Updating grub-pc causes an unnessary request to reboot

[John Winterton]

Description: Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS
Release: 14.04
grub-pc:
  Installed: 2.02~beta2-9ubuntu1.3
  Candidate: 2.02~beta2-9ubuntu1.3
  Version table:
 *** 2.02~beta2-9ubuntu1.3 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.02~beta2-9 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

I've noticed this before but today was the first time I got a handle on it. I received a new kernel and did the appropriate update and reboot. Then I checked using apt-get to see if there were further updates, as there often are. What I got was an advice to run apt-get autoremove to clear off some now obsolete kernel version material.

Later on, the software-updater requested a reboot. What must have happened is the autoremove processing, having rebuilt the grub tables, set a reboot switch which was probably not really needed since there was no new kernel to pick up.

This isn't much of a problem, but it does indicate that some minor thought needs to be given as to whether there actually is a new kernel present and not just a fix-up of grub tables.

While this is a minor nuisance, I hope it is not a symptom of something worse in the future.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: grub-pc 2.02~beta2-9ubuntu1.3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-68.111-generic 3.13.11-ckt27
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-68-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.18
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Nov 10 16:26:21 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-05 (766 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Beta amd64 (20130925.1)
SourcePackage: grub2
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2015-10-28 (13 days ago)