Software Updater unable to cancel Ubuntu Pro upgrade

[c_starchaser]

 Every time I invoke Software Updater I get a list of Ubuntu Pro security updates, and a message at the bottom that for those updates I need to enable Ubuntu Pro, with only one other button to choose, "Remind Me Later". I searched for Ubuntu Pro to find out what it is, and came to the conclusion that I do not want it; but there seems to nowhere be any means to permanently reject its installation. Every time I reboot the computer I get the same files offered again, and the only options again are to enable Pro or be reminded later, neither of which options reflects my will and desire. Is this an option, as it seems to be dressed up to be?, or is it a MANDATORY upgrade? My experience as a user is one of confusion.
  (I can still upgrade my packages through Muon Package Manager, though; but Software Updater appears to have been rendered permanently useless by this persistent nag.)
  Perhaps this is very poor and misguided marketing trick; rather than a software bug.
  What IS a bug, however, is the inability for a user to block a package or upgrade through the Software Updater interface. This permanent nag with Ubuntu Pro points to a deficiency in Software Updater. There ought to be a way to say NO to an upgrade in a way that sticks.

Info:
My computer is an old Lenovo T440 laptop.
~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
Release: 22.04
Codename: jammy
Using Lubuntu desktop.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Adam (f-id)]

This is extremely disappointing and alarming. In my view it is essential that Linux remain free, both in terms of freedom and money. I understand that funding comes from enterprises who require extended support. The system should remain free and secure for everyone else.

This is the latest in a long list of attacks on that freedom in the form of adverts for commercial extended support that are not obvious how to disable. IMHO they have an aura of FUD for the reader that they might not be secure without opting in. It's even "generously" free for individual use, which further increases the ambiguity, because it implies that perhaps individual users do need it after all.

Is Ubuntu secure without paying? If so, then please let's make that clear, and provide an easy way for those who don't need extend support to opt out. If not, then let's find another distro that is.

List of similar instances off the top of my head:
- On login important information about updates is mixed up with ESM advert
- Adverts about ESM in APT.
- Commercial package ubuntu-advantage-tools locked into OS via ubuntu-minimal
- This advert for Ubuntu Pro in software updates, much worse that the others because it requires user interaction.

[V F (trivia21)]

I agree. They way it's handled seems to go against important things I used to like in Linux distros: they don't advertise or spam constantly. Now Ubuntu (re)started to do it, and I can't even disable it. Maybe there would be less rant if we were informed what this thing is and why would anyone need it. Reading through the main page of Ubuntu Pro doesn't answer why I would enable it in Ubuntu 22.04 that has support until 2027 -is my system unsecure without it (as some vague Ubuntu Pro messages try to imply), is there any software update that I might need that doesn't come from the default sources? In what way are the default sources not sufficient?

[Mark Jones (mt3ch)]

As I understand it, The Main and Restricted software repositories are supported by Canonical.

The Universe repository is supported only by the Ubuntu community. You were previously either depending on the community for these or not getting any at all (meaning probably a less secure system).

What Ubuntu Pro enables is security updates for the Universe repository from Canonical.

It is free to enable Ubuntu Pro on up to 5 machines.

I agree that the inability to turn off the notifications about Ubuntu Pro in Software Updater is annoying and not well-thought out but calling it adware, considering that it is free for personal users, seems to me a bit too much. Adware typically means offering 3rd party ads. I would, however, call it a "nag" (which can be annoying).

[Mark Jones (mt3ch)]

I should probably have said only "a slightly less secure system (if that)" because Ubuntu/Linux is itself very secure even with some vulnerable non-system software running on it.

[Jan Claeys (janc)]

This caused some users I support (like my dad) to panic & call me.

When I explained he would have to make an account & subscribe to a service (even for free) he’d really prefer not to do that (too many bad experiences with & stories from other companies forcing people into "free subscriptions", and originally one of the reasons for switching to Ubuntu/linux!).

