work.

  There have been many times that apport has stated that a bug could not
  be reported and I had believed that it was because there were non-
  standard packages installed, now I am not so sure.

  TIA

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: apport 2.19.4-0ubuntu2
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-2.16-generic 4.4.0
  Uname: Linux 4.4.0-2-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.19.4-0ubuntu2
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: XFCE
  Date: Sun Feb 28 13:06:32 2016
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-02-03 (24 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64 (20160202)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: apport
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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