computer needs to restart

[Pavlo Bohmat]

"The computer needs to restart to finish installing updates. Please save your work before continuing." Require a reboot as OS Windows at every sneeze. Why make such a stupid thing? Why should restart after upgrade mplayer, etc?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: update-manager 1:0.156
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-9.16-generic 3.2.1
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-9-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.90-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Jan 17 03:36:40 2012
GsettingsChanges:
 com.ubuntu.update-manager first-run false
 com.ubuntu.update-manager launch-time 1326763675
 com.ubuntu.update-manager show-details true
 com.ubuntu.update-manager window-height 600
 com.ubuntu.update-manager window-width 600
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=ru_UA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: update-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-01-13 (3 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[thedanyes (thedanyes)]

I'm running 12.10 and I get a message with the exact text, "The computer needs to restart to finish installing updates."

It won't let me dismiss it, the only way to make it go away is to click the restart button or minimize it to my unity bar. Preventing a clean close/dismissal of this dialog is potentially dangerous to my data because now there is a restart button just hanging around that I could accidentally activate.

I am less than impressed by this behavior. It's arrogant. It's as if the software updater knows my current tasks are so trivial that I can acquiese immediately to it's command to restart. The terrible update process is one of the reasons I moved away from Windows, and it seems that Ubuntu is starting to follow those footsteps now.

Ideally, this dialog would allow for easy dismissal without restarting.

I would also suggest there be a note in the software updater on each package/update whose installation will necessitate a restart, that way I can easily choose to wait to install updates for which a restart might be warranted.

[Ben Gamari (bgamari)]

I agree that this behavior is extremely presumptuous and consequently I typically end up killing these windows with xkill. If I recall correctly, previous releases placed an icon in the notification area if a reboot were necessary after updating. This is a far more sane way to deal with this situation: the user has a constant reminder that a reboot is eventually necessary yet still has the ability to defer as long as necessary.

[Jose Gómez (adler-dreamcoder)]

xkill did the job. At least we have a workaround.

Seriously... I know I updated the kernel, so restarting is required in order to get the changes. I will eventually restart, but not right now.

I understand that for some critical updates it is important to restart ASAP, and some people tend to never restart. That is why Windows foces you to restart after a few snoozes. But I don't think the profile of the average Linux user is the same as the average Windows user.

[Jose Gómez (adler-dreamcoder)]

By the way, this bug is related (if not duplicate) to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/1033226