Comment 4 for bug 655998

Turns out this 'feature' is configurable in GConf.

Run gconf-editor and un-set the following:

  /apps/update-manager/summary_before_name

That doesn't remove the bug, however, because there is no compelling argument to be made for ever showing summaries before names. Doing so only breaks every list display convention ever used since cuneiform was still all the rage.

Patch:

dmcgarry@emigre:/tmp$ diff -ruN UpdateManager-old.py UpdateManager.py
--- UpdateManager-old.py 2011-04-28 09:02:56.735606001 +1100
+++ UpdateManager.py 2011-04-28 09:05:10.087606001 +1100
@@ -260,7 +260,9 @@
     # init show version
     self.show_versions = self.gconfclient.get_bool("/apps/update-manager/show_versions")
     # init summary_before_name
- self.summary_before_name = self.gconfclient.get_bool("/apps/update-manager/summary_before_name")
+ # Actually, don't - it's a stupid idea.
+ # self.summary_before_name = self.gconfclient.get_bool("/apps/update-manager/summary_before_name")
+ self.summary_before_name = False
     # keep track when we run (for update-notifier)
     self.gconfclient.set_int("/apps/update-manager/launch_time", int(time.time()))

Thanks for nothing to Michael and the update-manager development gang who couldn't even be arsed to mention that this is configurable. In fairness, though, Launchpad is so incredibly broken and flooded, I can understand why devs would choose to just ignore it.