Certbot --version fails with 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x99 in position 0

Help
41

I followed all the steps carefully and still got the same error... I think you have already spent a lot of time helping me and I thank you for that. I don't want to be a jerk. I'm going to uninstall/reinstall everything as I feel like this is a much deeper issue.

2 Likes
42

I don't think you've been a jerk. You've been responsive to requests and polite about it all.

Does it still show Certbot 1.21.0 in the log after a --webroot test?

3 Likes
43

I think I have something a little different...

2023-07-15 15:47:35,533:DEBUG:urllib3.connectionpool:http://localhost:None "GET /v2/connections?snap=certbot&interface=content HTTP/1.1" >
2023-07-15 15:47:35,668:DEBUG:certbot._internal.log:Exiting abnormally:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/snap/certbot/3024/bin/certbot", line 8, in
sys.exit(main())
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot/main.py", line 19, in main
return internal_main.main(cli_args)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot/_internal/main.py", line 1835, in main
plugins = plugins_disco.PluginsRegistry.find_all()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot/_internal/plugins/disco.py", line 192, in find_all
cls._load_entry_point(entry_point, plugins)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot/_internal/plugins/disco.py", line 199, in _load_entry_point
plugin_ep = PluginEntryPoint(entry_point)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot/_internal/plugins/disco.py", line 40, in init
self.plugin_cls: Type[interfaces.Plugin] = entry_point.load()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 2477, in load
return self.resolve()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/init.py", line 2483, in resolve
module = import(self.module_name, fromlist=['name'], level=0)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot_apache/_internal/entrypoint.py", line 69, in
ENTRYPOINT = get_configurator()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot_apache/_internal/entrypoint.py", line 46, in get_configurator
os_name, os_version = util.get_os_info()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot/util.py", line 328, in get_os_info
return get_python_os_info(pretty=False)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/certbot/util.py", line 404, in get_python_os_info
distro_name, distro_version = distro.name() if pretty else distro.id(), distro.version()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/distro/distro.py", line 280, in id
return _distro.id()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/distro/distro.py", line 839, in id
distro_id = self.os_release_attr("id")
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/distro/distro.py", line 1057, in os_release_attr
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/distro/distro.py", line 1057, in os_release_attr
return self._os_release_info.get(attribute, "")
File "/snap/certbot/3024/usr/lib/python3.8/functools.py", line 967, in get
val = self.func(instance)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/distro/distro.py", line 1096, in _os_release_info
return self._parse_os_release_content(release_file)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/lib/python3.8/site-packages/distro/distro.py", line 1117, in _parse_os_release_content
tokens = list(lexer)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/usr/lib/python3.8/shlex.py", line 300, in next
token = self.get_token()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/usr/lib/python3.8/shlex.py", line 109, in get_token
raw = self.read_token()
File "/snap/certbot/3024/usr/lib/python3.8/shlex.py", line 140, in read_token
nextchar = self.instream.read(1)
File "/snap/certbot/3024/bin/../usr/lib/python3.8/codecs.py", line 322, in decode
(result, consumed) = self._buffer_decode(data, self.errors, final)
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x99 in position 0: invalid start byte
2023-07-15 15:47:35,668:ERROR:certbot._internal.log:An unexpected error occurred:
2023-07-15 15:47:35,669:ERROR:certbot._internal.log:UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x99 in position 0: invalid start

44

Yes, the python package is different. Is that the entire log? I'd like to see it from the top.

