[Bug 1823070] Re: unattended-upgrades should tell the user (via motd) when security updates are held back

[Balint Reczey]

** Description changed:

+ [Impact]
+ 
+  * MOTD does not go into details about upgradable packages being security fixes or just normal updates.
+  * Users should be made aware if some of the security updates could not have been applied.
+  * The fix is adding a snipped to MOTD where the number of packages kept back by unattended-upgrades is shown.
+ 
+ [Test Case]
+ 
+  * The debian/tests/upgrade-all-security is extended to check if the number of kept back packages are shown in MOTD and a new test is added (test/test_motd.py) to check if the list of kept back packages are saved properly.
+  * To test the fix manually:
+    1. Mark a package upgradable from the -security pocket as held, then run unattended-upgrades.
+    2. Observe MOTD messate showing the number of packages being kept back.
+ 
+ [Regression Potential]
+ 
+  * Unattended-upgrades may crash when saving kept packages and always
+ return with failure. MOTD may hang or print error while printing the
+ packages kept back by u-u.
+ 
+ [Original Bug Text]
+ 
  Currently we have the following pieces as part of the default UX on
  Ubuntu 18.04 and later:
  
-  1) unattended-upgrades automatically installs security updates daily by default
-  2) the motd reports the number of available updates, including security updates.
+  1) unattended-upgrades automatically installs security updates daily by default
+  2) the motd reports the number of available updates, including security updates.
  
  A user who knows about 1) also knows that a non-zero number of pending
  security updates listed in 2) is nothing to worry about.
  
  However, unattended-upgrades will also cleverly detect when a security
  update cannot safely be installed non-interactively due to conffile
  changes on the system.
  
  In this case, unattended-upgrades should also inform the user via the
  motd that these updates are not being installed.  Otherwise, there's
  nothing to tell the user that the non-zero count of available security
  updates in motd is a *problem*.
  
  Suggested wording:
  
-  N security updates will not be automatically installed due to local changes.
-  See /var/log/foo for details.
+  N security updates will not be automatically installed due to local changes.
+  See /var/log/foo for details.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1823070

Title:
  unattended-upgrades should tell the user (via motd) when security
  updates are held back

Status in unattended-upgrades package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in unattended-upgrades source package in Bionic:
  Confirmed
Status in unattended-upgrades source package in Disco:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  [Impact]

   * MOTD does not go into details about upgradable packages being security fixes or just normal updates.
   * Users should be made aware if some of the security updates could not have been applied.
   * The fix is adding a snipped to MOTD where the number of packages kept back by unattended-upgrades is shown.

  [Test Case]

   * The debian/tests/upgrade-all-security is extended to check if the number of kept back packages are shown in MOTD and a new test is added (test/test_motd.py) to check if the list of kept back packages are saved properly.
   * To test the fix manually:
     1. Mark a package upgradable from the -security pocket as held, then run unattended-upgrades.
     2. Observe MOTD messate showing the number of packages being kept back.

  [Regression Potential]

   * Unattended-upgrades may crash when saving kept packages and always
  return with failure. MOTD may hang or print error while printing the
  packages kept back by u-u.

  [Original Bug Text]

  Currently we have the following pieces as part of the default UX on
  Ubuntu 18.04 and later:

   1) unattended-upgrades automatically installs security updates daily by default
   2) the motd reports the number of available updates, including security updates.

  A user who knows about 1) also knows that a non-zero number of pending
  security updates listed in 2) is nothing to worry about.

  However, unattended-upgrades will also cleverly detect when a security
  update cannot safely be installed non-interactively due to conffile
  changes on the system.

  In this case, unattended-upgrades should also inform the user via the
  motd that these updates are not being installed.  Otherwise, there's
  nothing to tell the user that the non-zero count of available security
  updates in motd is a *problem*.

  Suggested wording:

   N security updates will not be automatically installed due to local changes.
   See /var/log/foo for details.

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