insufficient/wrong info in diagnostic

[david braun]

When starting the update-manager manually I get a diagnostic saying

    Failed to download repository information
    Check your internet connection

Two things are wrong with this diagnostic

    1. There isn't enough information for me to discover the cause.
    2. It's a lie.

There is nothing wrong with my internet connection because the update-manager has successfully downloaded information from several repositories by the time this diagnostic occurs. Telling me to check my internet connection is not the right suggestion.

There is enough information for me to figure out what is causing this error. The location of a log ("see xxxx for more information") or the URL that caused the problem would have been more helpful. This happens rarely enough that I don't remember if or where logs for the update-manager exist.

BTW - the man page for update-manager mentions "aptitude" don't you mean "apt"?

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
Release: 18.04
$ apt-cache policy update-manager
update-manager:
  Installed: 1:18.04.11.6
  Candidate: 1:18.04.11.6
  Version table:
 *** 1:18.04.11.6 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:18.04.11 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main i386 Packages

EXPECTED
The manager not to trip over any repositories and suggest updates (if any)

Happened
Useless diagnostic about a bad internet connection.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: update-manager 1:18.04.11.6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-38.41-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-38-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.4
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Fri Nov 9 09:25:01 2018
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GsettingsChanges:
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'show-details' b'true'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'window-height' b'492'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'first-run' b'false'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'window-width' b'1050'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'launch-time' b'int64 1541773302'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-01-30 (282 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: update-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-07-11 (121 days ago)

[david braun (braunster)]

Discovered that the cause was because

    Repository 'http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release' changed its 'Origin' value from 'Google, Inc.' to 'Google LLC'

and apt is asking (on behalf of google) for me to accept this change. Telling me to check my connection is so misleading! Why not tell me that apt returned an error and I should try running apt manually!!!

[david braun (braunster)]

Yep - that was the problem - google caused apt to fail because they wanted explicit acceptance from someone with fingers. Once I did that update-manager worked fine. This needs to be fixed!