Also, what does this show

xxd /etc/os-release
3 Likes
45

Yes, that was the entire log^^

root@ubuntu-s-1vcpu-2gb-intel-fra1-01:/var/certbot# xxd /etc/os-release
00000000: 9904 0d04 54bd 2589 0120 00bf d289 7696 ....T.%.. ....v.
00000010: 95aa da5f df4a 488d a995 9ab2 5c4e e958 ....JH.....\N.X
00000020: 0721 3b5d d82e a611 7a3f 0e74 4f2f b473 .!;]....z?.tO/.s
00000030: 19f4 dba5 4873 6662 8569 4aae 25da b911 ....Hsfb.iJ.%...
00000040: deea 0d88 0971 b4c9 b124 89a1 6bdb 89d9 .....q...$..k...
00000050: 75a5 e123 cab5 0587 d875 57ea 30de e78a u..#.....uW.0...
00000060: fb85 49c0 90a6 e03b 583e 0aab 26b4 8d5b ..I....;X>..&..[
00000070: 69cd 45cc 745d dc14 0980 b762 5200 6bcb i.E.t].....bR.k.
00000080: ef55 89e2 601f 0e4e fec1 619b bbc0 a697 .U....N..a..... 00000090: 3ce3 a5c2 5f4a 3109 f807 9484 426f c4ea <..._J1.....Bo.. 000000a0: eefe 5b28 3f23 e823 ab5c 9178 50f8 3382 ..[(?#.#.\.xP.3. 000000b0: d44a e103 8d32 4b6a 525b 3b6c f05b 6c2e .J...2KjR[;l.[l. 000000c0: 2d03 9e69 3ed3 1aa5 5e7f cb43 541c 0f6e -..i>...^..CT..n 000000d0: f576 fbc1 5413 cd8c f9fe f030 87e6 0b31 .v..T......0...1 000000e0: 4dba 97fa 666a 704e 65b8 e80a 8880 8b70 M...fjpNe......p 000000f0: d4fc 471f b043 c622 8df6 2eb9 0cf0 34f7 ..G..C."......4. 00000100: b0aa f6e2 f044 151a 65d5 134f 71b8 0eb9 .....D..e..Oq... 00000110: 3279 c027 a049 ec84 0d4d c6d1 2b2a ebe3 2y.'.I...M..+*.. 00000120: f4e5 cc5c 59d7 fd4b 2a28 1d72 f413 7af8 ...\Y..K*(.r..z. 00000130: 4448 9192 4b31 f186 4666 c3c6 0809 0371 DH..K1..Ff.....q 00000140: 737b 07e4 630d 0f04 ce85 9154 680e 026a s{..c......Th..j 00000150: ce98 3339 0abc 1c15 e88d 2de3 3162 8cbd ..39......-.1b.. 00000160: 1352 c160 10e1 faea 707c f9ec c979 6547 .R.....p|...yeG
00000170: 4916 da40 e532 b02e 432f 0054 e822 203a I..@.2..C/.T." :
00000180: 6b6d 1a32 73d8 2d7a db61 2552 2bfb c748 km.2s.-z.a%R+..H
00000190: d800 ab23 608b c6fb 64f6 2642 7446 b69d ...#...d.&BtF.. 000001a0: f0c9 c31f 3443 6ce9 aa95 a0a7 a92d 7263 ....4Cl......-rc 000001b0: e56d d1b9 d9f6 5c9d 410a abf6 c242 de4f .m....\.A....B.O 000001c0: 1ead 1bf4 74db 6dbe 27ec 21f9 987c 52df ....t.m.'.!..|R. 000001d0: abb2 ef06 556f 4fee 6124 2680 7afb ff0e ....UoO.a$&.z... 000001e0: 9726 1eb8 b161 f34d dc0a 5955 4779 39a5 .&...a.M..YUGy9. 000001f0: 637b 654e de85 8dba 579d dce4 706d 539c c{eN....W...pmS. 00000200: a311 c1d5 7e20 b628 6bde c3eb 485b 12bb ....~ .(k...H[.. 00000210: 232f d302 e3c6 193a 3bfe 8e92 8bbd cfab #/.....:;....... 00000220: 6526 a83d cb2c 0b5a ecad 7186 8550 4f1b e&.=.,.Z..q..PO. 00000230: 7ff5 300c ea54 ce6e 9be0 063e 4b1d 4661 ..0..T.n...>K.Fa 00000240: 5ff1 adf8 4a21 23fe f0a3 556f 6835 21d2 _...J!#...Uoh5!. 00000250: 2056 7496 d836 acf9 01ec 85c6 f335 7c2b Vt..6.......5|+ 00000260: d385 61e5 ed11 d77e 48b2 3a9d 912f a6ec ..a....~H.:../.. 00000270: 1a7a a1df 40de 2338 dc76 1ea7 bc52 c0ca .z..@.#8.v...R.. 00000280: e170 bd10 60ba 2bbd eee8 3efe 5bfb 3c97 .p...+...>.[.<.
