Re: [Synaptic-devel] crashing problem and translation issues

[Michael Vogt]

Hi Steve,

On Sat, Oct 16, 2004 at 10:31:11PM +0000, Steve Salazar wrote:
> Hi.  First (before I start complaining), synaptic is fantastic.  Synaptic 
> with fedora is a perfect match.  Thanks very much to all the developers.

Thanks!
 
> I am having a problem with synaptic crashing repeatably whenever I do a 
> cancel on an operation that is about to be completed.  For example, I 
> select a package for upgrade but that requires that I install another 
> package.  I decide I don't want to do that after all so I click cancel.  
> synaptic vanishes from my screen and says this on the console:
> 
> address@hidden ~] synaptic
> 
> (synaptic:1878): Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtkwidget.c: line 2042 
> (IA__gtk_widget_hide): assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
> 
> I have been having this problem with synaptic for a long time.  It has 
> gotten more stable but still occurs.  A friend of mine who uses fedora also 
> says he has the same problem.  I don't experience this instability with 
> other apps (at least not systematically, rhythmbox for example crashes way 
> more than synaptic does)

I wasn't aware of this problem. Does it happen for other fedora users
as well? Can you please send me a "gdb" backtrace of the crash? You
can do this by starting gdb like this (as root):
 gdb synaptic
then type "run" and make it crash after the crash type "backtrace" in
the gdb xterm and send me the output please. 

> Second little point, this is about translation (I think):  The use of the 
> word "Reload" to mean what apt calls "update" should be reconsidered I 
> think.  
[..]

Thanks for your thoughtful argument. I think you are right. As more
people use synaptic now that don't know about apt, they tend not
know that you should update the package list on a regular
basis. Rewording the button is a start. What do the list think about
"Update package list"?

What I'm thinking about is to pop-up a dialog if the package lists in
/var/cache/apt/lists are older than N days. The dialog could look
something like this: 

+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Package list outdated                               |
|                                                     |
| Your package list is older than 4 days.             |
| In order to know about security and other updates,  |
| you should update the package list.                 |
|                                                     |
|                                                     |
| Do you want to do this now?                         |
|                                       <no> <<yes>>  |
|   [ ] never ask me again                            |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

What do you think?

thanks, 
 Michael

-- 
The first rule of holes is: when you find yourself in one, stop digging. - PJ
Linux is not The Answer. Yes is the answer. Linux is The Question. - Neo