When a release reaches End-of-Life, update manager should show EoL status and provide a link with working procedures and more information.

[Savvas Radevic]

Binary package hint: update-manager

Severity: wishlist
Related to: Bug #1, update-manager, ubuntu documentation

Description:
Supposedly a release reaches its End-of-Life (EoL). In that case repositories simply disappear, just as they have with 7.04 Feisty, see: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/feisty/
The old releases archives and installation files are transferred to http://old-releases.ubuntu.com
Imagine being a simple user, that has just entered the world of Internet. They had installed an Ubuntu release before and were using it offline, and the release is not supported anymore.
With the Internet connection present, the update-manager prompts the user with the choice to upgrade to a newer release and, due to these changes, they can't.

Scenario:
- A granny has been using a computer with Ubuntu installed.
- The same granny recently decided to get connected to the internet, but she was using an Ubuntu distribution that has reached its EoL.
- She connects to the internet, says "OK, let's see some Internet-related applications".
- She discovers System > Administration > Update Manager. "Oh let's try it and see if there's anything new of games for my grandchildren"
- She checks for updates and notices the new release upgrade. "A new version of Ubuntu, how nice, let's download it then!"
- She can't upgrade because the repository or repositories are missing and cannot be found. The notification for new release upgrade is still available though. "Oh great, now what do I do?"

Problem:
This gives out a broken upgrade plan to the user who gets confused.
A normal desktop user does not read mailing lists or could be completely tech-agnostic, a person that doesn't know how to connect to the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and find a solution to their problems. I realise that these releases are unsupported and "are supposed to be broken" as many of you think - I'm *not* asking to support with security updates nor to provide new packages for old releases.

Tested and reproduced on:
Ubuntu 6.10 edgy (upgrade to 7.10 through update-manager)
Ubuntu 7.04 feisty (upgrade to 7.10 through update-manager)
Ubuntu 7.04 feisty (upgrade to 7.10 with alternate CD)

Note:
Upgrades with alternate CD *work* if you choose "No" to the question "Include latest updates from the Internet".
This step could be included in the documentation.

Expectations:
I simply wish that the users, who eventually end up using the internet on an old unsupported release, get notified about that. They should be given *at least* a link which they could simply click to find out more information.

Solution steps:
1) There should be a way to check for the End-of-Life status from within the repository http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
The same way it gets the "Release" file, there should be a file that states that this current distribution is not supported and not available anymore.
There should also be a link explaining more information about it, for example for upgrades from unsupported 7.04 Feisty Fawn to the next supported release, 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GutsyUpgrades

This file for End-of-Life could be let's say an RSS feed, showing the supported releases a person could attempt to upgrade to, and the date when is their (of the supported releases) End-of-Life. An RSS Parser with update-manager would do the trick for the client application.

2) As it is now, the update manager shows "Your system is up-to-date". Once update-manager realises that the release it's being run on has a specific EoL tag or file in the archive mirrors, it should state that "Your system is outdated and not supported anymore" (with letters that can be easily noticed, e.g. red colour), along with the link in the help documentation about upgrading to the new release.

3) If the upgrade process involves changing a file's contents, such as the deb source repos in /etc/apt/sources.lists, then the update manager should attempt to do that on its own (with a Yes/No confirmation by the user). This step is a bit far-fetched, but (1) and (2) are of utmost importance.

4) There should be a link to the help documentation about the new release and how to upgrade, I mean it should refer to the latest supported or LTS release, for example: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardyUpgrades
In that link, there should be a section for end-of-life upgrades (as I mentioned in a note above), with enough information to at least attempt an upgrade, even on an unsupported release.

Attached are some screenshots I've taken during the upgrade procedures.

[David Stansby (dstansby-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you for taking the time to make Ubuntu better. Since what you submitted is not really a bug, or a problem, but rather an idea to improve Ubuntu, you are best off posting your idea in Ubuntu Brainstorm at https://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/ where it can be discussed, voted by the community and reviewed by developers. Thanks for taking the time to share your opinion!

[Savvas Radevic (medigeek)]

 By saying to the user "Hey, you're up-to-date" (see screenshots),
while the release is not supported and clearly reached its
end-of-life, is really confusing. I consider this a bug. I wouldn't
mark it as an idea, since it involves fixing the "Your system is
up-to-date" in an end-of-life status.
 I still believe it should be categorised as "Wishlist". Maybe someone
can provide a patch if there's a bug open for it.
 I provided solutions along the way that would benefit both Ubuntu and
its users. The brainstorm idea is here:
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/17489 - However, I doubt the
developers will have the time to browse through 13 thousand ideas to
reach mine.

[Michele Mangili (mangilimic)]

Hello!

I've seen bug #191004 . It seems that other users are trying to upgrade from feisty to a more recent version of Ubuntu, and they are facing the problem pointed out by Savvas Radevic. For this reason I'd like to say that, in my opinion, this proposal could be extremely useful.

At the same time I was wondering whether this bug report has been triaged in a correct way. I'm NOT experienced at triaging bugs, but I can read here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Responses#An%20idea%20to%20improve%20Ubuntu that if a bug report is a request to add a feature to a specific program, it should be forwarded to the upstream developers, instead of directing it to the brainstorm.

Is it possible to mark the status of this report to confirmed, since the user has provided all the required information for describing this issue, and it isn't a request for changing large parts of Ubuntu?

