GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 722924
Allow manual checking for updates
Last modified: 2014-02-05 14:09:04 UTC
Until now, we have only shown updates when they have been downloaded, and we haven't provided a way to manually check for updates. There are a number of problems with this: * Sometimes people might need a particular update for something, and want a way to check if it is available. * Most operating systems provide a way to manually check for updates - it is something of a convention. * When you go to the updates view and it says "software is up to date", sometimes it is a lie. * In the past we used to provide a way to manually check for updates (and we have an unresolved bug about this in the control center - see bug 720946). So it might be desirable to have a way to manually check for updates, for which we now have mockups: https://raw.github.com/gnome-design-team/gnome-mockups/master/software/version2/wire-updates-updates.png One thing I am uneasy about with this design is the presence of the "refresh" button when a list of updates already exists [1] (meaning that they have been downloaded and are ready to be installed). The whole point of downloading updates in the background is to avoid people having to manually check and watch a slow progress bar, yet if we provide a refresh button many people will instinctively use it. I'd like to get some design feedback before proceeding. [1] Unfortunately it is hard to be 100% up-to-date and download updates in the background.
(In reply to comment #0) > * When you go to the updates view and it says "software is up to date", > sometimes it is a lie. Today I opened GNOME Software to install an application. I searched for the application, then noticed that I had updates available: the updates tab was pulsing blue and even indicated the number of updates there were. I clicked Install to install the application, then switched over to the updates page to install my updates, but of course installing the application invalidated my updates, so Software claimed that everything was up-to-date, even though it was presenting me with updates just a few seconds ago. With or without the refresh button, those wireframes address all of my concerns.
(In reply to comment #0) ... > One thing I am uneasy about with this design is the presence of the "refresh" > button when a list of updates already exists [1] (meaning that they have been > downloaded and are ready to be installed). The whole point of downloading > updates in the background is to avoid people having to manually check and watch > a slow progress bar, yet if we provide a refresh button many people will > instinctively use it. > > I'd like to get some design feedback before proceeding. I discussed this with Jon Mccann last Friday. He agreed that the situation I described above isn't great, but also that there might not be a better solution. Also, I've updated the wireframes: https://raw.github.com/gnome-design-team/gnome-mockups/master/software/version2/wire-updates-updates.png
All implemented now, thanks. There are a few visual nits still to clean up, but certainly good enough for closing this bug. Thanks all.