A more noob friendly error mechanism for Mint?

[Foomandoonian]

I just went to package manager to try and install something and it threw up an error:

Code: Select all

E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

Turns out, this was an easy enough fix (sudo dpkg --configure -a for the benefit of any Google visitors who may be looking for a solution) and in fact the answer was provided in the error.

Here is my question:

(1) Why can't this happen without my input? I only have a vague idea what I did and I certainly wouldn't have tried anything else. This command line voodoo could have happened automagically without my even knowing, and my experience would have been maybe a ten second extra launch time, instead of a minor sense of foreboding!

(2) Failing that, could the process of finding a solution be more automated? By that, I mean maybe an error message that looks something like this:

Error:

Code: Select all

E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

Solutions:

1. Attempt automagic fix
2. Search Launchpad for answers
3. Consult the Google
4. or visit help forums and ask nicely...

I'd be curious to know why something like this couldn't be done?

[McLovin]

[list=1]
[*] Consult the Google

It's Geroge W. Bush
As for why this can't done automagically, this happens when an install, or update is interrupted, (usualy that's when this happens, it can happen at other times as well, but this is most common cause), so the OS can't really do anything auto anymore until this is resolved.
When you interrupt an install or update, it throws all kinds of things out of whack, and the automated portion of the OS is broken, so it has to be fixed before the OS can do anything on it's own without your input.
But at least it tells you what needs to be done.

[MagnusB]

It is a drastic solution, you will reconfigure ALL packages install, that is why this is done manually, just to be sure you want to really do this. BTW, APT is really broken when this is necessary, so I guess that an automagic solution will require some software that actually monitors APT in order to catch this..

[Foomandoonian]

Just to be clear: I don't mean specifically for this error message. I'm suggesting that all error messages could be handled in such a way.

I can see the importance not letting the computer just brazenly make changes or run fixes that may be harmful, but here is what I am suggesting, in a nutshell:

• Where a simple fix exists, I could be prompted to run it from within the error box. There could be a warning associated with this action.
• Alternatively, the dialog could direct me to somewhere I am most likely to get a clear solution.