It’s also not very useful as the only software he uses that is not in ‘main’ is Firefox¹ (anything from ‘universe’ on his laptop was installed by me for my use).

I fear that long-term this is going to turn away more users than gain them…

¹ the fact that I had to remove snapd & install an "unsupported" (but working!) Firefox from the PPA because the "supported" (snapped) Firefox stopped working with the Belgian eID (or other eIDs & smartcards, a bug that after years is *still* not fixed!) also didn’t help to convince my dad he needs Canonical "support"…

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

Pro is a completely free service for personal and small business use, it gives you security fixes for 25000+ additional packages in universe ... to maintain this, the canonical security team had to be extended .
Maintaining an additional 25k packages comes at a cost, what canonical does here is to make enterprises pay for this additional work to be able to then provide it for free to the community...

To make sure such enterprises do not grab it for free there needs to be a control mechanism in place which is why you need to register to get them.

As of hiding info about open security holes on your system, would you prefer to rather not know that your wordpress install from universe is vulnerable in a way a script kiddie can take over your blog site and show porn pics to the world instead of getting the list of available fixes during updates ? While ubuntus base system is indeed very secure, hiding info about open security holes in additional packages and available fixes for these is surely not a good idea.

I'm sure if anyone has a good suggestion how to better solve the above the Pro team would love to hear about them in the thread at:

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-pro-faq/34042

[c_starchaser (danw-danw)]

@Oliver Grawert & Marc Jones: What you guys are describing brings a lot of new information for me to the table. I'm willing to call this a marketing disaster, which is much better than what I thought it was. To avoid marketing disasters in the future, decision makers at Canonical should put themselves in the shoes of a user and try to imagine when we feel like when they give us a choice (to enable Pro), but no serious choice not to. The obvious explanation, from a user's perspective, is that this is a trap; that they want to force me to accept this Pro thing, but yet they don't want to appear as if they are forcing me to accept it, but rather want to make it appear like I am choosing to have it. And as for the reason why they would want that, it is inescapable for one to conclude that they want to make Pro free for now, but then make it non-free later and force me to have to pay. They could have explained to us what you two have just said in your posts, and it would have perhaps gone down a lot easier.

[lotuspsychje (lotuspsychje)]

I strongly agree with Adam #2 JanC #6 and Starchaser #8

I also getting calls from customers that have no idea what's going on to their systems

doing updates and get an update-manager window left behind with greyed out packages

you cant get rid of, unless you enable ubuntu pro wich also regular users dont understand right away.

PLEASE fix this bug by for example warn users 'before' installing packages from Universe

or create a category in software center with Universe so users at least understand

installing packages from there is a risk unless they enable Pro.

At all times, leave the users the choice, and not forcing to Pro, thanks!

[Alkis Georgopoulos (alkisg)]

The updates mechanism has become a mess in Ubuntu. It should be like this:

- When shutting down or rebooting the PC, THEN the updates should get downloaded and applied. Not while users are using it.
- A Plymouth screen should display the progress, and allow to cancel it while apt is still in the "downloading" phase.
- While for systems with great uptime periods, apt-daily could trigger an icon in the notification area, not the updates dialog.

The updates dialog UI, the pro advertisements and the unattended-upgrades service would be much less important then, at least for the desktops. In most cases where users reboot their PCs daily, they wouldn't ever see them.

[Michel-Ekimia (michel.ekimia)]

Same here , We have Hundreds of clients calling asking why they now need to pay for Linux update.

