Ubuntu
yelp package

The help files won't print

Bug #517925 reported by Nate Derby
14
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
yelp (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: yelp

Printing almost any help page (using "print this page") results in a page that has the heading and nothing else.
Also note that selecting "Print this Document" results in a segfault error, but that is a separate issue that is still present in Lucid.

[TEST CASE]
=============
1. Open "Help" by pressing F1 or System --> "Help and Support"
2. Click on the first link under the "Common Questions" heading - "Connecting to the Internet"
3. Select "Print This Page ..." from the File menu
4. Select "Print" (or "Print Preview" to avoid wasting paper whilst testing - both options show this symptom)

[Current Result]
=============
A page with only the heading (in this test case "Connecting") & the page number (1 of 1) is printed.
See Screenshot from Karmic - http://imgbin.org/images/1241.png

[Expected Result]
=============
The entire page including all help text should be printed.
See Screenshot from Lucid - http://imgbin.org/images/1240.png

[Work Around]
=============
When printing a Help page, select a different printer (e.g. "Print to File") in the print dialogue screen & then re-select your desired printer.

[Notes]
=============
This issue occurs in Karmic

$uname -a
Linux dv7-karmic 2.6.31-19-generic #56-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 28 01:26:53 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

$sudo apt-cache policy yelp
yelp:
  Installed: 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 2.28.0-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://mirror.optus.net karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

I am unable to reproduce this issue in Lucid

$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu 2.6.32-12-generic #16-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 27 18:34:19 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

$ sudo apt-cache policy yelp
yelp:
  Installed: 2.28.0+webkit-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 2.28.0+webkit-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
     2.28.0+webkit-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/main Packages
 *** 2.28.0+webkit-1ubuntu1 0

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Feb 5 20:52:26 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/yelp
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: yelp 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-19.56-generic
SourcePackage: yelp
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-19-generic x86_64
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:3233): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:3233): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:3336): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:3332): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (firefox-bin:3475): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

See original description
Revision history for this message
Nate Derby (nderby-yahoo) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Mitch Towner (kermiac) wrote :

I can confirm this issue in Karmic

$uname -a
Linux dv7-karmic 2.6.31-19-generic #56-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 28 01:26:53 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
$udo apt-cache policy yelp
yelp:
  Installed: 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2.28.0-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 2.28.0-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://mirror.optus.net karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

I cannot reproduce this issue is current up-to-date Lucid

$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu 2.6.32-12-generic #16-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 27 18:34:19 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
$ sudo apt-cache policy yelp
yelp:
  Installed: 2.28.0+webkit-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 2.28.0+webkit-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
     2.28.0+webkit-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com lucid/main Packages
 *** 2.28.0+webkit-1ubuntu1 0

This may be related to bug 160812

Changed in yelp (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Mitch Towner (kermiac)
description: updated
Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)
Changed in yelp (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
importance: Undecided → Low
Revision history for this message
Mitch Towner (kermiac) wrote :

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. However, I am closing it because the bug has been fixed in the latest development version of Ubuntu - Lucid Lynx. It won't be fixed in previous versions of Ubuntu because the package doesn't fit the requirements for backporting. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBackports for more information.
Also, there is an easy work-around for this problem (see the "Work Around" section in the updated description)

Revision history for this message
Nate Derby (nderby-yahoo) wrote :

Hello Mitch and Charlie,

Thanks for your work on this. However, now I've just installed Lucid and am very frustrated to see that this issue is still not fixed -- at least on my installation. In fact, it's worse, as neither the workaround above nor the print preview work. Can you replicate this in Lucid?

However, something really irregular happened -- I was able to print one help page, but then the print function stopped working after that first page. My workaround is to cut and paste into another text editor, but that's a pain because I lose the formatting (i.e., the table indentations).

Incidentally, is there a reason why the help files aren't on HTML, so that they can be printed from any HTML browser? Or is this a GNOME issue that you have no control over?

Thanks so much for your help. I'm still very new to Ubuntu and am reading (and printing) the help files to learn how to use it better.

Thanks so much,

NATE

Changed in yelp (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Released → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Mitch Towner (kermiac) wrote :

Hi Nate. I am unable to reproduce this issue in Lucid. "Print this page" currently works as expected in Lucid.

As already noted, "Print this Document" results in a segfault error, but that is a separate issue that is still present in Lucid.

$ apt-cache policy yelp
yelp:
  Installed: 2.30.0-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2.30.0-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 2.30.0-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Can you please confirm that the version of yelp installed in your system is up-to-date? Thanks in advance!

Revision history for this message
Mitch Towner (kermiac) wrote :

setting status back to "Fix Released" as I am unable to reproduce this issue.

Changed in yelp (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Fix Released
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