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Popular ideas Here are random ideas about Update manager.

Check my hardware against application blackists BEFORE 'upgrading'  
Written by r0g the 12 Jan 09 at 08:02. New
My graphics hardware was added to the compiz hardware blacklist for the Intrepid release. Annoying asthis is I'm sure they had their reasons. Sadly though I had no idea about this until I 'upgraded' from Hardy and everything went bad without the possibility of undoing any of the changes.

Great.

Maybe the upgrade app could be made to check my (god damn!) hardware BEFORE 'upgrading' me.

In fact if ANY software blacklists ANY hardware should it not be standard practice to publish this info and have applications that do 'upgrading' check it first?

Roger.


PS.

To those smug people just dying to type 'you should have checked yourself before upgrading' really don't bother - my idea is to AUTOMATE SOMETHING THE COMPUTER CAN AND SHOULD DO FOR ME, not become a full time OS geek.
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Solution #2: Make the release notes more visible
Written by ziroday the 14 Jan 09 at 11:50.
Before upgrading a system have a dialog box warning the user about regressions and a large link to the release notes so that they can check for any identified regressions against their hardware. It should also contain information on how to view what hardware you currently have (possibly through hardinfo or something similar).
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Solution #3: Have Ubuntu check for incompatible hardware
Written by Seph_VII the 14 Jan 09 at 21:14.
Before upgrading or installing Ubuntu, make it check an online(or on-cd, if installing from a LiveCD) blacklist of incompatible hardware. If incompatible hardware is found, make Ubuntu warn the user, and ask whether he/she still wants to continue.
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Solution #5: undo function
Written by ruben the 26 Jan 09 at 21:09.
The function i have in mind is a simple undo of an update or even a package installation.
Unlike apt-get --perge remove it would also delete any unneaded dependancies simmilar to autoremove. However this would make it possible to install updates and then if it didn't work undo the change. Including any movement of files or changes in other files.

The problem i see with an upgrade advisor is that it can never actually say if it will work as only trial and error can. Or at least in most cases. Also it is very possible that the upgrade advisor does not have all the correct information for all systems and thus advises incorrectly. Furthermore advice given need to be based on information gather beforehand. Thus an easy undo feature would make upgrading a lot less risky.

It would be even better if this feature could some how be accessed from recovery mode or a live cd to repair if the system was rendered unboot able. This feature should be a used in conjunction with an upgrade advisor. Perhaps more as a long run solution
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Solution #6: Related with idea #3: Implement Smolt
Written by torkiano the 30 Jan 09 at 20:45.
Smolt is a hardware profiler to enable users to submit their hardware profiles during installation.

Smolt, like PackageKit from Fedora is also a distribution neutral tool and collects stats anonymously and sends it to a central database.

It became clear quite quickly that it does not make sense to have a per-distro solution for that - if we want to have momentum with a hardware database a combined effort promises the most.

Fedora and Opensuse already implemented it.

See http://smolts.org/
http://www.osnews.com/story/20621/Smolt_gets_adopted_by_openSUSE

See the 23 comments or propose a solution >>

Notify me through update-manager if a package I have installed was deleted  
Written by cosechy the 26 Aug 08 at 15:04. New
I made some changes to a source package downloaded earlier, compiled and tried to install on another computer, but failed, because it depends on the deleted "proposed" versions of some packages, and I have to build this package again. It will be more trouble if I take these modified packages to somewhere without a fast internet connection nor required header files installed, without a test. I think there should be some way to let me know when an installed package version is deleted from server, to prevent such problems. There should be also a short note about why it is deleted, to let me decide to downgrade or not
The best place for these messages should be update-manager, where the unavailable versions were installed with a simple click
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #12571
Written by cosechy the 26 Aug 08 at 15:04.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #12571 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

Add a comment or propose a solution >>

Select by category in automatic update  
Written by mainbrain the 14 Aug 08 at 16:14. New
In the update manager application that warns me in my system tray about new versions:

I want to be able to select updates by category. Only do security updates for example.
Right now I have to click manually through all of them.

