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Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update?

Linux Kernel, Network, and Services configuration.
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debcub
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Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update?

#1 Post by debcub »

Hi,

yesterday I did the GUI 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' . The answer was "Your system is up-to-date". When I did then

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# apt-get update
# apt-get upgrade
there were more than 100 MB of updates!
How can I set this Settings>Details>Check for Updates' to really show me if there are updates?
Or even better, how can I install a GUI that warns automatically if there are new updates?

Unfortunately, I am not very well versed in Debian, and a lot fo Googleing did not help either.

Can you help me, please?

Thank you,

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot I am using Debian 9 Stretch Stable

debcub

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Thorny
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#2 Post by Thorny »

debcub wrote:...When I did then

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# apt-get update
# apt-get upgrade
Or even better, how can I install a GUI that warns automatically if there are new updates?
Clearly you understand how to use a terminal. I would suggest it is easy to use the modern command

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apt update
as after it updates the database, it checks and informs you if there are packages to upgrade, that's how I do it now.

I imagine there is something called automatic updates or something similar which you can find. Personally, I prefer having control over something like upgrading my systems. So I don't get "surprises".

[edit]: I realise that I did not answer the question you posed but I am not necessarily knowledgeable about GUI solutions, only some, so can't help with that.]

debcub
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#3 Post by debcub »

Thanks, but coming from Ubuntu I would find it convenient if a menu would pop up warning "new updates available". I see that this is impossible with Debian?

By the way, in the GUI "Software & Updates" of my Debian 9, it is checked 'Udates > Download and Update automatically". But no way, nothing gets updated, as seen by

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apt-get updates
see above.

Once I read a comment "never trust the Debian update GUIs". is this still true?

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Thorny
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#4 Post by Thorny »

debcub wrote: Once I read a comment "never trust the Debian update GUIs". is this still true?
I don't know, I'm still running Jessie.
However, see if this has anything you can use.
https://wiki.debian.org/UnattendedUpgrades

[edit] I also found this which works as a cron job.
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/cron-apt
Probably doesn't qualify as the GUI you want though.

Sorry, that's all I have.

Wheelerof4te
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#5 Post by Wheelerof4te »

Debian Stable does not really need any GUI auto-update options, it is very easy to keep Debian system maintained with

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apt update
apt upgrade
provided that repos are setup properly.
I read that Buster will have automatic security updates and notifications by default, so there's that.
EDIT:
https://www.debian.org/security/
In order to receive the latest Debian security advisories, subscribe to the debian-security-announce mailing list.

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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#6 Post by debcub »

Thank you.

Now heretical: why can only root get essential security updates in a multi-user Debian system?

We have a multi-boot and multi-user system. Debian 9 is our main thing; we use Windows 10 only extremely rarely. But Windows has the advantage that every user can get essential security updates without exerting admin rights. Why is this not possible in Debian - or Linux for that matter? What is the point to prevent this?

Bulkley
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#7 Post by Bulkley »

debcub wrote: . . . Windows has the advantage that every user can get essential security updates without exerting admin rights.
That's exactly why Windows has such a notorious security problem. The Unix system of two distinct levels of permissions (which Linux uses) serves to keep unauthorized users out of those areas that could be vulnerable. Learn to love this; it will protect your system if properly preserved.


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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#9 Post by debcub »

What would be wrong if the system could do essential security updates? Without interference from the the user? What would be wrong if my wife could use Debian without waiting for me to come back home and do "# apt upgrade"?

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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#10 Post by bw123 »

debcub wrote:What would be wrong if the system could do essential security updates? Without interference from the the user? What would be wrong if my wife could use Debian without waiting for me to come back home and do "# apt upgrade"?
There's nothing wrong with it if that's what you want, they told you that you can set it up that way. It's called unattended upgrades.

If you don't know how to do something, that doesn't mean it's impossible. After you have read the documentation, then ask questions. There's no point in asking other people to read the wiki page for you and explain it.

..or arrguing about whether it is a good idea or not.

Something to get your mind around, is debian has dozens if not hundreds of setups. It's not like ubuntu. Nobody knows what you installed, because all you said is "debian" and not everyone has a software>menu>gui thing like you describe in your problem. If you get specific and explain what tool you are using on what desktop environment, then you will probably get more specific help.
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debcub
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#11 Post by debcub »

bw123 wrote:Nobody knows what you installed, because all you said is "debian" and not everyone has a software>menu>gui thing like you describe in your problem. If you get specific and explain what tool you are using on what desktop environment, then you will probably get more specific help.
Like I said in my first post "Debian 9 Stretch Stable". I confess I forgot to add "Gnome Classic". I did not know that there are so many different varieties of Stretch, are they? Sorry!

This is the GUI that puzzles me. It says "Download and install automatically", updates that is. But it does not to my experience. I cannot add the screenshot because I get "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached.". But you can find it if you type "update" in the search field of the Activities Overview and select then "Software & Ubdates".

