Powershell: Snap and MSIX install of pwsh on Ubuntu does not support Update-Help

[DonPwrShellHunt]

Steps to reproduce

Install powershell-preview on Ubuntu 18.04 using snap i.e.
# snap install powershell-preview --classic

From pwsh-preview console enter the following command>

PS /home/donhunt> Update-Help -Force

Expected behavior

PowerShell Modules that have updatable help should refresh to latest content

Actual behavior

Update-Help : Read-only file system
At line:1 char:1
+ Update-Help -Force
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Update-Help], IOException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.IOException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCommand

Environment data

PS /home/donhunt> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      6.1.0-preview.4
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    6.1.0-preview.4
OS                             Linux 4.15.0-29-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 17 15:39:52 UTC 2018
Platform                       Unix
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

donhunt@ubuntu:~$ snap list powershell-preview
Name                Version          Rev  Tracking  Publisher             Notes
powershell-preview  6.1.0-preview.4  6    stable    microsoft-powershell  classic

donhunt@ubuntu:/etc$ cat os-release 
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="18.04.1 LTS (Bionic Beaver)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS"
VERSION_ID="18.04"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=bionic
UBUNTU_CODENAME=bionic

[iSazonov]

/cc @TravisEz13 Could you please comment the Issue?

[TravisEz13]

@adityapatwardhan I thought we changed the default target to be the user?

[TravisEz13]

I verified update-help -Scope CurrentUser fails as well with the same error

[megamorf]

Any updates on this?

```
PS /home/megamorf> $PSVersionTable

Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 6.2.0-preview.2
PSEdition Core
GitCommitId 6.2.0-preview.2
OS Linux 4.18.16-96.current #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Oct 21 15:23:25 UTC 2018
Platform Unix
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.3
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion 3.0

PS /home/megamorf> Update-Help -Force -Verbose -Scope CurrentUser
Update-Help : Read-only file system
At line:1 char:1

• Update-Help -Force -Verbose -Scope CurrentUser
• ~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Update-Help], IOException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.IOException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCommand
  ```

[MaximoTrinidad]

@TravisEz13 & @megamorf

Hum! I've been using just:

Update-Help -force

Without the "-Scope CurrentUser" parameter and is working fine on non-admin session.
Maybe the "-Scope" is not a mandatory parameter.

:)

Never mind!! Only in Windows works OK.

In Ubuntu 18.04, I'm getting the same error too!

maxt@mars:~$ pwsh-preview
PowerShell 6.2.0-preview.2
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS /home/maxt> Update-Help -force
Update-Help : Read-only file system
At line:1 char:1
+ Update-Help -force
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Update-Help], IOException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.IOException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCommand

PS /home/maxt> 

[MaximoTrinidad]

BTW

You can't even use "sudo" to execute "Update-Help".
This is a bug!

:)

[TravisEz13]

Here is the stack trace:

PSMessageDetails      :
Exception             : System.IO.IOException: Read-only file system
                           at Interop.ThrowExceptionForIoErrno(ErrorInfo errorInfo, String path, Boolean isDirectory, Func`2 errorRewriter)
                           at Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles.SafeFileHandle.Open(String path, OpenFlags flags, Int32 mode)
                           at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options)
                           at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share)
                           at System.Management.Automation.Configuration.PowerShellConfig.UpdateValueInFile[T](ConfigScope scope, String key, T value, Boolean addValue)
                           at System.Management.Automation.Configuration.PowerShellConfig.WriteValueToFile[T](ConfigScope scope, String key, T value)
                           at System.Management.Automation.Configuration.PowerShellConfig.SetDisablePromptToUpdateHelp(Boolean prompt)
                           at System.Management.Automation.Help.UpdatableHelpSystem.SetDisablePromptToUpdateHelp()
                           at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCommand.BeginProcessing()
                           at System.Management.Automation.Cmdlet.DoBeginProcessing()
                           at System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessorBase.DoBegin()
TargetObject          :
CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Update-Help], IOException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.IOException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCommand
ErrorDetails          :
InvocationInfo        : System.Management.Automation.InvocationInfo
ScriptStackTrace      : at <ScriptBlock>, <No file>: line 1
PipelineIterationInfo : {}

The problem is SetDisablePromptToUpdateHelp it always writes to the systemwide setting which are read-only in snap.

[TylerLeonhardt]

This might be a good opportunity and excuse to move updatible help and profiles (which have the same problem) outside of pshome

[iSazonov]

Snap allows to write to user home.
Also I guess snap allows to make any directory writable (pshome too).

[SteveL-MSFT]

Please continue discussion in https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/issues/9278

[TravisEz13]

The problem here is different than #9278. This cmdlet is writing the the WRONG scope even when the scope is specified. We need to fix this issue.

[msftbot[bot]]

:tada:This issue was addressed in #10974, which has now been successfully released as v7.0.0-preview.6.:tada:

Handy links:

• Release Notes