[Bug 1798618] Re: confusing error message with 'do-release-upgrade -d' and Prompt=lts

[Brian Murray]

I tested this on a bionic system and saw the new error message.

bdmurray at clean-bionic-amd64:~$ tail -n1 /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
Prompt=lts
bdmurray at clean-bionic-amd64:~$ apt-cache policy ubuntu-release-upgrader-core
ubuntu-release-upgrader-core:
  Installed: 1:18.04.30
  Candidate: 1:18.04.30
  Version table:
 *** 1:18.04.30 100
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:18.04.29 500
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu bionic-updates/main i386 Packages
     1:18.04.17 500
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu bionic/main i386 Packages
bdmurray at clean-bionic-amd64:~$ do-release-upgrade 
Checking for a new Ubuntu release
There is no development version of an LTS available.
To upgrade to the latest non-LTS develoment release 
set Prompt=normal in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.


** Tags removed: verification-needed-bionic
** Tags added: verification-done-bionic

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1798618

Title:
  confusing error message with 'do-release-upgrade -d' and Prompt=lts

Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in update-manager package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader source package in Bionic:
  Fix Committed
Status in update-manager source package in Bionic:
  Fix Committed
Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader source package in Cosmic:
  Fix Committed
Status in update-manager source package in Cosmic:
  Fix Committed

Bug description:
  Impact
  ------
  A confusing error message is returned if Prompt=lts is set and 'do-release-upgrade -d' is run.

  Test Case
  ---------
  N.B. The changed code will never be reached on an 18.10 unless you hack line 236 of /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/UpdateManager/Core/MetaRelease.py so that "self.new_dist = None'".

  1) set Prompt=lts in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
  2) run do-release-upgrade -d 
  3) Observe the error from the original description

  With versions of update-manager and ubuntu-release-upgrader (which
  depends on the changes in update-manager) from -proposed you will
  instead see a message about "no development version of an LTS
  available" and details about how to modify Prompt.

  Also note there is no independent test case for update-manager as it
  is now just exporting a new variable which is used by ubuntu-release-
  upgrader.

  Original Description
  --------------------
  On a bionic system with Prompt=lts set in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades, 'do-release-upgrade -d' fails with:

  $ sudo do-release-upgrade -d
  Checking for a new Ubuntu release
  Upgrades to the development release are only
  available from the latest supported release.
  $ echo $?
  1
  $

  The refusal to upgrade is correct, but the message it gives is
  incorrect and gives no hint how to fix.

  Since bionic is the latest release listed in https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release-lts *and* in https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release-lts-development, a more accurate explanation would be:
     There is no development version of an LTS release available.
     To upgrade to the latest non-LTS development release, set Prompt=normal.

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