[Bug 1795024] Re: setting release-upgrades Prompt to never can cause confusing behavior

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-release-upgrader - 1:18.04.30

---------------
ubuntu-release-upgrader (1:18.04.30) bionic; urgency=medium

  * data/release-upgrades: Clarify documentation regarding the behavior for
    different Prompt settings. (LP: #1795024)
  * do-release-upgrade: Utilize information regarding what Prompt is set to so
    that a more informative error message can be displayed.
    (LP: #1798618, LP: #1795024)
  * DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeCache.py: When calculating free space needed for
    mount points don't use a negative number as the buffer. (LP: #1786484)
  * fix more typos re RELEASE_UPRADER_ALLOW_THIRD_PARTY
  * DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeController.py: When rewriting sources.list entries
    check to see if the source provides packages for the release to which the
    upgrade is occurring. If it doesn't the entry is disabled thereby
    improving upgrades with PPAs. (LP: #1807043)
  * do-release-upgrade: add a parameter to allow third party mirrors and
    repositories, additionally pass along the environmental variable
    RELEASE_UPGRADER_ALLOW_THIRD_PARTY via pkexec and sudo. (LP: #1807032)
  * DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeCache.py: improve messaging regarding failures to
    calculate the upgrade and suggest using ppa-purge if PPAs are an issue.
  * DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeCache.py: in the event there is a failure to
    calculate the upgrade provide information about the log files in
    /var/log/dist-upgrade. (LP: #1771387)
  * debian/source_ubuntu-release-upgrader.py: Include xorg_fixup.log if it
    exists.
  * DistUpgrade/xorg_fix_proprietary.py: modify how the system is checked to
    see if nvidia is being used, drop fglrx check since it has been
    deprecated. (LP: #1773637)

 -- Brian Murray <brian at ubuntu.com>  Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:53:58 -0800

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1795024

Title:
  setting release-upgrades Prompt to never can cause confusing behavior

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

Bug description:
  Impact
  ------
  If Prompt=never in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and do-release-upgrade is run a likely confusing message regarding no new release being found is returned. This is can be a lie and doesn't help people upgrade if there is in fact a new release.

  Test Case
  ---------
  1) set Prompt=never in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
  2) run 'do-release-upgrade' on 18.04 and also run 'do-release-upgrade -d' on 18.10

  Observe an error message regarding no new release being available or
  for the -d case on 18.10 one regarding upgrades to the dev release
  only being supported from the latest supported release.

  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 prompt being set to never and the file to
  modify so you can upgrade.

  Additionally, release-upgrades has been modified to indicate that use
  never won't allow you to upgrade and to clarify what happens if you've
  set lts on a non-lts release.

  Original Description
  --------------------
  The prompt setting in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades controls whether the user is prompted to upgrade, but also controls whether the user can manually upgrade using do-release-upgrade -d.

  Steps to reproduce:
  1) On an 18.04 machine, set Prompt in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades to lts or never.
  2) Attempt to upgrade to 18.10 beta using do-release-upgrade -d.
  3) The upgrade reports "Upgrades to the development release are only available from the latest supported release."  This is both an incorrect error message, and it prevents upgrade even though the user has specifically requested the development version.

  Possible fixes:
  1) The documentation should be changed to indicate that the Prompt argument controls both whether you are prompted to upgrade, but also whether you can use the upgrade tool at all.
  2) A second configuration option should be added to allow the admin to control the prompting for upgrade separately from the ability to upgrade, allowing users to upgrade the system manually, even when Prompt is set to never.

  Question:  Is the default setting of Prompt=lts going to prevent users
  from upgrading their 18.04 machines to 18.10 until they change it to
  normal?

  Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
  Release:        18.04

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