Says "System is up to date" when package lists not updated

Using Dapper Flight 5.

This is already the case. If you have disabled the automatic checking for updates in the software properties, u-m should show a dialog that informs you of having to reload the channel/package list manually.

Could you please attach your '/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic' file.

Regards,

Sebastian

$ cat /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic
APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "0";
APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "0";

Should I change bug status "Needs Info" to something else when I answer the question?

Your system is configured to check for updates only once a day. That is exactly the behavior that it shows, or?

Perhaps the strings could be clearer. Would showing the date of the last "apt-get update" help you? "Your System is up-to-data as of 15th March 2006".

Sebastian

Update manager should make it clear if the system is up to date or not.

Even though the message proposed above is an improvement, it sends a complex message to the user and does not really tell if we are up to date or not.

The behavior of update manager is currently a problem for computers that are shut down (yes, some people do that). User could have updated a week ago (missing a critical security update this week) and still have update manager saying "System is up to date".

"System is up to date", small "List of updates was reloaded less than 1 day ago and you have installed all updates"
should be shown when system is up to date:
- apt-get update was run less than the set time ago = less than one day by default
and
all those updates are installed (apt-get upgrade)

"Reload list of updates", small: "Press 'Reload' to see new updates published":
- apt-get update has not been run for a while (default 1 day)

there is a cron job that runs "apt-get update". don't you get informed of new updates? this should be a bug.

If there are no updates available, this update list is empty. So I think we don't need to mention that all updates are installed.

Right, a more user friendly string like "one day ago" or "some weeks ago" would be better than a date.

"Your system is up to date as of.." seems very clear to me? Could you explain your view?

Sebastian

I replaced "checking for updates" by "analysing your system" in the progress dialog.

this should help a little bit to avoid confusion.

I guess for dapper+1 we should try to display when apt-get update was run last.

This problably means changing libapt to have a "doUpdate" command and a "APT::Update::Post-Invoke" command. This can then write a stamp file or send a dbus event to tell the applications on the system in a reliable way when the last update was performed. We can then display in the GUI when that happend, something like "Your system checked for update information 12h ago".

What do you think?

Thanks,
 Michael

I think this should be a spec for the france conference :)

Suggestion: When Update manager is started, call "Check for updates". Same as clicking the button.

Now (even in Feisty):

1. Start update manager
2. Update manager says "System is up to date"
3. Click "Check for updates"
3b. Enter root password
4. New package list
5. Plenty of updates (system is not up to date)

Should be:

1. Start update manager
2. Enter root password
3. New package list
4. Plenty of updates (system is not up to date)

I agree very much with the original poster...the default behaviour is quite confusing.

Perhaps Update Manager should print something like "System updates may be available. Click 'Check' to look for new updates."?

"the default behaviour is quite confusing"

I totally agree with you, apecar. See also #163116.

With PackageKit and PolicyKit we could refresh the apt cache if the user is online at startup time.

I agree too. I'm using Intrepid and the system is set by default to check for updates - that's fine. But if I manually start Update Manager, UM starts with a small progress bar in front of it (as if it's doing some kind of check) then the progress bar disappears and the UM window says that the system is up to date and doesn't list any updates.

But, if I then click Check, I'm prompted for my password and UM goes and actually checks for updates.

I'd assumed that UM automatically checks for updates when I start it - that seems like the most obvious behaviour - why would I start UM if I didn't want it to check for updates? It could maybe have a Cancel button on it in case there is a connectivity problem and I realise and want to stop it checking for updates. But, on the whole, an automatic check would be the most useful behaviour.

From Duplicate #352035:

"Open it and it says, EVERY TIME at the top:
"Your system is up to date"
However, if I click "Check" and enter my password, 70% of the time I get some updates.
How about if the default become:
"Your system appears to be up to date, but click the "Check" button to confirm."
I have noticed this since Ubuntu 6-point-whatever, but have never bothered to comment till now"

And I see this one DOES go back to 2006!!!

Starting with 9.04 neither the scheduled check for updates or manually starting Update Manager reloads the repositories before checking for updates. Therefore it's always up todate since the repositories checked haven't been updated since the last update was run. If you click check the repositories are reloaded and new updates are found. Clicking Install then installs them. I don't recall this behavior in previous Ubuntu releases.

Where are we on this? Has this been addressed for "Karmic"?

Same problem on Lucid Lynx

Same on all my friends new coming users in all Ubuntu installations.

Thank you

Running Maverick in a vm. Update manager says:
Your system is up-to-date
The package information was last updated 20 days ago.

This was using version 1:0.141

If the package information is older than a day old, it should only say when the package information was last updated. Not give the user a false sense of security.

I'm nominating this bug for the paper cuts project, as this should be easy to fix and it's negatively affecting everyone.
Hopefully this bug will get some attention this way, it's way too old now.

I suggest to change the wording from "Your system is up to date" to "Your system was up to date when the last check occured."

This is indeed a valid paper cut and I am accepting it as one because it is a small usability issue that affects many users. I suggest a variation on the wording proposed by guntbert.

I'm reopening the Update Manager task, because there should be a task open there as well, even when this is a valid paper cut.

Setting back to Triaged because this issue has been properly triaged and was reported 'upstream'. The importance is Low because this is a usability issue.

guntbert: You shouldn't set it to confirmed unless you are a member of the paper cuts team.

Please do not change the status of bug tasks without a good reason. I set the status of this task as Triaged because I accepted it as a paper cut.

Sense: I merely reverted guntbert's change, not yours. I guess we made a change simultaneously. However I'm glad you accepted it, I was the one adding this bug to the paper cuts project.

Fixed in upstream branch

This bug was fixed in the package update-manager - 1:0.145

---------------
update-manager (1:0.145) natty; urgency=low

  [ Michael Vogt ]
  * DistUpgrade/*:
    - updated for natty
  * tests/test_prerequists.py:
    - fix jaunty test now that this is moved to old-releases.ubuntu.com
  * pre-build.sh:
    - run testsuite on bzr-buildpackage
  * tests/test_dist_upgrade_fetcher_core.py:
    - fix test failures and ensure its python-apt 0.8 clean
  * po/update-manager.pot:
    - updated
  * DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeCache.py:
    - do not crash if no acquire progress is given
  * DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeController.py,
    DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeViewNonInteractive.py,
    UpdateManager/Core/DistUpgradeFetcherCore.py,
    tests/test_update_origin.py,
    tests/test_sources_list.py:
    - fixes in the python-apt 0.8 API
  * tests/*.py:
    - fix natty test failures

  [ Bilal Akhtar ]
  * UpdateManager/UpdateManager.py:
    - add more meaningful text if info is out-of-date (LP: #35009)
 -- Michael Vogt <email address hidden> Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:57:02 +0100