Why not make a tree-view?
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #12211
Written by mainbrain the 14 Aug 08 at 16:14.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #12211 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 1 comments or propose a solution >>

LTS should also include updates/upgrades in aesthetics  
Written by Vignesh S the 24 Nov 09 at 10:59. New
Despite massive advances in the way Ubuntu looks in the most recent release, Ubuntu LTS is far behind. Lets face it, Ubuntu 8.04 is not the most attractive OS in the world, and I feel that the whole release is being left behind, kinda against the whole point of an LTS, to keep it up-to-date yet stable. And as far as I can see, upgrading the look of the LTS isn't gonna make it unstable
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Solution #1: Incremental upgrades should include updates for aesthetics
Written by Vignesh S the 24 Nov 09 at 10:59.
Incremental upgrades of the LTS i.e. 8.04.1 to 8.04.2 should also include updates that keep up with the advances the latest release of Ubuntu, like the new artwork themes, etc. However, if one doesn't want the new themes/artwork, then there should be an option somewhere during the upgrade (preferably before the packages are downloaded as part of the whole upgrade process)

See the 2 comments or propose a solution >>

End-of-Life? Update manager should show EoL status and provide more info  
Written by medigeek the 20 Jan 09 at 10:08. New
Subject: When a release reaches End-of-Life, update manager should show EoL status and provide a link with working procedures and more information.

Severity: wishlist
Related to: Bug #1, update-manager, ubuntu documentation

Description:
Supposedly a release reaches its End-of-Life (EoL). In that case repositories simply disappear, just as they have with 7.04 Feisty, see: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/feisty/
The old releases archives and installation files are transferred to http://old-releases.ubuntu.com
Yet, a simple user, that has just installed the world of Internet. They have installed an Ubuntu release before and were using it offline, and the release is not supported anymore.
The update-manager prompts the user with the choice to upgrade to a newer release and, due to these changes, they can't.

Scenario:
- A granny has been using a computer with Ubuntu installed.
- The same granny recently decided to get connected to the internet, but she was using an Ubuntu distribution that has reached its EoL.
- She connects to the internet, says "OK, let's see some Internet-related applications".
- She discovers System > Administration > Update Manager. "Oh let's try it and see if there's anything new of games for my grandchildren"
- She checks for updates and notices the new release upgrade. "A new version of Ubuntu, how nice, let's download it then!"
- She can't upgrade because the repository or repositories are missing and cannot be found. The notification for new release upgrade is still available though. "Oh great, now what do I do?"

Problem:

[....]
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Solution #1: Update manager - show EoL status with link to upgrades help documentation
Written by medigeek the 20 Jan 09 at 10:08.
Solution steps:
1) There should be a way to check for the End-of-Life status from within the repository http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
The same way it gets the "Release" file, there should be a file that states that this current distribution is not supported and not available anymore.
There should also be a link explaining more information about it, for example for upgrades from unsupported 7.04 Feisty Fawn to the next supported release, 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GutsyUpgrades

This file for End-of-Life could be let's say an RSS feed, showing the supported releases a person could attempt to upgrade to, and the date when is their (of the supported releases) End-of-Life. An RSS Parser with update-manager would do the trick for the client application.

2) As it is now, the update manager shows "Your system is up-to-date". Once update-manager realises that the release it's being run on has a specific EoL tag or file in the archive mirrors, it should state that "Your system is outdated and not supported anymore" (with letters that can be easily noticed, e.g. red colour), along with the link in the help documentation about upgrading to the new release.

3) If the upgrade process involves changing a file's contents, such as the deb source repos in /etc/apt/sources.lists, then the update manager should attempt to do that on its own (with a Yes/No confirmation by the user). This step is a bit far-fetched, but (1) and (2) are of utmost importance.

4) There should be a link to the help documentation about the new release and how to upgrade, I mean it should refer to the latest supported or LTS release, for example: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardyUpgrades
In that link, there should be a section for end-of-life upgrades (as I mentioned in a note above), with enough information to at least attempt an upgrade, even on an unsupported release.

See the 5 comments or propose a solution >>

clear istalation instructions  
Written by dr what the 8 Jul 08 at 02:56. New
to provide a set of clear installation/upgrade instructions for idiots like me who don't have live cd or update manager and may have an old copy installed and running on multi boot but cant access ubuntu due to password failure. sorry if there is something but I cant find it also to be able to edit the title if you misspell it
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #10864
Written by dr what the 8 Jul 08 at 02:56.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #10864 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 4 comments or propose a solution >>

No language detector when ubuntu requests password  
Written by snake444 the 20 Mar 13 at 07:28. New
When you need to identify yourself as the administrator, for example when updating packages, you dont know in what language you are typing the password, and it is annoying
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Solution #1: Add an indicator that shows the language you are typing
Written by snake444 the 20 Mar 13 at 07:28.
Like if your caps lock is on, it writes you that your caps lock key is on. so just write like this: Your typing language is : English.
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Solution #2: Universal Access Language Indicator
Written by chrisxsterling the 4 Apr 13 at 07:19.
Add an option to allow the Universal Access icon to display the current language in the form of a flag or abbreviated text.
Note: I use GNOME3 so I am used to seeing that icon up in the corner and thought that would be appropriate.