Biggest fail in term of user confidence since 2004

[Andrei Ionel (thetechdog)]

Ubuntu Pro is a great service and it's nice that you can get it for free for 5 machines, but not everyone needs it even if you can get it for free. The problem with this is that less tech savy users are going to be pretty confused about this. Think about this, Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distros used by newbies and pros alike. When a person not well versed into the technicalities of it all is going to see that, they'll think they're actually getting features locked behind a paywall and a lesser experience unless they pay money, which isn't the case at all. But it doesn't matter, because that's the impression it's going to give. And even if you aren't a newbie, perhaps you just don't want Ubuntu Pro because you do not need it. Either way, I think the terminal announcement is fine, that's where tech savy users look either way, but the update manager advertisement (or notification, however you would call it) isn't a good look. I don't think it's ill intent, after all Ubuntu Pro can be used for free up to 5 machines, but that comes off the wrong way to most people. Most people don't want to be reminded that they're supposedly missing out on something.
Perhaps just a slide in the welcome tour that briefly explains Ubuntu Pro would be enough to inform users of its existance and also let them opt in if they wish to do so. But the current methods of advertising it may come off as hostile.

[Christian (kurisu666)]

Ubuntu Pro in itself is not the issue here, but the approach.

It seems like i am not the only one, who has to reply to tons of customers and calm them down, that it does NOT cost them money.

Ubuntu is still also a distribution for John Doe, many users do care about security updates, but have no big idea, how the ecosystem works.
Even "worse", people who use Ubuntu and switched from Windows or MacOS are often more concerned about their privacy and don't want to hand over their email adress to an entity they don't really fully understand.

Maybe it can be redesigned to be just a hint in the main frame, saying "Learn more about Ubuntu Pro" with a link to the dedicated page.updates

When setting up Ubuntu for the first time, one already gets asked about it. At that point, many people just want to rush through the installation to get their favourite programs installed first. And why subscribe to something, one does not yet need? 22.04 still receives security updates for a few years, why should I, as a John Doe user, subscribe NOW?

There must be another way to get the message through to the average user without DISTURBING the overall usability. Like Andrei suggests, it creates kind of a FOMO effect and the lack of appropiate exit buttons does not help, either; Suddenly, John Doe feels trapped and calls his support team. That is me - me is or are tons of Ubuntu admins across the world.

[Qwerty Chouskie (asdfghrbljzmkd)]

It is clear for the responses here that this feature problematic for the exact same reason that Gnome's Device Security panel in Settings is problematic. Given that Ubuntu disabled the latter (https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/08/ubuntu-22-10-device-security-panel-disabled), Ubuntu should undo the former as well.

[Valentas (vk-registrator)]

I got this Ubuntu Pro message for the first time today. I agree with c_starchaser (danw-danw) and other users. I have no detail understanding of anything in this story. I have been Ubutu-only user for maybe 15 years. My feeling, which is perhaps simplistic, is that worldwide Ubuntu desktop users are being robbed of the free, legal and reliable OS that they had for years, up till now the only of very few such options. There is no non-zero subscription fee that anyone in this unequal world will be able to afford.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

@Valentas

> Ubuntu desktop users are being robbed of the free, legal and reliable OS that they had for years

Nothing is being removed. Canonical/Ubuntu never committed to provide security updates for universe packages (which is why the split between main and universe exists in the first place), it has always been done as a best efforts thing.

Ubuntu Pro in fact provides you the option to subscribe to a service from Canonical which will provide extra security updates for universe. That extra support being provided for free for any personal use

[Leonardo Pinochi (mirvin-ace)]

Hi, i am recently facing this issue with the "suggested" ubuntu pro security updates. I have Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
In my opinion, it is a serious issue, because basically Ubuntu is telling users that you need to have Ubuntu Pro in order to have a properly secured system, otherwise Ubuntu leaves you with vulnerabilities.
I know it is free to do it, but the message left to users is really bad.
Ubuntu Pro could have new features, apps, etc, but security updates cannot be determined by level of subscription.
By the way, i still couldn't manage to hide the ubuntu pro security updates from the software updater, if anyone has a suggestion, please let me know.
Regards.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

> it is a serious issue, because basically Ubuntu is telling users that you need to have Ubuntu Pro in order to have a properly secured system, otherwise Ubuntu leaves you with vulnerabilities.

