Sofware Updater broken

[flix3]

Hello everybody. I'm on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit.
My problem is the following:

• When I launch "Software Updater" I get:

An unhandlable error occurred
There seems to be a programming error in aptdaemon, the software that allows you to install/remove software and to perform other package management related tasks.

• This is the output of some commands I've issued:

me@PC:~$ sudo apt-get clean
me@PC:~$ sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
me@PC:~$ sudo apt-get install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

• When I type:

sudo mv /var/lib/apt/lists /var/lib/apt/lists_old

And then I launch "Software Updater" again I get:

Software Updater
Checking for updates...
Waiting for other software managers to quit

But of course there's no other software manager to wait for... so I've reverted the mv.

Can anybody please help me?
Thank you in advance.

[ian-weisser]

Does the "Unhandlable Error" message include anything else?
Usually it includes the python error traceback.

How long has the current system been installed?

Have you run "sudo apt update"?

[flix3]

Does the "Unhandlable Error" message include anything else?
Usually it includes the python error traceback.

Nothing else. Basically as soon as the "Update Manager" is "Loading software list" I see that error message with three buttons:

• "Settings" (that does nothing other than displaying the message "The software on this computer is up to date." without checking for updates).
• "Try again" (that restart the check and repeats the error message).
• "OK" (that has the same effect as "Settings").

How long has the current system been installed?

Years, and it always worked.

Have you run "sudo apt update"?

Yes, the command line seems to work well as far as I can see. I get:

sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease                     
Hit:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease                        
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [102 kB]       
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease [102 kB]     
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [102 kB]      
Hit:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-wine/ppa/ubuntu xenial InRelease         
Fetched 306 kB in 35s (8.676 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.

I should add that if I launch from the "System Settings" "Software and Updates" nothing happens...

[slickymaster]

@flix3:

Please use code tags, instead of quote tags, when posting output. Output posted as plain text loses its formatting and parts of it sometimes turn into smileys making it difficult to read and understand.

[flix3]

@slickymaster:

Ok.

[flix3]

Not sure if this is related or not. Basically if this links is true: https://askubuntu.com/questions/8122...w-to-remove-it, the "Software And Updates" inside "System Settings" is called: software-properties-gtk. Well, I've just tried to run it from terminal. It does not work, but I can get these messages:

> software-properties-gtk
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/gtk/SoftwarePropertiesGtk.py:40: PyGIWarning: Gdk was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('Gdk', '3.0') before import to ensure that the right version gets loaded.
  from gi.repository import GObject, Gdk, Gtk, Gio, GLib
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/gtk/SoftwarePropertiesGtk.py:40: PyGIWarning: Gtk was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0') before import to ensure that the right version gets loaded.
  from gi.repository import GObject, Gdk, Gtk, Gio, GLib
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/software-properties-gtk", line 101, in <module>
    app = SoftwarePropertiesGtk(datadir=options.data_dir, options=options, file=file)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/gtk/SoftwarePropertiesGtk.py", line 98, in __init__
    SoftwareProperties.__init__(self, options=options, datadir=datadir)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 114, in __init__
    self.reload_sourceslist()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 607, in reload_sourceslist
    self.distro.get_sources(self.sourceslist)    
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 142, in get_sources
    self.get_mirrors()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 457, in get_mirrors
    self, mirror_template="http://%s.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/")
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 166, in get_mirrors
    et = ElementTree(file=fname)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/xml/etree/ElementTree.py", line 556, in __init__
    self.parse(file)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/xml/etree/ElementTree.py", line 596, in parse
    self._root = parser._parse_whole(source)
xml.etree.ElementTree.ParseError: syntax error: line 1, column 0

Any hint ?

[shintaomonk]

Have you tried to run both update and upgrade?

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

[ian-weisser]

>
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 166, in get_mirrors
    et = ElementTree(file=fname)
  ...
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/xml/etree/ElementTree.py", line 596, in parse
    self._root = parser._parse_whole(source)
  xml.etree.ElementTree.ParseError: syntax error: line 1, column 0

I think that's the key.

Let's look at those Python lines in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py, around line 166:

        fname = "/usr/share/xml/iso-codes/iso_3166.xml"
        if os.path.exists(fname):
            et = ElementTree(file=fname)

Easy enough: It's trying to parse /usr/share/xml/iso-codes/iso_3166.xml, but encountering a syntax error.
That xml file is corrupt or changed or otherwise not valid xml.

So let's see what package provides that corrupt file:

$ dpkg -S /usr/share/xml/iso-codes/iso_3166.xml
iso-codes: /usr/share/xml/iso-codes/iso_3166.xml

There you are: Try reinstalling the 'iso-codes' package.

sudo apt install --reinstall iso-codes

[flix3]

@shintaomonk:
Yes, it works because apt works perfectly on the terminal: it's just a GUI problem, or something like that.

I think that's the key.
Looking at the code, it's tying to parse /usr/share/xml/iso-codes/iso_3166.xml, but encountering a syntax error- that file is corrupt or changes or otherwise not valid xml.

So let's see what package provides that corrupt file:

$ dpkg -S /usr/share/xml/iso-codes/iso_3166.xml
iso-codes: /usr/share/xml/iso-codes/iso_3166.xml

There you are: Try reinstalling the 'iso-codes' package.

sudo apt install --reinstall iso-codes

[SOLVED] Thank you very much! That fixed both "Software Updater" and "Software and Updates" in a single shot!
Wow! You know how to track down and solve error logs!