Public bug reported: System: ubuntu mate 16.04 with apt version 1.2.19
Problem: On a desktop system I noticed that the package lists were being updated very infrequently. This is apparently because on most days the apt- daily.service is triggered early in the boot process when the network is not up. Since the timer is set to run approximately every 12 hours, and the system is only on for a few days, the timer tends to lapse over night and is then triggered as soon as the system is booted the following day. Also, `apt-get update` returns true regardless of whether there is a network connection, so the apt.systemd.daily script reports success and updates the timestamp file regardless. This means that if the system is only used for a few hours per day the package list may not be updated for many days until the timer lapses while the system happens to be already switched on. System journal showing typical output during boot process: Feb 10 14:38:13 desktop systemd[1]: Starting Daily apt activities... Feb 10 14:38:13 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: verbose level 3 ... [truncated] ... Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: + apt-get -y update Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Err:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com' Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Err:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/welcome/ubuntu xenial InRelease Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Temporary failure resolving 'ppa.launchpad.net' Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Err:3 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Temporary failure resolving 'gb.archive.ubuntu.com' Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Err:4 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Temporary failure resolving 'gb.archive.ubuntu.com' Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Err:5 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease Feb 10 14:38:14 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Temporary failure resolving 'gb.archive.ubuntu.com' Feb 10 14:38:17 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: Reading package lists... Feb 10 14:38:17 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InRelease Temporary fa Feb 10 14:38:17 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/InRelease Temp Feb 10 14:38:17 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-backports/InRelease Te Feb 10 14:38:17 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-security/InRelease Tempo Feb 10 14:38:17 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate-dev/welcome/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InR Feb 10 14:38:17 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead. Feb 10 14:38:17 desktop apt.systemd.daily[3679]: + debug_echo download updated metadata (success). Work-around: I have worked around this by creating a file /etc/systemd/system/apt- daily.service.d/network.conf containing the following options: Wants=network-online.target After=network-online.target Maybe there is a better way to specify unit dependencies or to edit the timer so it will delay on startup, but this seems to fix the issue for me. Related bug: This other bug might be related, but it states that it causes apt-get to hang indefinitely, which I have not seen on my system. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1636049 ** Affects: apt (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1667769 Title: apt-daily.service running too early in boot process To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1667769/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
