[Bug 450093] [NEW] Root password prompt failing

[Duncan Bayne]

Public bug reported:

I am running on Ubuntu karmic (development branch) release 9.10.

If I run "sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.1" from within a MultiTerm
buffer in Emacs, I am not prompted for the root password.  Instead I see
the following error:

Unknown terminal: eterm-color
Check the TERM environment variable.
Also make sure that the terminal is defined in the terminfo database.
Alternatively, set the TERMCAP environment variable to the desired
termcap entry.
debconf: whiptail output the above errors, giving up!
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/mysql-server-5.1_5.1.37-1ubuntu5_i386.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 255
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/mysql-server-5.1_5.1.37-1ubuntu5_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

When I run the same command from a GNOME Terminal session, I am prompted
for the root password and MySQL installs correctly.

I don't know that it's reasonable for apt-get to support being run from
within MultiTerm, but the error message is only helpful to users with an
understanding of what the termcap library is & why it might be failing.

Perhaps apt-get could raise a warning if it's being run on an
unsupported terminal type?

** Affects: mysql-dfsg-5.1 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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Root password prompt failing
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/450093
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