Perhaps this isn't a noob issue after all. I'm noticing that the update-manager's menu item does not include gksu, so if you attempt to perform this action from the UI, it's going to fail. The issue can indeed be solved by executing with sudo from a terminal, which should be marked as a work-around.
** Changed in: update-manager (Ubuntu) Status: Invalid => Confirmed -- [apport] update-manager crashed with ReadError in open() https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/177966 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs