Bug#647590: "apt-cache show" does not handle Description field

[David Kalnischkies <kalnischkies+debian@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 12:31, Ansgar Burchardt
<ansgar@mathi.uni-heidelberg.de> wrote:
> Attached is a patch that prevents apt-cache from crashing if the
> Description field is missing (I don't like it too much though); it might
> still make problems if Buffer is not null-terminated (I did not check).
> A proper fix also needs to macke sure the "Description:" is found at the
> beginning of a line.

Thanks for the patch! Your analyze is right and the patch mostly
fine as is beside that we are properly better of rewriting this mess
called 'apt-cache show'. ;)


Seems like i forgot to cc the bug, so for achievement proposes
let me add a reference to my response on the initial thread:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2011/11/msg00225.html


I assume other places doesn't like the none-availability of Description, too,
or are at least not optimized for that (without checking, i assume that a lot
of "empty" descriptions are created). And a quick test suggested that more
commands are failing - like e.g. 'showpkg'…

I am currently occupied with multi-arch fixes, so i don't know when i am
able to have a closer look, but on the other hand i am also still assuming
that we only remove long description as it was initial discussed, so this is a
more theoretical issue for me so far and therefore deep down in the todolist.

Sorry for not responding with a more positive/encouraging attitude and
Thanks again for report and patch!


Best regards

David Kalnischkies