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

[Chris Miles]

Michael Vogt wrote:

> 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 | Package list outdated                               |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
>
>  
Good idea Michael,

Excuse me chipping in here.

When I started with Synaptic I had not used apt and did not understand 
what was happening. I certainly did not want to start something that was 
going to make big changes without confirmation from me. How was I to 
know that "update" meant "update list of available packages and 
versions" rather than update my system?

I think your reminder if the list is out of date is a good idea, perhaps 
with a configuration option for how often to check.

The package list update seems to be in two stages, the first quicker 
than the second. Is it possible to do just the first part quickly so as 
to be able to respond with a "new updates available"?

Chris