Zscaler and broken package

Budgie Desktop
1

Hi

I need to install “Zscaler” on my professional laptop.
If you don’t know this, it’s a (kind of) VPN client to connect to the corporate intranet.

The issue is that it create a conflict with “apport” !!
I don’t see how a VPN client can have a conflict with a software made to create crash report ! But I really need it, so I uninstall “apport” using
sudo dpkg -P --force-depends apport-gtk apport

but now I have a broken package “ubuntu-budgie-desktop-minimal” ! because “apport” is part of it …

Is there a way to solve this issue ?

Note : Ubuntu is a recommended OS by my company and there is no problem to install Zscaler on it (as far as I know)

ericc

2

zscaler isn’t in the repos. If its an external deb then I’ afraid there are only three ways forward.

  1. talk to the zscaler maintainer to produce a deb that doesn’t confict.
  2. if its opensource - build a deb from source that doesn’t conflict.
  3. extract the binary and rebuild the deb but change the debian/control to not conflict.
3

Did you download version 3.7 for GNOME 46?

4

Sorry, I don’t understand what you are talking about !
I installed Ubuntu Budgie 24.04 LTS 2 years ago and I’m doing the “apt update/upgrade” regularly

yes, it’s a proprietary, closed source, software
The issue is that the installation works without problem on stock Ubuntu 24.04 LTS …

Questions are more :
Why “apport” is in the dependency of “ubuntu-budgie-desktop-minimal” ?
What may be the problem to remove it ?
What can I do to solve the “broken” package without reinstalling “apport” ?

5

Apport is part of the underlying package set ubuntu provides. We can’t vary that and make it optional.

You need the minimal package otherwise things will uninstall themselves leaving you with a broken desktop.

The answer is that zscaler needs to fix their product. There isn’t much we can help with other than the suggestions I gave you

6

Because apparently it’s one of the 3.7 versions of Zscaler that needs to be installed to be up to date and compatible with version 46 of GNOME, which the OS you installed less than two years ago and which you maintain regularly includes:

gnome-shell --version
GNOME Shell 46.0

But anyway, it was a lead worth checking out.

7

Ok, I see … you talked about the version of Zscaler !
I installed version 3.7.1 … Because this is what our service IT recommend

8

Ok, so now I’m stuck …
I tried to uninstall Zscaler … but I need to provide a password that I don’t have (seems to be set by IT and it’s not mine)
And I can’t install nor upgrade anything as long as the breakage is there

(5min later)
in /var/lib/dpkg/status , I found the section for zscaler
I edit the file (after doing a backup), and in lines
Replaces: apport, apport-gtk, zscaler-client-debug
Conflicts: apport, apport-gtk, zscaler-client-debug

I removed the “apport” … saved the file and then did a
sudo apt --fix-broken install

which solved the breakage …
Need to reboot my machine to see if zscaler is still working

1 Like
9

so far, it’s working …
But I need to wait until tomorrow when I will work from home, and then use Zscaler, to be 100% sure

Thanks

10

OK, it works …
I don’t understand why Zscaler try to “replace” apport !
May be because this one can collect some information that are too sensible and/or represent a security risk !

Also, on the Ubuntu wiki page for Apport, it’s clearly stated that it’s disabled by default on “stable release”
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Apport

Apport is not enabled by default in stable releases, even if it is installed. The automatic crash interception component of apport is disabled by default in stable releases for a number of reasons:

I have a server installed with Ubuntu Server , and I see that “apport” is installed but set as “optional”

11

Yeah - third party products shouldn’t be replacing inherent ubuntu capabilities.

I think that page is severely out-of-date - probably was true for ubuntu 12.04 but for at least 18.04 onwards it is normal to see crash reports being reported - errors.ubuntu.com

I certainly can see why ubuntu server should have it as optional - mission critical systems shouldn’t be reporting their status to a third party. For a desktop user its a good idea since end-users just want things fixed but inherently are reluctant to report anything themselves.