gnome-shell update should not request a reboot if it is not running

[Daniel Tang]

The gnome-shell package requests a reboot even if no GNOME desktop is running.

This reminds me too much of how Microsoft Windows only knows about itself. Windows assumes it is the only OS and overwrites GRUB, and now gnome-shell is assuming it's the only desktop environment (even ignoring the fact that Linux always has TTY too) and requests that everyone reboot even if just its users need to relog. It's also too much like how Windows will tell the user to restart their computer when just a single service needs to be restarted, while gnome-shell is now also telling the user to restart their computer if the just need to relog, possibly with a `killall5`.

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 22.10
Release: 22.10

$ apt-cache policy gnome-shell
gnome-shell:
  Installed: 43.1-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 43.1-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 43.1-0ubuntu1 500 (phased 80%)
        500 https://gpl.savoirfairelinux.net/pub/mirrors/ubuntu kinetic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     43.0-1ubuntu2 500
        500 https://gpl.savoirfairelinux.net/pub/mirrors/ubuntu kinetic/main amd64 Packages

# Expected Behavior

There should not be a reboot notification in my KDE tray after running apt upgrade. No gnome desktop is logged in.

# Actual Behavior

There is a needless reboot notification in my KDE tray. `/var/run/reboot-required` exists.

$ cat /var/run/reboot-required.pkgs
gnome-shell

# Analysis

In gnome-shell_43.1-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb there is control.tar.zst which has postinst. In that script there is not check for whether a gnome-session is running. Perhaps a `if ps -ef | grep -q gnome-shell; then` could be added. Even Firefox only tells you to restart only running instances.
---
ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.23.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: KDE
DisplayManager:

DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.10
Package: gnome-shell 43.1-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
RebootRequiredPkgs: Error: path contained symlinks.
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 43.0-1ubuntu4
ShellJournal: -- No entries --
Tags: third-party-packages kinetic wayland-session
Uname: Linux 6.0.12-surface x86_64
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to kinetic on 2022-09-29 (77 days ago)
UserGroups: dialout docker kvm lpadmin lxd plugdev sudo systemd-journal video wireshark
_MarkForUpload: True

[Daniel Tang (daniel-z-tg)]

apport information

[Daniel Tang (daniel-z-tg)]

apport information

[Daniel Tang (daniel-z-tg)]

apport information

[Daniel Tang (daniel-z-tg)]

apport information

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Logging out and in again should be enough. Although that wouldn't be true where the login screen (also hosted by gnome-shell) was still running during your desktop login but these days the login screen is stopped and restarted on demand. So indeed logging out and in again should be sufficient if you were running GNOME. Or do nothing at all if you're logged into KDE (providing the login screen's gnome-shell instance is not still running).

So you're right, but it can be complicated.