Ubuntu
update-notifier package

duplicate "N packages can be updated." messages in motd

Bug #1146170 reported by Marius Gedminas
22
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
update-notifier (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

Lately I've been noticing that as I ssh into one particular server, I get duplicate messages about updates. Digging a bit deeper I see they come from /usr/lib/update-notifier/update-motd-updates-available:

    mg@fridge: ~ $ /usr/lib/update-notifier/update-motd-updates-available

    0 packages can be updated.
    0 updates are security updates.

    0 packages can be updated.
    0 updates are security updates.

    0 packages can be updated.
    0 updates are security updates.

Once I saw three messages with slightly different spacing (no blank line between 1st and 2nd, two blank lines between 2nd and 3rd). Yesterday I also saw a similar issue (two messages instead of one) on a different server (running Ubuntu 10.04).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: update-notifier-common 0.119ubuntu8.6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-35.55-generic 3.2.34
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-35-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Mar 5 08:31:28 2013
MarkForUpload: True
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: update-notifier
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-07-31 (216 days ago)

Related branches

lp:~mgedmin/update-notifier/fix-lp1146170 (Merged)
Revision history for this message
Marius Gedminas (mgedmin) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Marius Gedminas (mgedmin) wrote :

I looked at the script. It appears to be a simple race in case of simultaneous logins. Changing

    echo "" > $stamp
    /usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check --human-readable >> $stamp
    echo "" >> $stamp

to

    { echo ""; /usr/lib/update-notifier/apt-check --human-readable; echo ""; } > $stamp

might be enough to make it go away.

Revision history for this message
Marius Gedminas (mgedmin) wrote :

I can easily reproduce this with

    rm /var/lib/update-notifier/updates-available; /usr/lib/update-notifier/update-motd-updates-available & /usr/lib/update-notifier/update-motd-updates-available

Revision history for this message
Marius Gedminas (mgedmin) wrote :

I'm not sure anybody noticed that I attached a bzr branch that fixes this.

(It's only been three days. No rush, but some acknowledgment would be nice.)

Revision history for this message
Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur) wrote :

I'm subscribing ubuntu-sponsors to this bug so the patch gets sponsored.

Brian Murray (brian-murray)
Changed in update-notifier (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: New → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Marius Gedminas (mgedmin) wrote :

BTW 1240549 is a very similar bug in a different update-notifier's update-motd script. I can prepare a patch for it too, if you'd like it.

Revision history for this message
Iain Lane (laney) wrote :

Looks good to me, thanks. Merging & updating debian/changelog. It'll be in the next upload.

Sorry for the delay; next time, please subscribe ubuntu-sponsors to the bug to get more speedy attention. :-)

And yes, please feel free to patch the other bug. I'll not release this to trusty until that's done (or the next person can do so)

Sebastien Bacher (seb128)
Changed in update-notifier (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package update-notifier - 0.148

---------------
update-notifier (0.148) trusty; urgency=low

  [ Iain Lane ]
  * data/update-motd-updates-available: Update the stamp file atomically.
    Thanks to Marius Gedminas! (LP: #1146170)

  [ Brian Murray ]
  * In the upstart crash notification job fix the path for watershed.
  * debian/update-notifier-crash.conf: check that we have read permission on
    the crash file before launching apport-gtk, additionally just launch
    apport-gtk or system-crash-notification as they will check for new crashes
    and start bug filing for each one (LP: #1193509)
  * data/update-motd-fsck-at-reboot: Update the stamp file atomically.
    Thanks to Marius Gedminas! (LP: #1240549)
 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Fri, 08 Nov 2013 15:32:25 -0800

Changed in update-notifier (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
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