See the 2 comments or propose a solution >>

Push Security Updates  
Written by -randombrainstorm the 30 Jul 08 at 16:33. New
Whenever new security updates are available, your machine is notified immediately(Optional, disabled by default).

Optional in Software Sources > Updates > Automatic Updates > Immediate Security updates.


This would be the equivalent of 'apt-get update' for security updates the moment they are made available,
so there would be a minimal time-frame in which a security update isn't applied.

The implementation of how this would be done is open for discussion..
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #11657
Written by -randombrainstorm the 30 Jul 08 at 16:33.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #11657 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 8 comments or propose a solution >>

Protect package/system upgrades from power outage  
Written by 10110111 the 24 Mar 10 at 13:46. New
Currently, if a package/the system is being upgraded, loss of power can bring the system to non-booting state because of half-upgraded/half-installed packages (especially the system ones).
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Solution #1: Make backups before upgrading package
Written by 10110111 the 24 Mar 10 at 13:46.
Before upgrading the package, the package manager should make backups of the package AND its dependencies (i.e. move them to backup directory) and mark the system as 'not completed update'. Then, if the system crashes/loses power/etc., ramdisk will see that 'not completed update' mark and will offer to restore it from backup.
After successful upgrade, sync() should be done, and the system marked as updated.
-63
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Solution #2: Install package to seperate directory first
Written by danielt998 the 24 Mar 10 at 17:36.
Install the software to a seperate directory and then copy it to usr/bin or wherever
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Solution #3: Make snapshot on filesystem level
Written by dino the 25 Mar 10 at 07:58.
Saving the packages as backup still might end into a unbootable system. Install scripts may be get aborted while running leaving files corrupted behind - with no way to detect which files.

With a snapshot of the whole filesystem, at no time during the backup the system becomes into an unbootable state.

This does not take as much space as its sounds, if the snapshot is handled incremental.

Technical solutions:
* btrfs does have good snapshot support buildin
* LVM
* ...


Pro:
* much more robust
* fast
* less diskspace for backup needed

Con:
* only works well if /home is on another partition
(otherwise userdata will be reset as well)
* does not work out-of-the-box with ext3/4

Taking the snapshot this way is really fast! Also this does NOT take up diskspace. Only the changes done while upgrading takes diskspace.

For more information check:
http://blogs.igalia.com/aperez/2008/06/more-btrfs-goodness-snapshots/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy-on-write
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Solution #4: Use logging to allow recovery on restart
Written by ChrisB the 27 Mar 10 at 13:39.
If your computer loses power during an upgrade, when its restarted this should be detected by checking the logs. The problem should then be rectified by re-installing half installed packages and completing the upgrade process.

This should all happen behind the scenes in the boot process to provide minimum disturbance to the user.

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Solution #5: Use a 'System Restore Point' system
Written by tomjb24 the 3 Apr 10 at 10:02.
Create automatic system restore points before updating system files - and give users the option a creating a manual restore point, restore through recovery mode if unbootable
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Solution #6: Include a Revision Control System in APT
Written by janozaurus the 18 Apr 10 at 20:44.
There's a package etchkeeper that keeps /etc in a git or hg repository. APT/Dpkg does already share some features of RCSs (tracks how files belong to packages, can keep old versions, keeps meta data).

Why not improve APT to allow rolling back a broken upgrade/install?

See the 6 comments or propose a solution >>

The most stable possible version  
Written by Geeky the 29 Jul 08 at 12:32. New
When the final release of Intrepid Ibex will be ready on October 30 th.No automatic message has to appear in Synaptic or the other one.
The news will be known by information on Internet, official announcement, etc....
The only way to upgrade will be to type in a terminal:
" Sudo apt-get dist-upgrade"
So,only most motivated people, Geeks ,...Will upgrade to Intrepid Ibex .They will report the main bugs via Launchpad.
And only when the bigs Bugs will be fixed, the automatic message will appear as before.The period(delay) will be from 2 weeks to one month.
The servers will be less saturated and Ubuntu 8.10 will win in stability.
The most famous example is Mozilla who has waited for firefox version 3 upgrade in version 3.1 to propose the automatic update of version 2 for the general public.
Sorry for my English !
-12
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #11621
Written by Geeky the 29 Jul 08 at 12:32.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #11621 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 3 comments or propose a solution >>

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