(solved) update manager problem (solved)

[oldwierdal]

The link to update manager will launch and show the updates, etc. But, when I click on 'Install Updates' nothing happens. However, command line does work, e.g. "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade #-y". Synaptic also works fine. I'm running on Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia 64-bit, with Linux Kernel 4.15.0-45-generic x86_64, and MATE 1.18.0
Does anyone have a clue what might be causing this?

Thanks,
owa

[gm10]

If you right-click the tray icon > Information after a failed update it might tell you. A blind guess would be that you disabled the PolicyKit Authentication Agent in Mint menu > Startup Applications

[oldwierdal]

Hey, gm10, thanks for the tip. And you were right, it was disabled. Of course, I'll have to wait till Update Manager has updates before I can test it. But, you are probably right. It almost always is something small and obscure that can cause us to chase our tails until we just stop and ask for help. I will post back.
Thanks again.

owa

[oldwierdal]

As I said, posting back about this. And you were completely right. Ya dun good, Pilgrum. Ya dun real good. I re-enabled PolicyKit Authentication Agent in Mint menu > Startup Applications and went to bed. This morning, after the machine booted up, I opened Update Manager and clicked on 'Install Updates,' and we're back in business.
So, thanks again for your help. Since I had an easy workaround with a little bin/bash script, I've been able to work around this problem, but it is good to finally get that resolved.; cat /usr/local/bin/updatesys
#!/bin/bash
# This script will perform an update/upgrade using apt-get. This is a reliable alternative for MintUpdate. Although MintUpdate is the prefered method of update, and, although it is rare, there are occasionally updates which do not appear in MintUpdate but do appear using apt-get update && apt-get upgrade. So, I will run this little script from time to time, just to see if there are some hidden updates available. Support claims that this does not, and should not happen! Yet..... ##
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

owa

[gm10]

Although MintUpdate is the prefered method of update, and, although it is rare, there are occasionally updates which do not appear in MintUpdate
[...]
Support claims that this does not, and should not happen! Yet.....

Oh this can very well happen. Blacklist, levels and other filter settings in Update Manager's preferences aside, which are all under the control of you as the user, Update Manager also contains functionality for the Mint team to block certain updates which we determined to be harmful for your system.

So Update Manager is indeed the preferred method of updating your Linux Mint.

[oldwierdal]

Oh this can very well happen. Blacklist, levels and other filter settings in Update Manager's preferences aside, which are all under the control of you as the user, Update Manager also contains functionality for the Mint team to block certain updates which we determined to be harmful for your system.

So Update Manager is indeed the preferred method of updating your Linux Mint.

I guess I have gotten a bit complacent. It has been so long since I've experienced any problems that I haven't even given it much thought. Thanks for the tip. I really need to be more careful. But, seriously, I can't remember the last time the LinuxMint team released a really serious problem upon the world. And I've been using LM exclusively now for 10 years or more. That long without problems tends to lead to complacency, I guess.

owa

[gm10]

But, seriously, I can't remember the last time the LinuxMint team released a really serious problem upon the world. And I've been using LM exclusively now for 10 years or more. That long without problems tends to lead to complacency, I guess.

Hah, the functionality isn't for our own updates, we tend to fix them rather than block them. It's for upstream updates that we do not control.

For example, on your LM18.3 the last update to get blocked via Update Manager was a certain version of the virtualbox package. That one is no longer the most recent version, so no worries, you didn't break anything by using the command line.

There is no current update being blocked on either LM18.3 or LM19.x at this time. Doesn't mean it won't become necessary again in the future.