Update Manager Not Reporting New Updates

[MM]

I'm running Maya 13 Cinnamon x86(32bit) and I just noticed today that the Update Manager always shows as a green check mark saying my system is up to date when it's not and there are new updates...

For now I have to open it and let it download then it will show new updates.

Maybe since I've just installed this and I believe it's the first real update I've done, this has been fixed, but for now I'm reporting it...

THANKS

[MM (mmme)]

I opened the Updated Manager today and it downloaded files and showed new updates, so this is still happening, I still have to always open it to get it to update, it will never show them in the taskbar with the icon changing from the green check markk to the blue info icon...

Updates are critical and having to do this is not good, we need a FIX NOW PLEASE!

THANKS

[MM (mmme)]

Was mintupdate_4.4.1_all.deb suppose to be an update fix to this?

This is still not working as of today...

Today I just ran the Update Manger and received updates that it's still not telling me in the taskbar...

THANKS

[r2mps (r2mpskast)]

I have the same problem. Update manager does not notify me about new updates. It always shows green checkmark. To check for updates I have to periodically open the update manager.

[Daniel Zaumsegel (daniel-zaumsegel)]

Same here!
When starting the System, MintUpdate first shows a shield symbol without any marks. A few seconds later, the green Checkmark appears.
When I actively open MintUpdate, I have to supply my sudo password, then all the apt indices get updated an after that, the Task Icon also reports the available updates.

Isn't it supposed to refresh the apt-index automatically and also report updates available, if I don't actively open the program?

[Colin Bartolome (cbartolo)]

Even high-priority security updates, like the upgrade from Firefox 16.0 to 16.0.1, are affected by this issue.

[Daniel Zaumsegel (daniel-zaumsegel)]

Even right clicking on the Icon and selecting "Refresh" does exactly nothing.... the package lists are only refreshed when actively opening the Program.
In my opinion this is a strong security issue since the average user will most likely trust the Icon.
The Mint Handbook says that the Icon will show if updates are available. As long as the green check mark is there, the system is supposedly up to date. So there is no need to open the program.
Therefore information about critical updates might be missed, since the program that is supposed to notify users always tells them, everything is up to date!

[Daniel Zaumsegel (daniel-zaumsegel)]

Several reports about this by now. Methinks, this could be considered as "confirmed"

[Geoffrey Paul (geoffro17)]

I've been looking through Update Manager's logs (under /tmp/mintUpdate) and through the code, and it appears that the auto-started version of Update Manager runs in user mode, not root mode. This means that until you open the program manually, it lacks the permissions to even update the cache, let alone inform the user.

I will continue investigating and will attempt to generate a patch in the next few days. I will post it here when I have something.

[Geoffrey Paul (geoffro17)]

Copy the attached sudoers file to the /etc/sudoers.d directory. Ensure the permissions and ownership are as follows:

 $ ls -l /etc/sudoers.d/
-r--r----- 1 root root 180 Dec 25 12:21 mintupdate

This file will allow the checkAPT.py script to run as root and update the APT cache without requiring a password.

[Geoffrey Paul (geoffro17)]

Apply this patch to /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py. The patch modifies the Update Manager to use 'sudo' when checking for new updates. This should allow the Update Manager to update the APT cache and notify the user even in its initial 'user' running mode.

[Geoffrey Paul (geoffro17)]

Please note that I have tested my patches to ensure nothing is broken, but my system is already up-to-date, so I was unable to test the notifications. I will need to wait until new updates are available.

Also, I am fairly new to sudoer configuration files. If someone more experienced could take a look, I would appreciate any feedback. I certainly want to avoid adding security holes to the update system! :-)

[Geoffrey Paul (geoffro17)]

Some updates were pushed out today, so I was able to further test my changes. I was notified of the required updates running the Update Manager both manually and from the system tray in the background. However, I did find one more problem.

I deleted the apt-cache files under /var/lib/apt/lists, logged out, and logged back in. This forces the Update Manager to regenerate the cache and should simulate receiving new updates for the very first time. I found that when the Update Manager is running in the system tray, it does not report the updates when it first updates the cache, but instead reports them the next time it checks for updates. This could be an issue should the auto-refresh rate be set to some insanely long interval.

I was able to locate the problem code and generate another patch. I have uploaded said patch, which should be applied against the file /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/checkAPT.py. The notifications seem to work properly now, but if anyone else could try my patches and verify, it would be appreciated.

[tibo (tibom)]

An update was available today and Mintupdate indicated me that the system was not up to date. The patch seems to work. Waiting for other updates to confirm.

[Raven (ravenkwill)]

I'm afraid I don't know enough to follow what you've offered. I can open mintupdate.py, but don't know where or how to apply the patch. I'm assuming cut and paste into the code, but not clear where. Similar with the sudoers file.

Sorry, I'm just not this learned in linux guts. Is there any hope of an easier fix for us more average users?

[Geoffrey Paul (geoffro17)]

Hopefully, either this or another similar fix will be merged into the official mintUpdate before too long, so all users would get the benefit of this fix without having to patch the system themselves. Until that time, you should be able to apply the patch with just a few commands. To install the sudoer file, run the following commands:

$ sudo cp mintupdate /etc/sudoers.d/
$ sudo chown root:root /etc/sudoers.d/mintupdate
$ sudo chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/mintupdate

To apply the patches to mintUpdate, run the 'patch' utility with the two patch files I uploaded. The -b will create backups of the original files, just in case.

$ cd /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate
$ sudo patch -b -p5 < mintUpdate.py.patch
$ sudo patch -b -p5 < checkAPT.py.patch

[Clement Lefebvre (clementlefebvre)]

Fixed in mintupdate 4.5.0 (olivia), will be backported to Maya post-RC/stable feedback.