apport-cli(1)

📦
version 2.36.0 · 2 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 apport-cli(1) — the manual page, but make it slay 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for apport-cli, and it lives in the General Commands Manual section of the man pages (iykyk). If you're looking for apport-gtk or apport-kde? Same energy, same page, they're all chilling here together. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

apport-cli, apport-gtk, apport-kde — Apport user interfaces for reporting problems 🐛

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

apport-cli

apport-cli [ --save file ] symptom | pid | package | program path |
.apport/.crash file

apport-cli -f

apport-cli -f -p package -P pid

apport-cli -u report-number

Same options/arguments for apport-gtk and apport-kde. no cap.

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So apport is the icon that automatically scoops up data from crashed processes and compiles it into a problem report, stashing it all in /var/crash/. and apport-cli? That's the command line frontend for reporting those crashes to the devs. It can ALSO be used to report bugs about packages or running processes, because it contains multitudes 💅

If symptom scripts are available (we'll get to those), you can also hand it the name of a symptom, or just call it with -f all by itself to display a list of known symptoms. iconic behaviour honestly.

When you call it with no options at all, it processes the pending crash reports and offers to report them one by one. You can also display the entire report to see exactly what gets sent to the software developers. transparency queen 👑

When you call it with exactly one argument and no option, apport-cli uses some heuristics to figure out "what you mean" and reports a bug against the given symptom name, package name, program path, or PID. And if that argument is a .crash or .apport file? It uploads the stored problem report straight to the bug tracking system. go off.

💡 For desktop systems with a graphical user interface, you should consider installing the GTK or KDE user interface (apport-gtk or apport-kde). They accept the very same options and arguments. apport-cli is mainly intended to be used on servers.

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

  • -f, --file-bug — Report a (non-crash) problem. If neither --package, --symptom, or --pid are specified, then it displays a list of available symptoms. If none are available, it aborts with an error. 😭

This will automatically attach information about your operating system and the package version etc. to the bug report, so that the developers have some important context. doing the work for you, bestie.

  • -s symptom, --symptom=symptom — When being used in --file-bug mode, specify the symptom to report the problem about.
  • -p package, --package=package — When being used in --file-bug mode, specify the package to report the problem against.
  • -P pid, --pid=pid — When being used in --file-bug mode, specify the PID (process ID) of a running program to report the problem against. This can be determined with e. g. ps -ux.
  • -c report, --crash-file=report — Upload a previously processed stored report in an arbitrary file location. This is useful for copying a crash report to a machine with internet connection and reporting it from there. Files must end in .crash or .apport. 📁
  • -u report-number, --update-report report-number — Run apport information collection on an already existing problem report. The affected package is taken from the report by default, but you can explicitly specify one with --package to collect information for a different package (this is useful if the report is assigned to the wrong package). fixing someone else's oopsie, we love to see it 💅
  • --save filename — In --file-bug mode, save the collected information into a file instead of reporting it. This file can then be reported with --crash-file later on.
  • -w, --window — Point and click at the application window against which you wish to report the bug. Apport will automatically find the package name and generate a report for you. This option can be specially useful in situations when you do not know the name of the package, or if the application window has stopped responding and you cannot report the problem from the "Help" menu of the application. 🖱️✨
⚠️ This option is not supported on Wayland. Users running Wayland should use another option such as -P to specify the application.

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

  • APPORT_IGNORE_OBSOLETE_PACKAGES — Apport refuses to create bug reports if the package or any dependency is not current. If this environment variable is set, this check is waived. Experts who will thoroughly check the situation before filing a bug report can define this in their ~/.bashrc or temporarily when calling the apport frontend (-cli, -gtk, or -kde).
🙈 okay so this is the "I know what I'm doing" switch. it skips a safety check, so only touch it if you genuinely know what you're doing, bestie. no cap.

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • /usr/share/apport/symptoms/*.py — Symptom scripts. These ask a set of interactive questions to determine the package which is responsible for a particular problem. (For some problems like sound or storage device related bugs there are many places where things can go wrong, and it's not immediately obvious for a bug reporter where the problem is.)

like a little detective interview for your bug 🔍 so iconic of them

👑 AUTHOR 👑

apport and the accompanying tools are developed by Martin Pitt <martin.pitt@ubuntu.com>. legend behaviour fr fr 💜

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this little manual page popped into existence back on August 01, 2007, written by Martin Pitt, and it's been out here in the General Commands Manual section ever since — you can peep it as apport-cli(1) whenever you need it. mwah 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from