Bug#505092: "apt-get update" stuck at "99% [5 Packages gzip 0]"

[Ivan Shmakov <oneingray@gmail.com>]

>>>>> Clayton  <ckoeni@gmail.com> writes:

 >> Package: apt
 >> Version: 0.7.16+b1
 >> Severity: important

 >> For the last two days, "apt-get update" does not get beyond the "99%
 >> [5 Packages gzip 0]" point. I can wait for hours, it does not
 >> change. Here is a partial snapshot of attempt:

 > Thanks for the report. Can you please post last 10-20 lines of the
 > 'strace apt-get update' ?

 > Would love to, but suddenly on day #3 the problem has gone away. I
 > guess it had something to do with the state of the archive, because
 > there were no software nor configuration changes on my end between
 > last night and this morning. If it happens again you will be the
 > first to know.

	I guess I might be experiencing the same problem.  In my case,
	`apt-get' stops when started within `nohup', i. e., without
	stdandard I/O.  The last line output is typically something
	like:

Fetched 49.8MB in 4s (11.3MB/s)

	but it may go a bit further.  Attaching to the `apt-get' process
	with `strace -p' revealed that it's get stuck on a something
	like `write' of a big NUL-filled (preasumably) buffer to
	`/dev/ptmx'.

	Everything seems to work fine when running from a terminal, and
	from `script' in particular.

	Can it be that `apt-get' allocates a pseudo terminal for running
	`dpkg' when its own stdandard I/O is not a terminal, and then
	fails to behave correctly?