Let me rephrase, you think it's a serious issue to tell users that they are using software with security vulnerability and to propose them a free service to get fixes for those issues and you would prefer the system to be quiet and let them use keep using unpatched software instead?

To be clear Ubuntu doesn't leave you with vulnerabilities more today that it has for last twenty years, there is just a new program available today which give you access to more fixes than existed before (and it is for free for personal use) and the UI is there to help users to discover it and allow those who want to opt in for more security fixes.

If your point is that Canonical/Ubuntu should now support the LTS versions for 10 years instead of 5 and include universe and that for free, sure it would be nice right but that extra support has a cost and those extra security engineers don't work for free either...

[Leonardo Pinochi (mirvin-ace)]

Don't get me worng, i understand what you are saying, and i am sure there might more to this than that, but what i am saying is what the regular user may feel (and what i felt too) the first time they saw those updates.
Then again, it is strange for those fixes to appear in the software updater, maybe Ubuntu should suggest the PRO features in some other way. Just saying.

[c_starchaser (danw-danw)]

"and the UI is there to help users to discover it and allow those who want to opt in for more security fixes" ... and to nag to death those who, like me, don't opt in ...
I remind you of the only two buttons: [Enable Ubuntu Pro] [Remind Me Later] ... Thats it!
That is NOT what an OPTION looks like to me.

I have an issue, in general, with using "security" as wholesale justification for anything the powers that be want to impose. It took me months, for example, to get my change of address submitted to government agencies here in Canada, because their security questions were so difficult I could never get through. For another example, I called my credit card for a minor issue and after several questions requiring literally photographic memory from me, they told me I did not pass the security requirements and they terminated the communication. I'm personally FED UP with security. I prefer INsecurity to the life of complications that security measures are imposing on me. Furthermore, most of these security measures are there NOT to increase security but to just PRETEND TO. Because it's not like some hacker is going to call my credit card company pretending to be me; what a hacker does is hack the credit card company's own computers and they steal tens of millions of accounts at once. And with credit cards it is even easier, as all they need is the numbers and can charge anything they want. Just saying that, in general, ANYTHING being pushed down my throat or up my nose in the name of security is highly suspect.

And here it is no different, from my perspective. What is all this business about packages in "universe" not having security updates, but then Canonical coming up with those security updates which they were not responsible for but did it anyways, and incurred expenses paying software engineers' salaries ... right in the midst of FOSS country ... "Oh, but for You it's Free!!!" BS. Well, I don't really want to read three books and a million articles to try an understand this whole complicate debacle; just let me have the IN-security that I'm used to and love; thank you very much.

[c_starchaser (danw-danw)]

By the way, are you guys (at Canonical) watching the numbers? Because I'm sure the number of Ubuntu users is coming down as fast as the federal debt is going up, even as we speak. I'm a very rare guy, I've been told, in that I verbalize my cows; I don't just quit without a fight. Most people, when confronted with corporaty bullying, either give up and accept whatever you are pushing on them, or they walk away without saying a word, taking the business with them. VERY few say, "let me DO something about this".

What I would say to Canonical is, if you got cold feet and no longer want the "burden" of Ubuntu, then maybe give it back to the community; release it back into the wild, where it lived before you took it over. But stop trying to commercialize it.

[c_starchaser (danw-danw)]

In other words, this persistent propaganda point, namely that "It is FREE for you!", is just propaganda. It speaks through both sides of the mouth: It is a commercial option at 100% discount to me. But that's not what I understand as "free". That means that it is free as in "free beer", but it is NOT free as in Free and Open Source. They want me to feel like I'm abusing of their boundless generosity by accepting it; while ironically NOT giving me an option to NOT accept it. All I can opt for is to enable Pro, or to be reminded of it perpetually.

