Ubuntu
ubiquity package

What package for reporting bug auto-selecting session type on live CD?

Asked by Eliah Kagan

Using today's Oneiric daily-live, when I manually select "Try Ubuntu without installing" (on the non-graphical boot screen), I get the "Oh no! Something has gone wrong" screen (which tells me I must log out). Switching to the virtual console on tty1, I am able to inspect /var/log/Xorg.0.log and /home/ubuntu/.xsession-errors. These two lines appear (among others, of course) in .xsession-errors:

Compiz (opengl) - Fatal: GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap is missing
Compiz (opengl) - Fatal: software rendering detected

That's the only sign of trouble I'm able to identify in these log files (there are other errors, but they seem to me to be a result of attempts to interact with the desktop that wasn't started due to the compiz error). This suggests strongly to me that the problem is that Compiz Fusion was not able to run because my machine doesn't have a suitable graphics card (indeed, this is on a virtual machine with no graphics acceleration).

When I switch back to X and click log out, I get a functional login screen, and I am able to switch the session type to "Ubuntu Classic (no effects)", and log in to get a functional desktop.

In previous versions of Ubuntu, such as Natty, the live CD was able to figure out that my virtual machine didn't have graphics acceleration. Even in an installed system, when I selected an "Ubuntu" (i.e., Unity) session, it would display a message box notifying me that I should select Ubuntu Classic since my machine didn't support Unity, and then when I clicked OK (or maybe it was Close, I don't remember), it would automatically give me a classic desktop.

So, is this a bug in gdm? Or a bug in compiz, because the way failure to load is not handled properly? Or is it (as I suspect) a bug in some third package? How do I report this?

By the way, I think that the full log files I referred to above should *not* be necessary for answering this question, because this is fundamentally a question about what package to report a bug against. I'll attach those files to the bug report of course (unless Apport does it for me), but they shouldn't be needed just for pointing me in the right direction, which is what this question is about. But to save time in case I am asked for the files here, or in case I'm mistaken and it is necessary to inspect them further to determine what package this bug is occurring in, I've posted them at http://paste.ubuntu.com:

/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old
http://paste.ubuntu.com/613368/

/var/log/Xorg.0.log (from good new classic session, for comparison)
http://paste.ubuntu.com/613370/

/home/ubuntu/.xsession-errors.old (the file I referred to as .xsession-errors above)
http://paste.ubuntu.com/613373/

/home/ubuntu/.xsession-errors (from good new classic session, for comparison)
http://paste.ubuntu.com/613374/

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Ubuntu ubiquity Edit question
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Solved by:
Colin Watson
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Revision history for this message
delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#1

"Try Ubuntu without installing" has no login screen, so it's not gdm. This issue is closely related to installation CD, so even it's not an installation issue, it could be linked to Ubiquity. From my point of view, it's stupid to rely on 3D abilities on a Live session which could be used to debug issues related to graphic card, and there are many. The team in charge of building installation CD should be aware of this issue, and provide a solution.
It seems Ubuntu is less and less reliable.

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Colin Watson (cjwatson) said : 		#2

The Oneiric daily builds are incredibly early and this hasn't been sorted out yet. They will still have a 2D fallback even if they don't right now.

@delance, I don't think your last comment was particularly helpful.

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Colin Watson (cjwatson) said : 		#3

(Also, what makes you think that the desktop is the purview of the team that builds the CD images?)

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#4

@Colin Watson
"The Oneiric daily builds are incredibly early and this hasn't been sorted out yet. They will still have a 2D fallback even if they don't right now."

They have one now, in that you can log out to get a login screen and specify "Ubuntu Classic (no effects)", and it gives a functional desktop which (presumably) can be used to run Ubiquity. It just doesn't automatically go to that fallback; the user has to figure out how to do it, and most less technical users (probably most users) wouldn't immediately know how to do that.

Is this to say that I should not bother reporting this as a bug at this time? Or should I report it as a bug in ubiquity (or some other package)?

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#5

"what makes you think that the desktop is the purview of the team that builds the CD images?" : I simply think that Live session is used to work on issues related to Ubiquity and should not be victim as same bug as Ubiquity or installed system, so it should use the most simple and reliable way of using screen. There is a lot of issues about graphic driver. I don't know what is relationship between people of Ubiquity and people who makes choice for graphical environment of Live session, but I hope they are close.
I don't imagine users using tty1 in text mode to debug issues, so we need a way to have a GUI despite graphical issue, even if it means basing GUI on lowest protocol understandable by card.
About my comment on reliability, I have more and more issues on graphic on my computers with each new delivery. And latest delivery of Unity leads to lot of issues. I'm also tired that seeing old bugs like "blank screen" are not fixed, even if it is not related to Ubuntu but more on Linux and drivers. It's true I see only bad news at Launchpad, but it seems GUI are not enough tested.

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#6

@delance
Was your recent post (#5) only a response to Colin Watson's post #3, or did it also seek to address my question of whether or not, in light of his post #2, I should go ahead and report this as a bug (and what package I should say it affects)? You submitted post #5 as an answer rather than a comment, which is why I am asking this--otherwise, it would not have occurred to me that you were responding to my request for clarification (i.e., to post #4).

@Colin Watson
Can you clarify whether or not your first post (#2) was intended to indicate that I should *not* yet report this as a bug? If it wasn't intended to indicate that (and I'm assuming it wasn't, since the question of whether or not a bug needs immediate fixing is not the same as whether or not it's a valid bug), then can you indicate if you agree with delance's suggestion to report it as a bug in ubiquity in Ubuntu, and, if not, what package you think I should report this as affecting? To clarify, the situation that I am suggesting constitutes a bug is that the Oneiric live CD has a 2D session that works on systems without graphics acceleration, but (unlike previous releases) doesn't make it intuitively accessible to a user who runs it on such a system.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#7

Log a bug too. Oneiric is not ready in any way, it's not even alpha 1. What did you expect...

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Best Colin Watson (cjwatson) said : 		#8

Eliah, you should file a bug. The live session for the installer is part of the ubiquity package, which would be the correct bug target, at least to start with.

delance, we have had literally two Oneiric CD build runs so far. Give us a break, would you? You're lucky it works at all at the moment!

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#9

Thanks Colin Watson, that solved my question.

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#10

I have reported this as bug 788859. Thanks to delance, Colin Watson, and actionparsnip for the prompt and helpful input.