[Bug 1693900] Re: apt-get update should return exit code != 0 on error

[Julian Andres Klode]

No, there are two different use cases here:

1. Did apt-get update (potentially) change something?
2. Did apt-get update (potentially) change everything?

In the general case, 1 is what you need to know. For example, a tool
that runs update and then upgrades your system: You don't want to
prevent the system from being upgraded (in an update&&upgrade type
scenario) just because some third party repository disappeared.

Then there is the question of fatal vs non-fatal errors. A DNS
resolution error like here is most likely temporary, you don't want to
fail update because of it, this would just confuse users (don't spam me
twice a day with errors just because my machine is offline).

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1693900

Title:
  apt-get update should return exit code != 0 on error

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  When running 'apt-get update' (e.g. on a container install post-
  install script), apt-get return with exit code 0, even so it wasn't
  able to "update" properly. E.g.:

  + apt-get update
  Err:1 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
    Temporary failure resolving 'de.archive.ubuntu.com'
  Err:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease
    Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com'
  Err:3 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
    Temporary failure resolving 'de.archive.ubuntu.com'
  Reading package lists... Done
  W: Failed to fetch http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'de.archive.ubuntu.com'
  W: Failed to fetch http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'de.archive.ubuntu.com'
  W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-security/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com'
  W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

  It should be corrected to return useful exit code, so that scripts can
  take the appropriate actions ...

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