00000290: e33a d514 9b3f d5e2 d92f 2c1a 0b45 8e5c .:...?.../,..E.
000002a0: 9e73 c041 03b3 ee24 a86a d529 b1da 3608 .s.A...$.j.)..6.
000002b0: 2af8 9fd6 a07c 2ed5 fbcb c4b0 f538 441a *....|.......8D.
000002c0: a9dc 25f1 cf64 62bd 9881 ab04 0e05 5dd5 ..%..db.......].
000002d0: efbe e964 8666 f970 7263 5b0a 3844 ab6e ...d.f.prc[.8D.n
000002e0: 7739 da62 1767 9a7a 2ee5 ea5b 0f32 8820 w9.b.g.z...[.2.
000002f0: c2eb 0b0a 7d85 880e def3 003d bf40 3bb6 ....}......=.@;.
00000300: 9705 5b1e 979b 6c90 a163 5d1a a8b8 38c2 ..[...l..c]...8.
00000310: e9f4 2a43 9e3a 11f7 fc60 3b48 7e1c 5117 ..*C.:...;H~.Q. 00000320: 269d 4b04 514e 664b a715 0b39 7c65 f824 &.K.QNfK...9|e.$ 00000330: 305f 364f 71db 140a e9db 727c e713 4302 0_6Oq.....r|..C. 00000340: fb1b a3e2 e960 514c 60f1 3ab5 eb64 6963 .....QL.:..dic 00000350: d8da 59fd d8e8 7f88 5413 ef66 e85a 09e6 ..Y.....T..f.Z.. 00000360: 5c0b 6021 e272 e1a3 5bc0 6295 ca01 2dbe \.!.r..[.b...-.
00000370: aafe 74b7 7361 aae1 e1fa baea 9500 acde ..t.sa..........
00000380: 822b ca2f 8289 9235 e722 6a82 74da 4563 .+./...5."j.t.Ec
00000390: 0d39 12cc 291f a84f 1bf9 b2ba 193d 96dd .9..)..O.....=..
000003a0: f599 5f86 85b1 a24c 26ee b20e 6aac 25cd ......L&...j.%.
000003b0: ab86 96d2 c327 422c b5ce 5ba6 a699 3d7d .....'B,..[...=}
000003c0: a232 0623 21ae 8e0d 6735 8a8a af9a c087 .2.#!...g5......
000003d0: bd4c 214e 3b3c d67d dc4f f878 1218 25dd .L!N;<.}.O.x..%.
000003e0: c6c1 0166 7333 f77a f54d aa86 110b c44a ...fs3.z.M.....J
000003f0: 092f ae2d c4a4 a91c 3a0b 348b 6e9e 9ef4 ./.-....:.4.n...
00000400: af0d aefa 65da d6c8 eb5c af00 1101 0001 ....e..........
00000410: b451 5468 6520 4170 6163 6865 2053 6f66 .QThe Apache Sof
00000420: 7477 6172 6520 466f 756e 6461 7469 6f6e tware Foundation
00000430: 2028 5061 636b 6167 6520 7265 706f 7369 (Package reposi
00000440: 746f 7279 2073 6967 6e69 6e67 206b 6579 tory signing key
00000450: 2920 3c72 6f6f 7440 6170 6163 6865 2e6f ) <root@apache.o
00000460: 7267 3e89 0437 0413 010a 0021 0502 54bd rg>..7.....!..T.
00000470: 2589 021b 0305 0b09 0807 0305 150a 0908 %...............
00000480: 0b05 1602 0301 0002 1e01 0217 8000 0a09 ................
00000490: 100e e62f b37a 0025 8de8 ca1f fd1f 1627 .../.z.%.......'
000004a0: e635 ad39 0afd 6219 9f13 91f1 1089 e419 .5.9..b.........
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000004c0: da7f 1e40 dd53 5314 dc79 4448 ddc9 5f4b ...@.SS..yDH..K
000004d0: 7e39 c6ca 1f1f 797a e363 ab5d 9978 e9f8 ~9....yz.c.].x..
