Proxy settings not applied system-wide, are not used by Software Update or apt

[John]

The Network Proxy settings available under Settings/Network are not applied system wide. Unlike 16.x, there is no "apply system wide" setting. Setting a proxy here:
- does not modify /etc/environment
- does not set root's http_proxy, https_proxy, ftp_proxy environment variables

This means that apt and Software Updates do not receive the proxy settings, and package checks/updates/installs fail.

workaround:

sudo http_proxy='http://[username]:[password]@[webproxy]:[port]' apt update

etc

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1730672/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

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[John (john-e-francis)]

re-direct to gnome-shell.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Thorsten Greeb (thorsten-greeb)]

Importance: Low? Are you sure?

In environments where Internet access is only possible via proxy

- Ubuntu Software: Not working
- Software Updater: Not working
- Automatic install of security updates: Not working
- Install Languages (Language Support): Not working
- ...

I find this quite critical!

[John (john-e-francis)]

Thorsten - you can workaround a few different ways. For me, it's a pain because I move from a proxy-only to a non-proxy environment as I move my workstation around.

Workarounds:
1. set the http_proxy, https_proxy, ftp_proxy environment variables in root's environment, reboot.

2. prefix any apt command with the variables,ie

sudo http_proxy='http://[username]:[password]@[webproxy]:[port]' apt update
sudo http_proxy='http://[username]:[password]@[webproxy]:[port]' apt upgrade
sudo http_proxy='http://[username]:[password]@[webproxy]:[port]' apt install [package]

Hope that helps. Proxy issues have been appearing on and off in Ubuntu for a long time (9.x). They usually get sorted out eventually.

etc

[David Biró (fxdave)]

Same in here, it is an annoying feature. How can I contribute and fix this if no one does?

[Jason Heeris (detly)]

I just upgraded from 17.04, but it's impossible to complete the upgrade because of this.

[Anushka Trivedi (opheliagame)]

I was able to make apt work, by manually editing the /etc/apt/apt.conf file, and removing the proxy information from there. But I am having trouble installing any snaps, and still have to find a way to make that work.

Jason, I upgraded from 17.04 as well but I did not have any trouble interestingly. I think I removed the system wide proxy in 17.04 before upgrading, because that certain university proxy won't let me grab the upgrade, but then while I am using 17.10 the env variables($http_proxy, etc) are set to that proxy, for some reason. I have not used the proxy since upgrading or during the upgrade.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Sanjana Sunil (trial)]

Can the priority level be changed to something higher? This is a pretty important issue.

[amer (aqua2)]

this bug affects my advisor's university desktop ... i updated it to 18.04 , it was working 16.04

[amer (aqua2)]

by the way i used offline ISO for installing a fresh 18.04 .

[daniel (danielturgeon)]

I installed a fresh copy of 18.04 from an iso too and the issue is still persisting, the proxy issue is preventing us to deploy an important machine for our organization will there be a fix for this issue soon?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

@daniel, could you give some specifics on your issue you are having. Can't your organisation manually modif the apt configuration or environement variable? do you rely on the GNOME tool to apply manually the configuration on each machine, or how does it work?

[daniel (danielturgeon)]

@seb128, here are some details. We don't rely on the GNOME tool. We only have one machine and I manually added it to out Windows AD domain. Applying the changes to the apt.conf and environment variable works but it necessitates to insert a username a password, correct me if I'm wrong, which I find a bit counter intuitive security wise. is there a way to modified it so prompts the users for their password.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Using the graphical tool would also prompt you for a password to be able to apply the change to the system so it wouldn't make a difference for you?

[Arthur Picht (picht)]

I can confirm that bug for a fresh installed 18.04 working behind a corporal http/https-proxy that requires authentication.

Although configuring Settings/Network, environment config file, apt and all gsettings under org.gnome.system.proxy including authentication correctly, Ubuntu-Software-GUI displays the following error message when trying to update: “… failed to download https://extensions.gnome.org//static/extensions.json: Proxy Authentication Required” and “… failed to download https://cdn.fwupd.org/downloads/firmware.xml.gz.asc: Proxy Authentication Required”

Yes, I can work around it by using apt on command line.

But: Apparently Ubuntu-Software, the key tool for maintaining system security, does not work behind an authenticated proxy. Should that not be reason enough to value the bug higher than low?

[Dark Knight (trungnth)]

Important: Low? What a joke! My computer connected to the university network via proxy, because of this bug I can not install anything from Software Center. Please fix this bug.

You can manual fix this bug by using this script https://github.com/nityanandagohain/proxy_configuration

[rajiv jain (rajiv13jain)]

On my 18.04 i have copied the content of proxy.conf to apt.conf and it worked

sudo cp /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/proxy.conf /etc/apt/apt.conf