[Bug 1300987] [NEW] /usr/lib/auto-apt/auto-apt-pkgdcb consumes over 100% RAM on 0.3.23

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

You have been subscribed to a public bug by Bruno Nova (brunonova):

[Impact]
* 'sudo auto-apt update' fills the RAM, causing the system to freeze for a few minutes
  when the SWAP starts being used.
  - Due to this, auto-apt is unusable in Trusty (and Saucy).
  - This bug can only be reproduced after fixing bug #1300991 by applying the workaround
    provided in the end of that bug report by the reported.
* The new version 0.3.24 fixes this bug, LP: #1300991 and a dpkg warning about an
  obsolete argument.

[Test Case]
* First, apply the fix/workaround provided in the end of the bug report #1300991:
  Open /usr/bin/auto-apt and remove the first "[[:space]]" from line 145, so that it
  starts like 'sed -ne 's=^[[:space:]]*deb[[:space:]]'.
  Without the fix/workaround, the next command wouldn't even work!
* Run the command 'sudo auto-apt update'.
  - With version 0.3.23, RAM is quickly filled and the system freezes for a few minutes
    (until the oom killer terminates the process).
  - With the new version 0.3.24, RAM is not filled and the system doesn't freeze.

[Regression Potential]
* auto-apt is already non-functional in Trusty (and Saucy), therefore there is no
  regression potential.

[Other Info]
* The original bug report for Saucy follows:

1)Description:    Ubuntu 13.10
Release:        13.10

Note: Actually Kubuntu 13.10

2)auto-apt:
  Installed: 0.3.23
  Candidate: 0.3.23
  Version table:
 *** 0.3.23 0
        500 http://md.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) $ sudo auto-apt update
Should update the database

4) Running the update command (hadn't verified updatedb) causes the
system to freeze (seemingly).

I monitored the process tree with htop, during this command, and
noticed, that /usr/lib/auto-apt/auto-apt-pkgdcb takes 100% CPU (doesn't
seem to affect how responsive is the system) and like 60% of RAM. And
it's constantly growing. Till it takes 100% of RAM, and then  100% SWAP.
Then the process is automatically killed. But if you run the command
from a graphical interface, you won't know it, because it seems like
completely frozen.

Workaround: use /usr/lib/auto-apt/auto-apt-pkgdcb from auto-apt 0.3.22.
(works for me)

Notes regarding ways to reproduce in Ubuntu 13.10:
There is another bug, the sed line parsing sources.list has to trailing spaces (^[:[space]:][:[space]:]*deb), which cause update and updatedb to fail (no repository contents files are downloaded, so 0 entries are created).
Fixing that will make it possible to reproduce the bug, otherwise update commands won't even work.

** Affects: auto-apt (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Fix Released


** Tags: saucy trusty
-- 
/usr/lib/auto-apt/auto-apt-pkgdcb consumes over 100% RAM on 0.3.23
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1300987
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Sponsors Team, which is subscribed to the bug report.