I always use: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
at the command line. "dist-upgrade" is equivalent to "upgrade" + it removes obsolete packages. When upgrade gets back at the command prompt, the upgrade process has finished (reasonably). Ioannis Vranos http://www.cppsoftware.net On Sat, Apr 13, 2013 at 8:28 PM, Aere Greenway <a...@dvorak-keyboards.com> wrote: > All: > > I have been observing a problem where on slow (450 megahertz) machines, the > software updater window disappears, and the updates are applied in the > background, with no notification of completion. > > I tried applying updates using terminal commands: > > sudo apt-get update > sudo apt-get upgrade > > These would start out with me being able to see what was going on, but it > would come back to the command prompt during the trigger processing (and new > commands could be entered), while processing continued in the background. > Again, there was no notification of completion. > > More updates were available recently, so I tried it again on my 450 > megahertz machine. > > I used the terminal commands (as above), and the output was encouraging, > because I could see the progress of what was going on. > > But then it got to the mkinitramfs step, and control returned to the > command-prompt (I could enter commands), without it proceeding farther. > > Repeating the "sudo apt-get upgrade" step responded with something about the > (new kernel) change being "held-back". > > This made me lose all trust in the terminal method of updating, because when > I apply updates, I want them all to be applied - not just some of them. > > So I ran the software updater, and it showed that the kernel update still > needed to be applied. > > The cursor on the software updater window showed as being busy, and stayed > that way for a long time. I clicked the "Apply Updates" button (or whatever > it is called), but that never seemed to get going, and at one point the > software updater crashed. > > I was hopeful I could submit a crash report, but updating appeared to be > going on in the background, and apport was consuming a lot of memory, to the > point that constant swapping started to occur. I finally (reluctantly) had > to kill the apport task, and (eventually) the software updater task as well. > > At this point, I feared I had lost this particular system. > > On rebooting, if I ran the software updater, it showed that the kernel > updates still needed to be applied, but the cursor on the software updater > window remained busy, for a really long time. > > A check of the Task Manager window showed Update Manager using time, as well > as apt-check. > > Remembering an earlier e-mail about an apt-check (correction - that e-mail > said "dpkg") needing to complete (and taking as long as 90 minutes to do > so), I left it running, and went to do something else. > > When I returned a half-hour later, the CPU-usage was back to an idle state, > and the cursor (when on the software updater window) was no longer 'busy'. > > So I clicked the "Apply Updates" button, and 30 seconds or so later, I was > presented with a dialog box to enter my password, which I did. > > But as before, after awhile, the software updater window disappeared. > > But the Task Manager window showed processes running that I could identify > as part of the updating process (such as mkinitramfs), so I just watched it. > > Eventually (after a long time), the CPU-usage went back to an idle-state. > Again, there was no notification of completion. > > When I ran the software updater at that point, it (after checking for > updates) said that a reboot was required for updates to finish, which I > proceeded to do, and now the system appears to be properly updated. > > That's a long story, but with some precision in the description of what > happened. > > So anyway, here is my description of the problem, and what ought to happen: > > Problem: > On slow machines (450 megahertz, single-processor, 512 meg RAM), when you > run the software updater, the software updater window disappears, yet > updates seem to get applied in the background. There is no notification of > the completion of this process. > > 1. The software updater window should not disappear. It should be possible > to monitor the progress of applying the updates. > > 2. There should be some notification of the completion of the update > process, if for some reason it /has/ to run in the background. > > 3. There is a lengthy step performed by the software updater (apt-check) > which runs for a long time (30 minutes, for example). While it is running, > the software updater is not actually usable. If you click the "Apply > Updates" button during this time, you only cause more problems. There is no > progress-meter display. The application appears to be hung. CPU-usages is > at 100%, so it appears the system is hung. This should not happen - really. > > Summary: > > On slow machines, the method of applying software updates is broken, and not > something an ordinary user can deal with, or use with any real chance of > success. > > If you can't update your system, then you system is not supported - despite > what the website may claim. > > I have submitted a bug-report for this, but it has been declared "invalid" > because my machine doesn't have a speed of 1 gigahertz, with 1 gigabytes of > RAM - despite the fact that I was using Lubuntu. > > Here is a link to the bug-report: > > https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1159589 Title: When applying software > updates, updater window disappears > > -- > Sincerely, > Aere > > > -- > Lubuntu-users mailing list > Lubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com > Modify settings or unsubscribe at: > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/lubuntu-users -- Lubuntu-users mailing list Lubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/lubuntu-users
