apt-get dies with "E: Method http has died unexpectedly!"

Thanks for your bugreport.

I tried to reproduce the problem here but was not successful (I used a pbuilder on tmpfs with a squid proxy). Could you please try to get a apport backtrace of the exiting method?

Thanks,
 Michael

We see this issue while building hardy and jaunty images but we're not building on a tmpfs and we're not using apt-cacher-ng (we're using squid).

We don't see any pattern with regards to the number of packages it downloads before failing.

I uploaded a apt with slightly better debugging output here:

https://edge.launchpad.net/~mvo/+archive/ppa?field.name_filter=apt&field.status_filter=published&field.series_filter=karmic

Could you please try that and see if that prints more information before it dies?

Could you please please run with:
sudo apt-get install foo -o Debug::pkgAcquire::Worker=true -o Debug::acquire::http=true -o Debug::pkgAcquire=true

and see what this output before it dies?

Here is the apt output from apt 0.7.21ubuntu1.1.

And here is apt output for apt 0.7.21ubuntu1.2. The error message is:
E: ReadMessages: read return 0

The exit code from apt was 100.

Thanks! I uploaded yet another one that contains more information about the http method. I hope this way we can figure out why its exiting suddenly. Could you please try that too?

Does it make a difference if you run:
$ sudo apt-get install foo -o Acquire::http::pipeline-depth=1
?

Thanks,
 Michael

apt 0.7.21ubuntu1.3 errors out with:

E: ReadMessages: read return 0 (buf size: 64000)
E: ::ReadMessages returned false - pkgAcquire::Worker::ReadMessages (2 No such file or directory)
E: Method http has died unexpectedly!
E: Sub-process http exited unexpectedly

Trying with pipeline-depth=1 I couldn't reproduce this crash.

strace output for the crash

I uploaded a package that fixes the problem for me into my PPA - could you please test and give feedback?

Thanks,
 Michael

I couldn't reproduce it with apt 0.7.21ubuntu2~ppa1 anymore and test-building a package with this apt installed in my pbuilder worked also.

This bug was fixed in the package apt - 0.7.23.1ubuntu1

---------------
apt (0.7.23.1ubuntu1) karmic; urgency=low

  [ Matt Zimmerman ]
  * apt-pkg/deb/dpkgpm.cc:
    - Suppress apport reports on dpkg short reads (these I/O errors are not
      generally indicative of a bug in the packaging)

  [ Loïc Minier ]
  * cmdline/apt-key:
    - Emit a warning if removed keys keyring is missing and skip associated
      checks (LP: #218971)

  [ Brian Murray ]
  * cmdline/apt-get.cc:
    - typo fix (LP: #370094)

  [ Michael Vogt ]
  * apt-pkg/deb/dpkgpm.cc:
    - when tcgetattr() returns non-zero skip all pty magic
      (thanks to Simon Richter, closes: #509866)
  * apt-inst/contrib/arfile.cc:
    - show propper error message for Invalid archive members
  * apt-pkg/acquire-worker.cc:
    - show error details of failed methods
  * apt-pkg/contrib/fileutl.cc:
    - if a process aborts with signal, show signal number
  * methods/http.cc:
    - ignore SIGPIPE, we deal with EPIPE from write in
      HttpMethod::ServerDie() (LP: #385144)
  * debian/apt.cron.daily:
    - if the timestamp is too far in the future, delete it
      (LP: #135262)

  [ Merge ]
  * merged from debian, reverted the libdlopen-udev branch
    because its too late in the release process for this now
  * not merged the proxy behaviour change from 0.7.23 (that will
    be part of lucid)

apt (0.7.23.1) unstable; urgency=low

  [ Michael Vogt ]
  * apt-pkg/pkgcache.cc:
    - do not set internel "needs-configure" state for packages in
      triggers-pending state. dpkg will deal with the trigger and
      it if does it before we trigger it, dpkg will error out
      (LP: #414631)
  * apt-pkg/acquire-item.cc:
    - do not segfault on invalid items (closes: #544080)

apt (0.7.23) unstable; urgency=low

  [ David Kalnischkies ]
  * cmdline/apt-get.cc:
    - add APT::Get::HideAutoRemove=small to display only a short line
      instead of the full package list. (Closes: #537450)
    - ShowBroken() in build-dep (by Mike O'Connor, Closes: #145916)
    - check for statfs.f_type (by Robert Millan, Closes: #509313)
    - correct the order of picked package binary vs source in source
    - use SourceVersion instead of the BinaryVersion to get the source
      Patch by Matt Kraai, thanks! (Closes: #382826)
    - add pkg/archive and codename in source (Closes: #414105, #441178)
  * apt-pkg/contrib/strutl.cc:
    - enable thousand separator according to the current locale
      (by Luca Bruno, Closes: #223712)
  * doc/apt.conf.5.xml:
    - mention the apt.conf.d dir (by Vincent McIntyre, Closes: #520831)
  * apt-inst/contrib/arfile.cc:
    - use sizeof instead strlen (by Marius Vollmer, Closes: #504325)
  * doc/apt-mark.8.xml:
    - improve manpage based on patch by Carl Chenet (Closes: #510286)
  * apt-pkg/acquire-item.cc:
    - use configsettings for dynamic compression type use and order.
      Based on a patch by Jyrki Muukkonen, thanks! (LP: #71746)
  * apt-pkg/aptconfiguration.cc:
    - add default configuration for compression types and add lzma
      support. Order is now bzip2, lzma, gzip, none (Closes: #510526)
  * ftparchive/writer.cc:
    - add lzma support also here, patch for this (and...