Ubuntu
update-manager package

UpdateManager does not work behind proxy in many cases

Bug #1777428 reported by Erik Devriendt
20
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
update-manager (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

update-manager does not work behind a proxy in many cases.
reason:
update-manager calls method init_proxy() in UpdateManager/Core/utils.py.
This method does not implement what is described in its documentation string:
1. the implementation does not check the http_proxy environment variable
2. it tries to read the file /root/.synaptic/synaptic.conf, but due to the access rights drwx------ on the '/root' directory, it can't read the file, unless the user is exactly 'root', but that is rightly completely discouraged by Ubuntu.

The only option that works is the addition of Acquire::http::Proxy to some config file in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d

It means that update-manager does not work when the user has added proxy settings in its Preferences.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: python3-update-manager 1:18.04.11.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-23.25-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-23-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: MATE
Date: Mon Jun 18 13:37:42 2018
GsettingsChanges:
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'window-height' b'671'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'first-run' b'false'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'window-width' b'898'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'launch-time' b'int64 1529319882'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-05-15 (34 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: update-manager
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Revision history for this message
Erik Devriendt (erik-devriendt) wrote :
Brian Murray (brian-murray)
tags: added: rls-cc-incoming
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in update-manager (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)
tags: added: rls-cc-notfixing
removed: rls-cc-incoming
Revision history for this message
Julian Andres Klode (juliank) wrote :

I think we missed forwarding the proxy setting to aptdaemon when update-manager switched to that. That said, aptdaemon's proxy support is even more rudimentary than update-manager's: It only supports one proxy. update-manager at least has http and https proxies; apt itself supports proxies configured per host.

Regarding init_proxy():

1. The init_proxy() method initializes the http{s,}_proxy variables from apt.conf files, if there are any. So it does not need to check the variable, as it writes it if needed (now, what should take precedence - general proxy settings or package manager proxy settings is an entirely different topic!)

2. update-manager's reading of synaptic.conf is irrelevant, it's old legacy code.

3. update-manager has no way of configuring a proxy other than apt.conf entries. If you are talking about your user (gnome) preferences, then those affect your user session, not package management.

Revision history for this message
Mike Bruins (bruins) wrote :

Hi. I note the not fixing tag was added to this bug. Please may I know why? I have this issue. Is there a work around?

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