Clarification needed for access to package versions in repositories

[Liam Proven]

On Sat, 30 Mar 2024 at 18:27, Bret Busby <bret at busby.net> wrote:

> When I was running Mint 20.2 I would always look at the updates that
> popped up in the Update Manager and individually decide what I wanted
> to add and WHEN. For example, I typically would not immediately update
> the kernel for a few days just in case someone found a problem and that
> kernel was quickly corrected.

Bad plan.

They lack the knowledge to decide. So, don't do this. Always accept all updates.

> Of course this required a reboot. Not a big deal in my experience. And
> it allowed me to keep track of kernels and remove old ones.

Bad plan - albeit not as bad. The OS should manage that.

> Well around end of October last year I discovered quite by accident
> that I was no longer being given the option to choose what and when to
> update. Instead the system was automatically updating without my
> knowledge. Yikes!

No, not yikes. This is a good thing. Either you trust the distro
vendor, or you switch distros.

> My good friend who knows Linux told me he had also just noticed
> the same and discovered that:
>
> The Update Manager>Edit>Preferences>Automation Tab was turned on to
> "Apply updates automatically."

That's *good* for non-techies.

> Further, "Remove obsolete kernels and dependencies" under "Automatic
> Maintenance" was also turned on.

Again: that's *good* for non-techies.

 > Well, neither he nor I ever knowingly turned either of those on.

So what?

> Somehow the system was now automatically updating.

Good. The earlier messages indicate this person is unskilled.

> So I turned both to the "off" position.

Bad plan.

> About the same time Claws-Mail which had for years been the "native"
>   v3.17.5 suddenly became v4.1.1
>
> I did not knowingly do this update. The system just did it.

I do not believe Mint does major-version updates on its own. Something
else is in play here.

I've been doing tech support since 1988.

Users *lie*. Sometimes they don't know what they did, or they forget,
but they will adamantly maintain it wasn't them.

People lie. Especially when they mess up. Especially if they broke
something they try to cover it up.

This is human nature. I have a 4YO. She does it.

> So it seems (?) as if the Mint developers may have initiated an
> automatic update system by default.

I don't believe that.

> My friend wrote to me that:


>
>  > "Rebooting" after kernel updates might be becoming a thing of the past,
>  > by the way. My understanding is this behavior is considered an
>  > anachronism and the engineers have been working their way towards
>  > implementing a seamless "update and resume" capability.

Only important for servers. Ignore this. Update daily, reboot daily.

> Again to clarify, this update to Claws-Mail v4.1.1 occurred while I was
> running Mint 20.2 and it came over in the update to 20.3 and then 21.1.

Here some hint of the lie emerges... *they updated.*

> Now, does any of that give you an indication as to why I have v4.1.1
> after an upgrade that occurred while using Mint 20.2 and you can only
> see v4.0.0 with a much more recent version of Mint?
> "
>
> Now, the version of Linux Mint that the person is running, is supposedly
> Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon.

That's good. That's the latest.

I say again:

Update _every day_. Reboot each time.

> The version of Claws Mail, and, the version of the kernel
> (linux-image-generic), bot belong in Ubuntu 23.10 , from what I
> previously posted, and, they do not belong in Ubuntu 22.04.x .

Read my link about the HWE stack.

>  From what I can make out of the circumstances, the person's computer
> has, without the person's knowledge, updated itself to a hybrid system,
> with the underlying system being a hybrid of Ubuntu Linux versions 22.04
> and 23.10, whilst retaining, as its repositories, the repositories for
> Ubuntu Linux 22.04.

Nope. Nothing you've posted indicates that.

-- 
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