000004e0: 89fa 42ce c7b7 7c0a 32fc 609b 7d93 9a73 ..B...|.2..}..s 000004f0: 1861 07d9 f515 b82a 3c01 3e40 0aaf 6994 .a.....*<.>@..i. 00000500: f3e0 dc77 2967 e144 5eb8 582a 9b28 8fc0 ...w)g.D^.X*.(.. 00000510: a012 d6fd 9659 ff95 0224 963a bd39 62c3 .....Y...$.:.9b. 00000520: e12b c07e 0ba8 4c45 a295 0bf5 60e8 2693 .+.~..LE.....&.
00000530: 1bf5 1b50 bf67 beaf 4d11 0229 cbc0 fd59 ...P.g..M..)...Y
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000006c0: e939 b1c9 10be d004 0c4b 115e 5cec 6154 .9.......K.^.aT
000006d0: ac59 5e35 f867 e19d 6d3e ce24 30ee 1cf6 .Y^5.g..m>.$0...
000006e0: 4d3c a3cb 86d9 3d3d 8682 7c16 3f5d 9664 M<....==..|.?].d
000006f0: 92ea e34f 6a11 3b32 6acc b007 354f 288f ...Oj.;2j...5O(.
00000700: dceb f3ca dad0 e1a4 d6fc 64c9 8913 7246 ..........d...rF
00000710: 9c28 7df3 5d13 7133 43ed fdc1 dee0 d01d .(}.].q3C.......
00000720: 69a9 d1b1 b347 c25d be7b b56d 6450 bed0 i....G.].{.mdP..
00000730: d0f7 6df2 9cb1 260a 15cd 30b9 dfca 53f2 ..m...&...0...S.
00000740: d863 4147 6290 5921 1e88 bbf9 5b01 5db8 .cAGb.Y!....[.].
00000750: adc2 7733 7500 d5f7 adff b274 2929 4e73 ..w3u......t))Ns
00000760: 996f 9821 9559 b7d3 e3fb 60c5 a746 f92b .o.!.Y......F.+ 00000770: 3108 14f4 5794 4397 45ac 36ab 9057 5b29 1...W.C.E.6..W[) 00000780: a7b1 0fa6 dbf5 677a a48f 5088 8b84 47b1 ......gz..P...G. 00000790: ae21 7a65 2639 9e11 3105 b2c3 f47a 3525 .!ze&9..1....z5% 000007a0: f5ea eeae 3627 aa67 58fb 7cd4 2a1d fa60 ....6'.gX.|.*..
000007b0: 2456 8555 3c5e 0c54 621d 4738 5945 171a $V.U<^.Tb.G8YE..
000007c0: 8bf9 1572 d991 25eb 10f0 00dd eb95 152b ...r..%........+
000007d0: a1a2 c489 b948 4e54 5f18 2dab 821a 6769 .....HNT.-...gi
000007e0: 0eb0 e12e 8abf a730 8374 6f94 6493 dc24 .......0.to.d..$
000007f0: 59b7 33fc 60c2 ec62 fc61 7b2c 468f 3ad6 Y.3...b.a{,F.:. 00000800: e41d 359b 748c 10bc 8992 e1dc 949f 1448 ..5.t..........H 00000810: 05f2 aae6 d1af db92 5f34 e4e6 95c4 b7c6 ........_4...... 00000820: e70c 1f1e 4c82 9c66 3428 ac3d 1c0f 813d ....L..f4(.=...= 00000830: c4b8 f5ff 1abf 9d50 4f93 b1a1 603d ae1d .......PO...=..
00000840: 5c65 543d be40 fdee 5b9a 1878 bd6c 4156 \eT=.@..[..x.lAV
00000850: 6861 5f7f bcbb a964 a8c9 37ca c49d 8219 ha_....d..7.....
00000860: 4a0f cb8d fb3c 4550 1fc4 d1b3 7f12 20c8 J....<EP...... .
00000870: 3b07 eb1c bef5 6afa 5367 01bf 24ff f947 ;.....j.Sg..$..G
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00000890: 64ce 06c0 c69b 5da3 9587 0a61 3189 021c d.....]....a1...
000008a0: 0410 010a 0006 0502 54bd 2e46 000a 0910 ........T..F....
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00000aa0: bf94 1afb fe12 3098 57dc 040b a298 c648 ......0.W......H
00000ab0: 6bb8 9a7f f64c ddaa 64b3 3de9 k....L..d.=.