[Mark Jones (mt3ch)]

@c_starchaser, you are misinterpreting the nature of FOSS. The concept of selling free open source software has been a part of the movement since the start. What you cannot do in FOSS is prevent a person from modifying that software or sharing it with others. It is the software that is free, not the labour of developers and technicians and they are entirely within their rights to charge for their labour. If they give their labour for free, that is their prerogative and their generosity. We are free to fix the bugs/vulnerabilities in Universe packages ourselves. We are free to get fixed versions of the software from somewhere else. We are free to share the fixed packages provided by Canonical via Ubuntu Pro with anyone we please (we could even sell it). What we aren't free to do, in the concept of FOSS, is demand that Canonical supply us the software - free or at cost. I'm not suggesting you are demanding that, I'm just stating that what Canonical is doing is entirely within the concept and philosophy of FOSS.

We can, of course, criticize the features and behaviour of the software and propose ways to improve it - the latter of which is what the Launchpad bugs platform is for.

At the moment, it seems to me that this discussion is becoming more about airing complaints and frustrations (albethey legitimate) rather than solving the problem.

[c_starchaser (danw-danw)]

I wasn't consciously trying to redefine "free" in FOSS to exclude selling; I was merely verbalizing my disgust with the manipulative marketing, like trying to make me feel I'm getting commercial software for free, and telling me to feel fortunate today, because it might become less than free tomorrow; and I was demanding Freedom Of Choice, in whether to accept a package or not. But in truth, I do have the choice to stay with Ubuntu or to move to a different platform, which I was really not hoping to have to exercise; but it looks more and more inescapable by the day.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

I'm going to ignore the ranting about the world part and try to focus on what we could change/improve there

> Then again, it is strange for those fixes to appear in the software updater, maybe Ubuntu should suggest the PRO features in some other way. Just saying.

That's a valid comment. The current UI is what the Ubuntu team managed to come with when trying to convey the messages that the system has some packages installed which have known vulnerability issues and that there is an option that exist that would allow to get extra fixes for those. The choice of software-updater came from the logic of 'that's the place where available package updates are listed' which is what those entries are.

If anyone has suggestions of a better interface or design proposal to share please do.

I'm not saying that software-updater is the best place and it is clear that the change does confuse some people. I do think that part of the confusion and frustration though comes from users who didn't realize until now that they are using software from universe which aren't getting the same level of support than the packages in main and need to process what it means.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Oh and about the 'nagging' part, the software-updater UI should automatically launch only if there a installable updates available (it doesn't count the ones that would be if pro was activated). If that's not working as expected please describe the situation in which you see an incorrect behavior.

[Mark Jones (mt3ch)]

c_starchaser, Fair point!

Sebastien Bacher, it's a very light nag, if that. Personally, I only saw it as a reminder and, while the first couple of times I did find it a little irritating, I did ultimately opt in to Pro (and was glad I did and could do so for free).

The difference between a light nag and a helpful recommendation, it seems reading into the comments, is the ability to decline the nag/recommendation. If there was a way to refuse further reminders rather than being given the option to only "Remind me later" that might make the bulk of complaints go away.

I would not mind it personally if turning the reminders off required a hoop or two to jump through and a strongly worded explanation as to why not subscribing, and why turning off reminders, is not a good idea if it means people can do so knowing what they are doing and why.

I expect some people might want an easier way to turn the reminders off, say, with just a click of a button. I think that might be too easy to overlook what is being offered and why. So perhaps the ideal solution is somewhere between allowing it to be turned off with the risk of people not understanding what they will be risking and missing out on, and not allowing it to ever be turned off at all?

My suggestion for this is some smallish text above the buttons saying "To turn off Ubuntu Pro reminders click here". The hyperlinked text should open Ubuntu settings where a checkbox can turn reminders on or off. Above this should be the aforementioned explanation as to why Ubuntu Pro is a good thing and what not subscribing might entail. Perhaps the checkbox should be labelled with "I have read the above explanation and agree to not receiving further reminders about Ubuntu Pro".

