How to Disable 'System Program Problem Detected' Errors in Ubuntu 12.

04 LTS

Posted by Manuel Jose on Wednesday, August 8, 2012

, Ubuntu 12.04 , Unity

/ Labels: small hacks

Ever since I upgraded to latest Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, this issue has been
bugging me a lot. Every now and then, a notification pops up saying
"Ubuntu 12.04 has experienced and internal error" or "System Program
Problem Detected" without actually causing any real troubles. I believe
this has everything to do with Apport, a software error/crash reporting
tool for Ubuntu (which is supposed to be in disabled state for stable
releases).

How to

Disable 'System Program Problem Detected' Errors in Ubuntu

12.04LTS?
It used to happen very rarely when I first installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
But after several upgrades and new software installations, these errors
have become more common place and sometimes annoying even. Disabling
Apport permanently helped me solve this issue. This should work for you
as well. Follow the steps.
I prefer doing this in command line using VIM text editor. But for
the sake of simplicity here, I will use GUI and gedit text editor.


Hi
t

Alt+F2 and type the following(screenshot above). Press ENTER

afterwards.
gksu gedit /etc/default/apport

Ch
ange

value of "enabled" from 1 to 0 (instructions are provided in the text

file itself).
Save and exit. Do a system reboot. Everything should work fine
from now on.
Thanks to Apport Ubuntu Wiki for the info. There, it is categorically
stated that, "Apport is not enabled by default in stable releases, even
if it is installed". I have no idea why it was enabled in two of my
Ubuntu installations. Anyway, the issue is solved now. Thanks for
reading.