1 Like
46

Ding ding ding !!! @_az was right.

So, Certbot isn't parsing your /etc/os-release right because of that non-ascii character. That might be a tm (trademark) symbol. But, your entire os-release looks binary.

My stock Ubuntu 22 looks like

cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="22.04"
VERSION="22.04.1 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)"
VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
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"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy

(See the beginning 5052 is the PR in PRETTY from above)
xxd /etc/os-release
00000000: 5052

I am not sure what to recommend but at least we know why now.

3 Likes
47

You can rest assured, certbot is working fine.
Now I'm the one in the ****
What could have caused this? Should I format the server?

48

Is there any chance that /etc/os-release is a directory, rather than a file?

Can you run file /etc/os-release to see if it can identify what kind of data that file has?

3 Likes
49

I don't think so. But fair point to research it further. The xxd would error if directory

xxd /etc
xxd: Is a directory

Some text visible in their xxd output says Apache Software Foundation - a possible clue

3 Likes
50

is it binary content ?

cat /etc/os-release
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??e??????QThe Apache Software Foundation (Package repository signing key) root@apache.org?7
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51

Yes, mostly. Does the Apache Software Foundation string mean anything to you? I mean, I know who they are but why does it appear here?

What does this show? Might help explain why it's like that

ls -l /etc/os-release
5 Likes
52

root@ubuntu-s-1vcpu-2gb-intel-fra1-01:/var/certbot# ls -l /etc/os-release
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Feb 16 16:02 /etc/os-release -> ../usr/lib/os-release

53

That's just like my ls -l

We cross-posted.

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54

I installed couchdb then uninstalled it since. I need to make an API that uses an SQL database (phpMyAdmin) and also fetches data via couchDB(fauxton). To reduce the difficulty I uninstalled the time to solve the problem. So Apache comes from there.

55

Well, I don't know why a db install would modify os-release

You might try using a different ACME client. I'd suggest trying acme.sh. I don't know why your os-release file looks like it does and I don't know how to make Certbot avoid looking at it. I just looked at the acme.sh script and it does not view os-release

You could wait a bit to see if anyone else has a suggestion but that's all I have.

4 Likes
56

Ok, thanks to your expertise and your passion for what you do; I got an explanation and it's already not bad! it takes away a bit of the frustration of not being able to perform a procedure that normally is simple (and very well documented by the way). Thanks for the suggestion of acme.sh it opens a new track :slight_smile:

1 Like
57

I am tempted by this command to restore the file (corrupt?) but I prefer to wait for your opinion

sudo apt-get install --reinstall base-files

58

Your system is in an odd state for stock Ubuntu. Maybe intentionally. I am not sure what to say. Maybe others will.

4 Likes
59

@MikeMcQ Intentionally I don't think so, because I had problems installing couchdb and I think it may have created some complications. I had to delete it because the apt update && apt upgrade cron was returning errors related to couchdb. I fixed that by uninstalling couchdb. This server does not host anything special, it's just for testing (and making errors) because I wanted to discover the back-end part and it was also an opportunity to host an API that delivers data on human cognitive biases.

60

@MikeMcQ , @_az, @Osiris @rg305
My problem is solved! Congratulations to all, you have been extraordinary; attentive, super competent, I am starting my career and I hope that one day I will be as passionate and competent as you (I'll stop the compliments here, it might make you uncomfortable).
So I ran the command:

udo apt-get install --reinstall base-files

which allowed me to restore the corrupted file:

root@ubuntu-s-1vcpu-2gb-intel-fra1-01:/etc/nginx/sites-available# cat /usr/lib/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="22.04"
VERSION="22.04.2 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)"
VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="Bugs : Ubuntu"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="Data privacy | Ubuntu"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy

And finally I readapted the nginx configuration file a bit to run the command:

sudo certbot --nginx

You're amazing! ! TYVM ! :slight_smile:

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