After the reminders are turned off, the text on the Software Updater that previously mentioned turning off reminders about Ubuntu Pro could be changed to say something like "To learn about the additional security that can be obtained by subscribing to Ubuntu Pro, click here". The hyperlink would open the same Ubuntu settings dialog. I think that would be unobtrusive enough but stops it from being completely out of the user's eyesight since they may at some point in the future be in a place where they do actually want it but may have forgotten it exists.

[Simon Reed (xubuntu-o)]

I have applied a number of updates today and the Software Updater is showing the Ubuntu Pro updates. However, it is also showing a number of other updates above the Ubuntu Pro ones and saying "You need to enable Ubuntu Pro to install these updates".

It is confusing to see updates outside the Ubuntu Pro area saying they need Ubuntu Pro.

(And I also want a way to switch off these disconcerting Ubuntu Pro warnings that suggest (a) I have an insecure system unless I pay more and (b) Ubuntu won't be free for much longer.)

[Andrei Ionel (thetechdog)]

Another suggestion might be to maybe relocate the Ubuntu Pro promotion to the Ubuntu Software Store. That way it could even show up in the featured section of the store, or perhaps it could have its own submenu, and out of curiosity people will click on it and find out what it's all about. Ideally the store would support logging in with or creating an Ubuntu account, and then you could activate Ubuntu Pro straight from it, with the option to use the free plan or upgrade if you need a different plan. Perhaps that could help pave the way to paid programs/apps in the store in the future, tied to an Ubuntu account (while the free ones wouldn't require logging in). I'm getting sidetracked, but I think that would be a much more elegant and user friendly way of handling this than the current update manager implementation.

[Sister (sister-shaft)]

I have been putting this off, mainly because I have more important things to do than spend hours on my laptop.

Having spent the morning going round in circles, trying to add a device, getting a key that doesn't work, authorising the same device three times in Ubuntu one with three different keys and still not being able to update my OS, I was about to throw the machine out of the window.

I whole-heartedly agree with the sentiments of c_starchaser and others here who feel disappointed with the agressive and perverse marketing of Pro. What's worse, instead of working this morning, as I ought to be doing, I am spending hours trying to work out which security key goes where and what email I am going to give out in the name of 'security'.

After over twenty years of ubuntu on linux, this is just too much.
1. I know I don't have to pay
2. I know ubuntu pro _thinks_ they are giving me a choice
3. I realise that developers need to earn a crust
4. I am not an IT expert, I have a different profession which requires a different set of skills.

But preventing me from accessing updates on a system I have been using for decades is poor management, and shows little regard for the end users.

Best slimmed down debian os, anyone?

[Frank H (fhireman)]

Just wanted to pile on and say that a "never show this message again" checkbox in the updater window would already be enough of a fix for me. It's rather annoying seeing the list of packages that Ubuntu Pro could install for me but I don't want to.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

> But preventing me from accessing updates on a system I have been using for decades is poor management, and shows little regard for the end users.

Sorry for the inconvenience, what you describe there is not a feature but a bug. It is tracked in bug #2051115 and a new round of SRU to fix it has been uploaded to the review queue for the different series on Friday

[Michel-Ekimia (michel.ekimia)]

Small offtopic remark : the "ubuntu pro" strings never appear translated here in the update-manager

Known problem ? or specific issue here ?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

@Michel, that's because the french translators didn't work on it yet

https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/noble/+source/update-manager/+pots/update-manager/fr/+translate?show=untranslated

the string at the bottom of the screen for example is
https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/noble/+source/update-manager/+pots/update-manager/fr/59/+translate

[Legion Prime (legionprime)]

It's been doing it a while here now as well. I didn't mind it so much as it mainly just changed the dialogue after installing your updates. Now however it's popping up multiple times a day when there AREN'T any updates to be installed. The last thing I want to be badgered about are updates the update manager ISN'T installing. How much longer until we are forced to watch ads before being allowed to install updates?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

As stated before, it should not be 'popping', could you report a new bug about it providing details about the Ubuntu serie/desktop environment/update-manager version you are using so we can investigate why it's doing it when it's not supposed to?

