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Bug 739666 - doesn't show updates when there are updates
doesn't show updates when there are updates
Status: RESOLVED NOTGNOME
Product: gnome-software
Classification: Applications
Component: General
unspecified
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: GNOME Software maintainer(s)
GNOME Software maintainer(s)
Depends on:
Blocks: 741715
 
 
Reported: 2014-11-05 13:22 UTC by William Jon McCann
Modified: 2016-05-28 15:49 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---



Description William Jon McCann 2014-11-05 13:22:04 UTC
Yesterday I got a notification for system updates. Today I clicked View on the notification but once Software loaded it said "Software is up to date" (but the timestamp indicated it was only checked yesterday morning).

So just now I pressed the reload button and then it loaded for a while and then I got another notification and then the list of updates filled in.

It may be related to the fact that I did a yum install ffmpeg yesterday evening.

Obviously the most desirable behavior is that Software shows me the list of updates available without me having to wait for a manual reload.
Comment 1 Allan Day 2014-11-17 19:27:25 UTC
aday	kalev: you got a view on bug 739666 ? it's fairly serious if it's valid
Services	Bug http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=739666 normal, Normal, ---, gnome-software-maint, UNCONFIRMED, doesn't show updates when there are updates
kalev looks.
kalev	aday: we talked about this a bit on irc the other day
aday: it can happen when installing something manually with yum
aday: when we detect that something external has touched the package database, we reset the internal states that are then possibly out of date
so what happened there was the there were available updates, then something got installed with yum, which reset the updates
next day's check would show the updates again
aday	kalev: ah ok. still reasonably serious... is there a viable fix?
kalev	removing the update notification together with the internal state reset, I guess
so that when this happens, we won't have the stale notification any more

Marking as a target bug for GNOME 3.16.
Comment 2 Michael Catanzaro 2014-11-17 22:25:09 UTC
Surely we also have to immediately start a new check for updates (and not issue a new notification when that check completes)? Otherwise the issue in comment #0 would still occur.
Comment 3 Michael Catanzaro 2015-01-05 17:32:00 UTC
See also bug #741715
Comment 4 Matthias Clasen 2015-03-06 10:59:17 UTC
moving off target now
Comment 5 John Mellor 2015-09-13 16:30:25 UTC
I just logged in, pulled up software update, and knowing that it
routinely messes up and says that there is nothing to update, I asked
it to recheck for updates.  It came back again with no updates.

Then (since I'm developing a deep distrust of software update), I did a
CLI dnf update.  There were 27 updates pending.  Clearly, software
update is broken.

Its possible that it is configured out-of-the-box wrong.  Is there
anything that I can set to make it actually work, or should I just stop
using it because it is too broken to fix?

Example where software update has totally failed:

[prodadm@production ~]$ sudo dnf update
[sudo] password for prodadm: 
Fedora 22 - x86_64 - Updates                    2.3 MB/s |  14 MB    
 00:06    
Last metadata expiration check performed 0:00:14 ago on Sun Sep 13
09:55:47 2015.
Dependencies resolved.
=======================================================================
=========
 Package                      Arch     Version                 
 Repository
                                                                       
    Size
=======================================================================
=========
Upgrading:
 epson-inkjet-printer-escpr   x86_64   1.5.0-1.1lsb3.2.fc22     updates
   2.0 M
 libxml2                      i686     2.9.2-4.fc22             updates
   684 k
 libxml2                      x86_64   2.9.2-4.fc22             updates
   677 k
 libxml2-devel                x86_64   2.9.2-4.fc22             updates
   1.1 M
 libxml2-python               x86_64   2.9.2-4.fc22             updates
   248 k
 mesa-dri-drivers             i686     10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
   8.5 M
 mesa-dri-drivers             x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
   8.2 M
 mesa-filesystem              i686     10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    35 k
 mesa-filesystem              x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    35 k
 mesa-libEGL                  i686     10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    97 k
 mesa-libEGL                  x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    96 k
 mesa-libEGL-devel            i686     10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    40 k
 mesa-libEGL-devel            x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    40 k
 mesa-libGL                   i686     10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
   213 k
 mesa-libGL                   x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
   191 k
 mesa-libGL-devel             x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
   160 k
 mesa-libGLES                 x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    41 k
 mesa-libOSMesa               i686     10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
   1.3 M
 mesa-libOSMesa               x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
   1.2 M
 mesa-libgbm                  i686     10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    55 k
 mesa-libgbm                  x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    55 k
 mesa-libgbm-devel            x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    28 k
 mesa-libglapi                i686     10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    70 k
 mesa-libglapi                x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    52 k
 mesa-libwayland-egl          x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    37 k
 mesa-libwayland-egl-devel    x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
    25 k
 mesa-libxatracker            x86_64   10.6.3-2.20150729.fc22   updates
   1.2 M

Transaction Summary
=======================================================================
=========
Upgrade  27 Packages

Total download size: 26 M
Is this ok [y/N]:
Comment 6 Richard Hughes 2015-09-13 19:29:54 UTC
What does "pkcon get-updates" say?
Comment 7 John Mellor 2015-09-16 00:31:09 UTC
There are a large set of new updates today. pkcon get-updates reports nothing to update, but dnf reports a large list.  Is that where the fault lies?