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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#12 Post by bw123 »

It's okay, welcome to the wide-wide-world of debian. I found an older link from 2015 that says it was called GNOME Update Manager. But it looks like it isn't available since wheezy, they probably changed the name.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Autom ... ityUpdates

I did find this https://packages.debian.org/stretch/update-notifier
which led to this https://packages.debian.org/stretch/gnome-packagekit

You could do some searches on it by that name, gnome-packagekit, or check some help if gnome has a help app. Also, searching bug reports is often really helpful.
https://bugs.debian.org/gnome-packagekit

If there are debian-specific changes to the package, they would be described in /usr/share/doc/gnome-packagekit on your system. That folder also may have other information about the package. Also check the unattended-upgrades folder in /usr/share/doc It may be that the feature is disabled by default, I don't know. Some people consider this kind of thing security-related, and debian has been known to disable known security risks by default in packages. I do agree with that, and would not like this enabled by default.

Hang in there, it's all a learning process.
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Thorny
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#13 Post by Thorny »

bw123 wrote:Hang in there, it's all a learning process.
+1
debcub wrote:... I did not know that there are so many different varieties of Stretch, are they?...
Some people use Gnome, long considered the Debian default. Some people use KDE, some use Xfce, some Cinnamon, some Mate and the list goes on and on and sometimes things are done differently in different environments. That's why you need to tell what you are using so that someone with knowledge appropriate for your environment can give you a useful answer, sometimes things work the same across environments but not always.

GNU/Linux is about choice.

debcub
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#14 Post by debcub »

Help: to get my point through I need to attach two small jPG screenshot picture files (33.1 and 38.7 kB). However, since some time I always get "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached." when I try to upload. There were never problems before that.

What could be wrong?

And I am surely not an avid uploader. These cannot be my quota!

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GarryRicketson
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#15 Post by GarryRicketson »

You upload the image to a storage site, and then using the img tags , and the url tags, copy paste a link to the image, in the img tags, preferably a small image or thumbnail , the url tags are the link to the full size image.

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[url=http://storagesite/image/image-name][img]http://storagesite/image/imagename-tmb[/img][/url] 

There are more details here:Attachments, How to post a screen shot and use code boxes
There were never problems before that.
Actually it has been this way for years, all ways,...on this forum, and many others as well. See this, to learn more about BBcode(bulltionboardcode)
==========================
More specific: Showing images in a post

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#16 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

debcub wrote:Like I said in my first post "Debian 9 Stretch Stable". I confess I forgot to add "Gnome Classic".
That is strange because the Debian stretch GNOME desktop has unattended-upgrades installed and enabled OOTB.

Can we please see

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apt-cache policy unattended-upgrades
It should be installed, I think.
deadbang

debcub
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#17 Post by debcub »

Thank you! Here are two screenshots exemplifying why I am puzzled and why a Debian newbie even might be fooled:

*** 1 ***
Image

You get there from Settings > Details. But when I hit the button <Check for updates> I got the answer "System ok, no new updates". However, when I did the "# apt update" thind, there were about 200 MB of updates!

*** 2 ***
Image

You get there from Applications > Activities overview > Update. But despite the clearly vixible settings I get neither notifications nor automatic updates.

Of course I know how to "# apt" etc, but why these buttons if they don't do what they promise? Will I have to wait for Buster as Wheelerof4te said above?

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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#18 Post by debcub »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote: Can we please see

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apt-cache policy unattended-upgrades
It should be installed, I think.

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~$ apt-cache policy unattended-upgrades
unattended-upgrades:
  Installed: 0.93.1+nmu1
  Candidate: 0.93.1+nmu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.93.1+nmu1 500
        500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian stretch/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
~$

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Thorny
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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#19 Post by Thorny »

I'm going to touch on a few things here.
debcub wrote:What would be wrong if my wife could use Debian without waiting for me to come back home and do "# apt upgrade"?
Nothing, if you trust your wife and you are a root user you could give her the ability to run the apt update and apt upgrade commands. You just don't know how to do that. You'd have to learn how to give rights to run those packages in sudoers. But it won't be a GUI that you as root can just click.

I'm still using Jessie so I can't check Stretch for you but I think it likely that the default configuration for unattended upgrades would be just for security upgrades. So when you found 200MB of upgrades available after pressing whatever button you pushed, were any of them security upgrades?

In my second post in this thread I gave you a link to the Debian Wiki.
Have you confirmed that things are configured the way you want them as per the info in there?

Personally, I don't think I would want my system to automagically upgrade, that takes some control away from the system administrator but it could be your choice.
Except perhaps in the case of a server that runs 24/7 and you don't have 24/7 administrators.

The simplest thing would be for you to return to Ubuntu where those things are done for you.
Good luck!

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Re: Why does 'Settings>Details>Check for Updates' not update

#20 Post by debcub »

OK, I understand. These "button things" I described in detail above are a work of progress. They will probably funtion to my liking with the next Debian version.

However, since I get to like Debian more and more, I will keep un-Ubuntuing, enjoy Debian and do "# apt upgradrade" :D

And thanks for your efforts to listen to a Debian greenhorn ;)

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