[Simon Reed (xubuntu-o)]

I have already identified there is a bug in this in that it can say "You need to enable Ubuntu Pro to install these updates" for updates that do not come under the Ubuntu Pro area.

Here is another. A bunch of updates that are not related to Ubuntu Pro, but there is no "Install Now" button and no "Install Ubuntu pro" button either.

To be blunt, this really is a dog's breakfast of an idea, and implemented accordingly. Can we just go back to how it was, while the discussion on how it should be done is conducted?

[Michel-Ekimia (michel.ekimia)]

@canonical : Could you tell if the current "enable ubuntu pro" button in update-manager may change or not ?

I have dozens of clients tickets opened on this subject and would like to either :

- close them if the GUI will stay like that
OR
- make them wait if that can evolve .

Thanks

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

@Simon

> I have already identified there is a bug in this in that it can say "You need to enable Ubuntu Pro to install these updates" for updates that do not come under the Ubuntu Pro area.

I don't really understand that part. Is that a reference to the screenshot on comment #38? That doesn't state 'to install these updates' and you have no selected any update to install.

> Here is another. A bunch of updates that are not related to Ubuntu Pro, but there is no "Install Now" button and no "Install Ubuntu pro" button either.

That's interesting and a bug but it's not part of the Pro changes (could be a bug in one of the updates that include the pro integration though), could you open a new report and include the cmdline output of update-manager when you get the issue?

@Michel

Unsure if it will change but we are currently busy working on the LTS (feature freeze is this month) so I we do extra tweaks it will probably take a while. I guess you can probably close those tickets for now and explain to those users what Pro is. It is annoying to have to get the message across but the end result for those users would probably be an improvement (it is frustrating to understand that you are not getting the level of free security fixes you though you were getting but still better than not being aware that you have security issues unpatched and wake up one day with a compromised machine)

[David Zych (dmrzzz)]

@Sebastien

> I'm going to ignore the ranting about the world part and try to focus on what we could change/improve

I think this is already covered by the OP: There ought to be a way to say NO to an upgrade in a way that sticks.

Clearly reasonable people can disagree on the overall merits of offering Ubuntu Pro updates in this context, but as long as the feature exists, providing a manual off switch for it shouldn't be difficult or controversial.

[Simon Reed (xubuntu-o)]

Here's another problem with this ill-thought-out marketing ploy. When there are only Ubuntu Pro updates to apply, you still get pestered with the Software Updater.

We used to call this sort of thing 'nagware'. Meaning 'were going to keep annoying you until you pay for this'.

There needs to be a way to make this go away, other than paying for it to go away.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

@Simon, you shouldn't get the software-updater opening when there are only pro updates, that's a bug. Could you make a new report so we can figure out and fix that problem?

[Michel-Ekimia (michel.ekimia)]

@Sebastien : Thanks , more tickets created about this on our support tracker today , If the Ubuntu desktop team think it will stay like that forever we have to act.

I think deploying a fake ubuntu advantage package like this could be a good solution https://github.com/Skyedra/UnspamifyUbuntu

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

@Michel, I do plan to bring the topic for discussion at Canonical see what adjustment we can do but it's not going to happen overnight, especially that it's holidays period for some people atm.

You are free to install unspamifyubuntu for your clients if you think it's the right solution but removing ubuntu-advantage-tools would basically prevent those who want it to enable the service and force them to have to use less secure systems which might also upset some users who do see benefits in the service

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

I noticed the work on bug #2015420 to allow disabling the motd messaging, I'm going to try to see if adding a similar option here for update-manager would be in line with those changes

[C. Jeffery Small (loyhz2ay-jeff-h670zbts)]

Another frustrated voice supporting the complete hiding of Ubuntu Pro packages from all places unless the user subscribes.