[prodadm@production ~]$ pkcon -c -1 -v get-updates
20:21:47	PackageKit          Verbose debugging enabled (on console 1)
20:21:47	PackageKit          filter=(null), filters=0
20:21:48	PackageKit          adding state 0x5582864ff0d0
20:21:48	PackageKit          role now get-updates
Getting updates               [=========================]         :21:48       P
Waiting in queue              [=========================]         
Starting                      [=========================]         
Finished                      [=========================]         :22:01       P
There are no updates available at this time.d0
[prodadm@production ~]$ sudo dnf update
[sudo] password for john: 
RPM Fusion for Fedora 22 - Free - Updates       444 kB/s |  73 kB     00:00    
Adobe Systems Incorporated                       11 kB/s | 1.8 kB     00:00    
RPM Fusion for Fedora 22 - Nonfree - Updates    219 kB/s |  28 kB     00:00    
RPM Fusion for Fedora 22 - Free                 1.0 MB/s | 551 kB     00:00    
Fedora 22 - x86_64 - Updates                    1.8 MB/s |  14 MB     00:08    
RPM Fusion for Fedora 22 - Nonfree              831 kB/s | 170 kB     00:00    
Last metadata expiration check performed 0:00:00 ago on Tue Sep 15 20:22:55 2015.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package                     Arch     Version                   Repository
                                                                           Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 fluidsynth                  x86_64   1.1.6-5.fc22              fedora     29 k
 fluidsynth-libs             x86_64   1.1.6-5.fc22              fedora    234 k
 lash                        x86_64   0.5.4-21.fc22             fedora    158 k
Upgrading:
 SDL_mixer                   x86_64   1.2.12-10.fc22            updates    97 k
 libinput                    x86_64   1.0.1-2.fc22              updates    90 k
 libinput-devel              x86_64   1.0.1-2.fc22              updates    31 k
 mesa-dri-drivers            i686     10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates   8.5 M
 mesa-dri-drivers            x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates   8.2 M
 mesa-filesystem             i686     10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    35 k
 mesa-filesystem             x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    35 k
 mesa-libEGL                 i686     10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    98 k
 mesa-libEGL                 x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    96 k
 mesa-libEGL-devel           i686     10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    40 k
 mesa-libEGL-devel           x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    40 k
 mesa-libGL                  i686     10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates   213 k
 mesa-libGL                  x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates   191 k
 mesa-libGL-devel            x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates   160 k
 mesa-libGLES                x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    41 k
 mesa-libOSMesa              i686     10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates   1.3 M
 mesa-libOSMesa              x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates   1.2 M
 mesa-libgbm                 i686     10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    55 k
 mesa-libgbm                 x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    55 k
 mesa-libgbm-devel           x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    28 k
 mesa-libglapi               i686     10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    70 k
 mesa-libglapi               x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    52 k
 mesa-libwayland-egl         x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    37 k
 mesa-libwayland-egl-devel   x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates    25 k
 mesa-libxatracker           x86_64   10.6.3-3.20150729.fc22    updates   1.2 M
 openssh                     x86_64   6.9p1-7.fc22              updates   445 k
 openssh-askpass             x86_64   6.9p1-7.fc22              updates    78 k
 openssh-clients             x86_64   6.9p1-7.fc22              updates   645 k
 openssh-server              x86_64   6.9p1-7.fc22              updates   468 k
 perl-Text-Unidecode         noarch   1.24-1.fc22               updates   142 k
 perl-Thread-Queue           noarch   3.06-1.fc22               updates    22 k
 php-cli                     x86_64   5.6.13-1.fc22             updates   4.0 M
 php-common                  x86_64   5.6.13-1.fc22             updates   1.1 M
 php-gd                      x86_64   5.6.13-1.fc22             updates    97 k
 php-pdo                     x86_64   5.6.13-1.fc22             updates   150 k
 php-process                 x86_64   5.6.13-1.fc22             updates    87 k
 php-xml                     x86_64   5.6.13-1.fc22             updates   258 k
 ruby                        x86_64   2.2.3-44.fc22             updates    74 k
 ruby-irb                    noarch   2.2.3-44.fc22             updates    93 k
 ruby-libs                   x86_64   2.2.3-44.fc22             updates   2.9 M
 rubygem-bigdecimal          x86_64   1.2.6-44.fc22             updates    86 k
 rubygem-io-console          x86_64   0.4.3-44.fc22             updates    56 k
 rubygem-psych               x86_64   2.0.8-44.fc22             updates    85 k
 rubygem-rdoc                noarch   4.2.0-44.fc22             updates   481 k

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install   3 Packages
Upgrade  44 Packages

Total download size: 33 M
Is this ok [y/N]:
Comment 8 John Mellor 2015-09-19 16:19:44 UTC
Suggest closing this ticket.  I am convinced that the real issue is the difference in the repo sync between yum/dnf and pkcon.