Thank you.

[Savvas Radevic (medigeek)]

Setting to confirmed and a developer (mvo) was informed

[Savvas Radevic (medigeek)]

mvo has requested a text document or a wiki page.
I've attached the first draft of this document

[Wesley Schwengle (wesleys)]

Hello,

I think this bug can be closed, there is community documentation to upgrade unsupported versions to a newer version: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades

[grungy_me (grungyme)]

Wesley,

I beg to differ with your conclusion. You've completely misunderstood the whole point of the person who posted this bug. And no I do not think this bug should be closed.

-----------------------------------------------------

This bug does effect me, and before I even was aware of this bug entry I had to post a question in the Ubuntu forums to find out if Ubuntu notifies the user when support for a release has ended. Surprisingly, very few people understood why this is necessary.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1394262

When you are dealing with people that are not very computer literate, things need to be obvious and easy. Normal every day Joe Schmoe is not going to sift through the Ubuntu forums and launchpad for answers. Hell, even "Windows Update" notifies the user when the operating system has reached the end of its supported life. Ubuntu is for everyone, and needs to be easy to use. If you want a difficult Linux distro to use, well there is plenty of other options out there. I don't suspect that this problem would be all that difficult to correct. That's my two cents. :)

[lavinog (lavinog)]

I am affected by this. I have installed Ubuntu on many computers for people that just wanted a basic computer. Ubuntu was perfect for them, and I rarely get any calls for help. Many of these users would want me to handle any major upgrades. I shouldn't have to keep records of who has what version.

The user should have an early warning about end of life.
Technically this could be considered a security issue since the user is not made aware that they are vulnerable to exploits.
The current notification that a new distribution is available does not inform the user that they must upgrade.
Some users do not want to perform the upgrade themselves. An early warning can let them notify the person that will handle the upgrade for them in advance.

I would suggest giving the user 3 months notice: "Support for this version of Ubuntu will expire in _ months. Please take measures to upgrade soon."

The implementation of this shouldn't require internet access since EOL is determined prior to the release, and some users don't have an always on connection.
This check can also be independent of the update-manager in case the automatic update checks are disabled.

Security should be pro-active. Informing users on how to perform upgrades after EOL is retro-active.
I don't understand why anyone would argue against this. I am sure implementing this would be a simple task, and would not interfere with users that keep up with their upgrades.

[grungy_me (grungyme)]

Fantastic observations lavinog!

Yes, this is a security issue! And users should be warned somewhat in advance of end of life of the release they are using so that they can make the proper arrangements to have it taken care of.

I think it is important to consider how to make these end of life notifications look important enough to the user to act upon them, without being a constant nag. Perhaps if we are going to start out at three months prior to end of life. The message frequency could be sort of like a crescendo alarm clock. Maybe the first two months have it appear once a week. And then the last month prior to end of life, have it appear everyday. And perhaps if the user chooses to use the Ubuntu release past the end of life, they would be required to read and agree to a notification stating that security updates are no longer made for that release, and that they put their own data at risk by continuing to use it. After the notification is agreed to, the notifications stop. I only say this, as I'm sure there are circumstances where people use Ubuntu releases completely offline where security updates would not be necessary.

I also agree that the notification should be both independent of Internet access and the Update Manager. Although if the Update Manager checks are disabled to a computer connected to the Internet, that's a whole other security issue! {chuckle}

[ifireball (ifireball)]

I just encountered another instance of this bug - I got notified a few days ago that my releases (12.4) is EOLed, ant was offered to upgrade, since I couldn't attent the upgrade at that time, I chose to upgrade later and closed the update manager window.
Now that I'm trying to upgrade I get an "Upgrade the 12.10 release" that essentially does nothing. Furtunately I know how to upgrade from the command line, so I'm only annoyed. but If I was a novice user I would be compleatly stuck.

[Tom Reynolds (tomreyn)]

Matthew, did you ever get around to work on this?

These (post zesty archive removal / migration) days, no hour passes without someone joining #ubuntu seeking help with 'broken repositories', for example:

--- begin quote ---

<user1> this just started happening, seemingly without reason: E: The repository 'http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security Release' does no longer have a Release file.
<user1> N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
<user1> N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
<user1> same issue with other repos
<user1> are ubuntu repo servers experiencing issues that somehow affect mirrors?

--- end quote ---

--- begin quote ---

<user2> hey, did anyone notice the Release files are missing from zesty?
<user2> E: The repository 'http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-updates Release' does no longer have a Release file.
<user2> E: The repository 'http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-updates Release' does no longer have a Release file.

--- end quote ---

This affects also people knowledgeable enough to install Ubuntu server and to work with virtualization, so not just the elderly non-tech person depicted in the original description, but the average and possibly experienced user, too. And only those who can make their way to IRC actually have a chance to learn how to recover from it.

With the level of maturity and usability Ubuntu has reached nowadays, I believe that providing
- a (possibly repeatable / snoozable) warning that EOL is approaching and
- an information on how to easily recover from EOL state (or, possibly better, instrumentation which automates the procedure)
are duly needed.

[Tom Reynolds (tomreyn)]

'Artful' users made (and still make, when they somehow notice they are EOL, such as when requesting support in #ubuntu, or because repositories are archived) the same 'user experience'. It would be great if this could be improved for when 14.04 hits EOL.