[theofficialgman (theofficialgman)]

Hi there needs to be a way to disable this by default out of the box.
enabling ESM has the tendency to break systems that use multiarch where one architecture is not supported via ESM (eg: ARM64 with ARMhf multiarch where ESM only supports ARM64)

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

@theofficialgman, the issue you describe seems a bug in ubuntu pro that should be resolved and is orthogonal to the UI issue described on the current ticket

[Conor O'Neill (conor-p)]

Thank you, yes, I now have a modified dialog which does not misleadingly nag me about the Oro updates.
Seems to be a good solution to me.

[c_starchaser (danw-danw)]

I wanted to see the new dialog, but the screenshot link is broken. A while back I followed the fake ubuntu advantage suggestion, and/or the unspamifyubuntu solution, or both; I can't remember anymore, and whatever it was worked for me. On the other hand, probably for the same reason, I don't see the new solution. I was just thinking, if it's not too late, and if there's any merit to it, in Muon one can mark a package for installation, or mark a package for re-installation, or for removal. Perhaps there could be another choice, namely a never-install mark, which prevents any packages or upgrades that depend on that package from being offered. Then the question would be how to translate that to the narrower scope of Software Updater. By the way, logging in now has a nasty thing about something called Ubuntu One... Another nag? Question is do you have One or not? If you say you don't, it FORCES you to sign up for it. If you say yes, it lets you pass even if you don't have it and were just lying. Well, at least I THINK I lied, as I don't remember ever signing up for One.

[Michel-Ekimia (michel.ekimia)]

Reupload of the new Updater GUI without Pro nag

[Nathan Teodosio (nteodosio)]

--> c_starchaser

> By the way, logging in now has a nasty thing about something called Ubuntu One... Another nag? Question is do you have One or not?

Can you please be more specific? Logging in where, in Ubuntu, in a Ubuntu web-site, ...? If that is not update-manager, please open a bug for the corresponding software.

Also, the originally described issue, namely of the program offering exclusively Ubuntu Pro updates when the machine was not registered to Ubuntu Pro, has been fixed, so I'm marking the bug task as "fix released". If you still observe the unintended behavior despite having an up to date update-manager, please revert it back to "confirmed".

--> michel.ekimia

Thanks for the screen shot, for future ones you can always prefix 'LANG=' (here 'LANG= update-manager') to the command so that it uses the default locale, that will help people to understand it more easily.

[c_starchaser (danw-danw)]

Okay, I'm not sure I understand this interface. Right now, I came here (bugs.launchpad.net) directly from a link in the email notificaiton, and I was already logged in. Yesterday, however, I arrived here through a link in an email, but I was not automatically logged in, for some reason; it told me that in order to post I had to log-in first. When I tried, I was in a page with a single question: Do you have Ubuntu One; which is a great question; I have/had no idea. But "I don't know" was not one of the choices. Only choices were yes and no. I said No, and it took me to a form to fill out in order to register for it, without even explaining to me in plain English what the hell Ubuntu One is. So, I hit the back button a couple of times and tried to log-in again. It hit me again with the hateful yes or no question, so this time I said Yes, and it took me straight back here where I wanted to be in the first place. All the while I have no idea whether I have an Ubuntu One registration, or not, or what it is. And I don't feel I know enough about it to report a "bug", though I would argue that making assumptions about the user's knowledge is a philosophical bug of the first order.

As for the rest, I will have to trust you, as some hack I installed a while back has already removed Pro nags from my eyes, so I can't verify the fix. Thanks!

[Nathan Teodosio (nteodosio)]

>-- This is an off-topic comment --<

Normally at the bottom of Canonical managed web-pages you find a "support" or "report a bug with this site" button.

It is admittedly ironic that you will need an account in Ubuntu One to report a bug with it, but well, you do already have one so your concerns are welcome there[1]. Please note that ideally in this bug task this discussion would not exist. (:

[1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/canonical-identity-provider/+filebug