Offline email thread at users@lists.fedoraproject.org:
==========

From:	Gordon Messmer <gordon.messmer@gmail.com>
Reply-to:	Community support for Fedora users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org>
To:	Community support for Fedora users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org>
Subject:	Re: What is broken with software update?
Date:	Sun, 13 Sep 2015 18:36:47 -0700 (09/13/2015 09:36:47 PM)
Mailer:	Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.2.0

On 09/13/2015 07:07 AM, John Mellor wrote:
> Then (since I'm developing a deep distrust of software update), I did a
> CLI dnf update.  There were 27 updates pending.  Clearly, software
> update is broken.

Nothing is clearly broken.

yum/dnf repositories are not synchronized.  No mechanism nor mandate 
exists for keeping them in sync.  This has been discussed to death on 
this list, but no example has been provided that can't be explained 
simply as "dnf checked a repository with older data and then, later, 
checked a different repository with data that is more up to date."

==========

From:	John Mellor <john.mellor@gmail.com>
To:	Community support for Fedora users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org>
Subject:	Re: What is broken with software update?
Date:	Tue, 15 Sep 2015 21:44:39 -0400
Mailer:	Evolution 3.16.5 (3.16.5-1.fc22)

Ok, its remotely possible.  My recalled experience has been that the
Gnome updater is not finding even 5-day-old updates, but assuming that
some weird preferred repo out there is totally broken, I'm willing to
test that thesis.

I checked the dnf log and dnf is configured to select some
indeterminate Fedora mirrors site.  I'm willing to bet that the
unselected mirrors are no more than a couple of hours out-of-date at
worst, and there is actually a software error at work here.  So, how to
I preconfigure my system to get the two updaters to select the same
repo?

==========

From:	Gordon Messmer <gordon.messmer@gmail.com>
Reply-to:	Community support for Fedora users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org>
To:	Community support for Fedora users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org>
Subject:	Re: What is broken with software update?
Date:	Wed, 16 Sep 2015 10:46:25 -0700 (09/16/2015 01:46:25 PM)
Mailer:	Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.2.0

Pick a mirror for each of your enabled repositories, edit the files 
under /etc/yum.repos.d, disable metalink and enable baseurl with your 
preferred mirror.

> P.S, just out of curiosity, why is the software updater not sharing the
> same dnf and yum metadata backend that clearly works better?

It does use the same backend.  It keeps a separate copy of the metadata, 
though.  Never was sure why; I thought that's what packagekitd was *for*.

==========

From:	John Mellor <john.mellor@gmail.com>
To:	Community support for Fedora users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org>
Subject:	Re: What is broken with software update?
Date:	Fri, 18 Sep 2015 20:33:39 -0400
Mailer:	Evolution 3.16.5 (3.16.5-1.fc22)

Interesting test.  Forcing both to use the same repo results in the
same data.  The metadata separation problem seems to explain the
observed issue nicely.

==========

From:	Richard Hughes <hughsient@gmail.com>
Reply-to:	Community support for Fedora users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org>
To:	Community support for Fedora users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org>
Subject:	Re: What is broken with software update?
Date:	Sat, 19 Sep 2015 09:33:24 +0100 (09/19/2015 04:33:24 AM)

On 16 September 2015 at 18:46, Gordon Messmer <gordon.messmer@gmail.com> wrote:
> Never was sure why; I thought that's what packagekitd was *for*.

PackageKit needs to offer clients results with guaranteed latencies;
it's no good if the command-not-found handler takes 700ms to return
results, or gnome-software takes 15 seconds to show the first overview
screen. This is why some of the fancier stuff was turned off with the
yum backend. The problem with sharing a cache is that PackageKit
downloads an entire set of repository files at the same time, all
coherent to each other. It then atomically swaps the link in the cache
so that at any time you can query PackageKit for results and get
something sane in a small amount of time.

What dnf does, and yum did, is download only the files that it needs.
This is great for command line use where you might just want to check
for updates, but means that we have metadata from different
repositories with different ages, and most importantly different
metadata files in the same repo with different ages (repo files
reference each other internally). This means using dnf that you can do
something like a search with no additional downloads, but when you
come to install something it could be that half way through the
depsolve it works out that the filelists isn't new enough and starts
downloading a new metadata file, so it can re-depsolve and continue on
to install.

PackageKit can't do this, as we only promise network access during
certain method calls, and we have strict latency requirements for some
requests, where downloading at random points would shatter both
promises.

If PK and DNF could agree to download all metadata at a set time for
all repositories and do an atomic switch that would be great, and we
could certainly share a cache. Until then, it makes sense to have
separate locations.

What we can fix is downloading the same file twice in some cases, and
in that case either squid helps, or CAShe can fix that in the longer
term.

Richard.