[Bug 1280913] Re: update-manager -d implies that pre-release version is a final release

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

The failure case is also confusing: it you can’t upgrade to the
development version, because you aren’t running the latest release, you
either get “The software on this computer is up to date”, which is a
non-sequitur; or you get a list of updates for the current release,
which is also irrelevant to what you asked for.

I guess that both these problems have the same cause: update-manager is
behaving exactly as it normally would, with the exception of pretending
that development versions are stable releases, instead of giving a
coherent response to what you wanted when you typed -d.

So to outline a possible solution, if someone enters update-manager -d:

0. Don’t check for, or show, updates for the current release at all.

1. If you’re already using the development version, say so: “This
computer is already using the Ubuntu development version ({codename}).”

2. Otherwise, if it’s the brief period where there isn’t a development
version open, display something like “There is no Ubuntu development
version at the moment. Try again in a few days.”

3. Otherwise, if you aren’t running the current release, display
something like: “To upgrade to the development version, you need to
upgrade to {current release} first.” (For bonus points, add a button to
start that process.)

4. If you *are* running the current release, skip directly to the dialog
that talks about the development version being in development and not to
install it on production systems.

If it was easier to implement initially, steps 1, 2, and 3 could be
output to the console.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1280913

Title:
  update-manager -d implies that pre-release version is a final release

Status in update-manager package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  1. During the alpha/beta period of a release cycle, at a terminal, enter
     update-manager -d

  What happens: Software Updater appears saying something like “New
  Ubuntu release '17.10' is available”. <http://imgur.com/rKy2PsM>

  What should happen: Software Updater should not imply that an
  alpha/beta is a “New Ubuntu release”.

  It’s not necessarily the case that someone using `update-manager -d`
  knows that it’s not *really* a new release, because they might be
  following out-of-date instructions.

  [Discovered by NotJustSomebody in
  <http://www.reddit.com/r/Ubuntu/comments/1y1y0u/upgrading_from_12044_lts_to_1404_lts_via_the/>.]

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