Ubuntu
update-manager package

unhelpful message in upgrading over ssh

Bug #463257 reported by DonQuichote
6
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
update-manager (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned
Ubuntu later

Bug Description

Binary package hint: update-manager

As this is a message bug only, I think it is a waste of everyone's time to append logs. So I did not.

I wanted to upgrade an old laptop with a non-working keyboard to the release candidate of 9.10. It is running 9.04 with LXDE desktop now. It is a "play machine" that I use for testing. Ideal for running a realease candidate. Because of the non-working keyboard, I usually connect through SSH or XDMCP. Both ways work great.

But when I wanted to upgrade the 9.10 RC, it would not.

I typed over an SSH connection:
sudo update-manager -d
This worked, showed the graphical client (I forward X) and gave me the option to install 9.10, warned that it was not stable yet, and I acknowledged. The upgrade started, but immediately stopped with a dialog:

"You are running the upgrade over a remote ssh connection with a frontend that does not support this. The upgrade will abort now. Please try without ssh."

This is extremely unhelpful. "try without ssh" is almost never an option for people who use an SSH connection to upgrade a machine, be it a virtual, a remote server or a server lacking even the hardware to be a full desktop.

What I expect from such messages is not to block the user, but to guide the user. The message suggests that there are frontends that DO support SSH, but it suggests none of them and even does not give any pointer to some documentation that can help.

I tried "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade", "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -t 9.10", "sudo aptitude full-upgrade" and "sudo aptitude full-upgrade -t 9.10" with no success either. These ways just do not recognise that there is a release coming (probably becaused it is not released as stable yet).

I am upgrading the machine now over XDMCP, which works so far. Personally, I think this is a lot trickier than doing it over SSH with X.

But I want to request a more helpful message so the user is guided toward a solution instead of stopped by the problem. Note that I am not filing this bug because I think that "update-manager -d" should support SSH. I cannot jugde that.

Version info ('lsb_release -rd'):
Description: Ubuntu 9.04
Release: 9.04

The version of update-manager is a bit tricky because the upgrade already started. I get the following output:
$ apt-cache policy update-manager
update-manager:
  Installed: 1:0.111.9
  Candidate: 1:0.126.6
  Version table:
     1:0.126.6 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
 *** 1:0.111.9 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

But I started with the stable, (not "proposed") version for 9.10 at 29 october 2009

Tags: message
Revision history for this message
Michael Vogt (mvo) wrote :

Thanks for your bugreport.

Please use "do-release-upgrade" if you upgrade over ssh.

Revision history for this message
Michael Vogt (mvo) wrote :

I will ensure this gets added to the message for lucid (10.04). A upgrade with ssh and X forwarded is very risky, but a ssh text based upgrade should work just fine.

Changed in update-manager (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
importance: Undecided → Medium
milestone: none → later
Revision history for this message
Michael Vogt (mvo) wrote :

I target it for "later" because I can not yet target to 10.04.

Revision history for this message
Michael Vogt (mvo) wrote :

The current text is:

self._view.error(_("Upgrading over remote connection not supported"),
                                 _("You are running the upgrade over a "
                                   "remote ssh connection with a frontend "
                                   "that does "
                                   "not support this. The upgrade will "
                                   "abort now. Please try without ssh.")
                                 )

and it was added because of bug #322482 How about:

self._view.error(_("Upgrading over remote connection with this fro not supported"),
                                 _("You are running the upgrade over a "
                                   "remote ssh connection with a frontend "
                                   "that does "
                                   "not support this. The upgrade will "
                                   "abort now. Please try 'do-release-upgrade' for a text mode upgrade or run without ssh.")
                                 )
?

Revision history for this message
DonQuichote (xubuntu-w-p) wrote :

Thank you for the rapid replies and actions.

I also tried "do-release-upgrade", but it did not detect a development release either. Also, there is no man page for this command and running it without parameters does not show them either. I just looked at the source and will upload a simple manpage for it later (I now see that it supports a "-d" option).

Anyhow, upgrading over XDMCP went perfect.

Richard Seguin (sectech)
Changed in update-manager (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Michael Vogt (mvo) wrote :

@DonQuichote:
I fixed this in bzr now and it will be part of the next upgrade. A man page is very welcome, please either attach it or mail it directly to me :)

Changed in update-manager (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
DonQuichote (xubuntu-w-p) wrote :

As promised: a simple man page. basically the output of do-release-upgrade --help, with an extra remark about when to use it.

Revision history for this message
Michael Vogt (mvo) wrote :

@DonQuichote many thanks for the man page! I merged it into bzr and it will be part of the next upload.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package update-manager - 1:0.131

---------------
update-manager (1:0.131) lucid; urgency=low

  * UpdateManager/UpdateManager.py:
    - do not crash if setlocale() fails (LP: #471378)
  * UpdateManager/Core/DistUpgradeFetcherCore.py:
    - add missing "logging" import (LP: #475941)
  * DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeController.py:
    - better message for upgrades over ssh (LP: #463257)
  * UpdateManager/Core/utils.py:
    - improve proxy check and show error if proxy settings
      look invalid (LP: #472168)
  * AutoUpgradeTester/profile/*/DistUpgrade.cfg:
    - updated to test karimic -> lucid and hardy -> lucid
  * Janitor/plugins/deb_plugin.py:
    - use apt.progress.InstallProgress() to keep the computer-janitor
      UI responsive
  * AutoUpgradeTester/install_blacklist.cfg:
    - add ec2 to the blacklist for the kvm based testing
  * UpdateManager/UpdateManager.py:
    - show selected and download size in two rows (LP: #434062)
  * data/do-release-upgrade.8:
    - man page added, thanks to Willem Bogaerts
  * DistUpgrade/DistUpgrade.cfg:
    - add laptop-mode-tools to the forced obsoletes on upgrade (thanks to
      Steve Langasek)
  * UpdateManager/UpdateManager.py:
    - show restart required dialog in u-m when the upgrade is finished
      with proper parent
  * AutoUpgradeTester/post_upgrade_tests:
    - add python import, xorg and kernel tests
  * UpdateManager/dialog_release_notes.ui:
    - merged lp:~freinhard/update-manager/ui-fix (many thanks)
  * UpdateManager/Core/MetaRelease.py:
    - merge lp:~cristiklein/update-manager/use-xdg (many thanks)
 -- Michael Vogt <email address hidden> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:23:59 +0100

Changed in update-manager (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
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