'use this source' button is not effective

This bug was fixed in the package software-center - 1.1.13

---------------
software-center (1.1.13) lucid; urgency=low

  [ Michael Vogt ]
  * data/featured.menu.in:
    - add scribus, blender
    - fix missing i18n
  * data/software-center.menu.in:
    - add a bunch of missing _
  * softwarecenter/backend/aptd.py:
    - fix cache reload functionality
    - fix display of update/external transactions (LP: #514861)
  * po/help/po4a.conf:
    - make help translatable via po4a (LP: #439353)
  * po/help/software-center-doc.pot:
    - add help pot
  * setup.py:
    - build help translations automatically

  [ Gary Lasker ]
  * softwarecenter/view/viewswitcher.py:
    - fix ValueError in on_transactions_changed (LP: #523420)
    - fix AttributeError in do_render (LP: #523341)
  * softwarecenter/view/installedpane.py:
    - fix AttributeError in refresh_apps() (LP: #520097)
  * softwarecenter/view/widgets/pathbar2.py:
    - fix typo in PathBarThemeHumanClearlooks class,
      gave an AttributeError in __expose_cb() (LP: #523452)
  * softwarecenter/app.py,
    softwarecenter/backend/aptd.py:
    - update to use new backend reload API (LP: #496058)
 -- Michael Vogt <email address hidden> Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:29:53 +0100

The current behaviour is that the reloading of the cache is added to the 'in progress' view. The enabling of the source is however not effective. The application can still not be installed, even after restarting software-center.

Hi kiwinote. I'm not able to reproduce the problem you describe in comment #2. I'm testing with software-center version 1.1.17. I was able to enable the partner repository and then directly install Adobe Reader without incident.

Could you please retest with the latest software-center version and report back here if you still see a problem? Thanks!

Hi. I have tested with the latest version of software-center and as far as i can tell the issue is still persistent. Here is a more detailed set of steps that I have followed:
-Delete /etc/apt/sources.list.d (and make sure their is no reference to partners in /etc/apt/sources.list).
-Browse to adobe reader and click 'use this source'
-I enter my password twice (there is another bug open about this) and notice that 'reloading the cache' is taking place in the 'in progress' view.
-When I browse back to adobe reader the 'use this source' button is still displayed and there is no option to install it
-I am unable to find any reference of partners in any sources.list file.
Please feel free to request any further information.

Hi Kiwinote. Thanks, that's good info. Ok, following your exact steps, I could reproduce. The problem seems to stem from the fact that you have manually deleted the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory, which is actually needed by apt. The fact that apt doesn't add /etc/apt/source.list.d if it is missing is a separate issue and a bug that needs to be fixed (more on that later). However, regarding the specific problem you mentioned, here are some details:

In the normal case in stock lucid, the standard /etc/apt/sources.list file contains a (commented out) reference to the partner channel as shown:

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner

If you enable the partner channel using the "Use This Source" button in Software Center, the line above is simply uncommented and the source is enabled correctly, and the test case works.

If you have removed this partner entry from /etc/apt/sources.list, then clicking "Use This Source" will instead create a new file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lucid-partner.list. In this case, the partner repo is also enabled correctly.

However, if the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory itself has been *manually* deleted, then it does not get re-created and so the partner repo is *not* added, with the result that you report in comment #4. This is a bug in apt itself, and should be fixed (we'll either reassign this bug or open a new one for that).

In the meantime, I did find that if you manually recreate /etc/apt/sources.list.d (sudo mkdir /etc/apt/sources.list.d), and try again, then everything works correctly. Please give that a shot and let us know if this fixes the problem for you also.

Since everything is working fine in the normal case where /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ exists and when using the Software Center UI to enable/disable the partner repository, I'll lower the priority for now pending disposition of this bug as either a new bug or the current bug reassigned to the appropriate apt package (apt, aptdaemon, possibly python-apt).

Hi Gary.

I had indeed deleted all commented lines from sources.list to ease editing.

I have recreated the sources.list.d directory. I had been having the same issue when just deleting the lucid-partner.list, but I had decided it would be clearer to just mention that i had deleted the whole directory. It turns out that that just brought up a separate issue.

My experience was however still not completely in line with what you described, so I have had a closer look into the issue. It seems that the real issue is that acroread is being displayed, when in reality acroread is not available for my architecture (amd64). This leads software-center to display an 'use this source' button even after the partners repository is enabled.

acroread is being displayed as available because the desktop files in the app-install-data-partner package are outdated (ie don't contain the correct architectures).

I have opened new bugs regarding what seem to be the real issues (#539820,#539816). I have not opened a bug about the sources.list.d issue. Thanks.