[Bug 1623530] Re: Apport should be disabled by default

[Luis Alvarado]

Guys, this has created more issues to newcomers than anything else I
teach them. It should not be alerting the user EVERY TIME an app crashes
(which simply comes back up after a second). It apport needs to be
enabled to send or gather information it should ask ONCE during the
installation process if the user wants to sent the information without
being prompted every time an app crashes (and an option if they do want
to be prompted). This basically promotes a new comer to leave ubuntu
because they think the whole thing is broken. From a usability stand
point, it is still the worse idea ever when trying to promote the
system, The suggestions mentioned 12+ months ago have not being applied
nor a feedback (which would be welcomed) received. It is very
frustrating to explain to every new ubuntu user I teach or bring to use
ubuntu (which already tops 5000+ users) that they need to disable apport
to avoid the bug report popups.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1623530

Title:
  Apport should be disabled by default

Status in Apport:
  Confirmed
Status in One Hundred Papercuts:
  Confirmed
Status in apport package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I work with large communities (US, India, Latin America) and almost
  the number one issue they have with Ubuntu or simply scares them off
  is the fact that errors keep popping up every time. Some times
  multiples times per minutes, per hour, per day.

  The reason is how apport works by default. The "solution" is going to
  /etc/default/apport and setting the option to 0 (Disable). I do
  understand the full benefit or submitting automatically all bug
  reports, but this has gotten (And most Ubuntu users will be able to
  confirm) out of hand with some many popup questions about some bug or
  another that are simply fixed the moment the report is going to be
  send (eg: Compiz issue that was fixed a couple of milliseconds later,
  unity issue, dash issue, firefox issue, etc..). All of them have
  mechanism to handle failures and basically heal themselves.

  The question regarding this is:

  Leaving apport enable by default on an Ubuntu installation simply
  scares or annoys end users (a lot may I add). Leaving it disabled, it
  will not send a bug report, but there is no issue in simply creating
  an ubuntu-bug report through the terminal. So the sending of the
  report is still valid, but is not forced onto the user (And not forced
  so many times).

  This report is back by about 3 years going back and forth with the
  same apport issue and seeing probably around 500 users I have helped
  myself with the same issue, since this makes Ubuntu less productive to
  the actual user, even from start.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: apport 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-36.55-generic 4.4.16
  Uname: Linux 4.4.0-36-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm nvidia_modeset nvidia
  ApportLog:
   
  ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Wed Sep 14 08:16:03 2016
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-04-22 (144 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: apport
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  modified.conffile..etc.default.apport:
   # set this to 0 to disable apport, or to 1 to enable it
   # you can temporarily override this with
   # sudo service apport start force_start=1
   enabled=0
  mtime.conffile..etc.default.apport: 2016-08-12T16:38:06.249273

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