This thread explains the changes in 17.x and may be of interest
Yes that explains much. Thank you. Seems the Updater settings have changed from an interval focus to a timeout focus.
Before the design change the Updater always performed an apt-get update at launch and then checked again at the specified interval. Under the previous design many users found the default period excessive and changed to a daily check. Because an apt-get update was always performed at launch, users who regularly powered down their system always saw an update notification the next time they booted their system. Setting the period to daily stopped the excessive checking but there always was at least one check per session. As users who power down often never left their computers on longer than the daily interval, this created an illusion of how the Updater was working.
Now the Updater checks for updates when the specified period is greater than the system uptime and no longer performs an apt-get update upon launch. Users who do not keep their computers on for long periods probably will find the new default of 30 minutes sufficient for most sessions, but if they power down sooner than 30 minutes then they never see a notification.
I help some people who never use their computers for several hours, let alone leave powered on 24/7. The new 30 minute timeout likely will work for them --- most of the time, but sometimes they just check email and power down. On those days they would not see update notifications.
One solution would be leaving the period at daily but using rc.local to create the illusion of the Updater working the same as the previous design:
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echo "apt-get update" | at now + 5 min &>/dev/null
For people with older hardware and slower boot rates, the 5 minute delay should work okay.
The new question is whether under the new design the specified period repeats when a user leaves a computer on several hours. Once uptime is greater than the configured default 30 minutes, does the new Updater recheck every 30 minutes thereafter?
If yes, then that would still be excessive for users who have limited bandwidth, bandwidth caps, or older hardware where the checks might impact desktop usage. In that case, leaving the timeout to daily and using rc.local might be better.
In one of the other threads somebody mentioned that a check box option to force an apt-get update upon launch would be a good compromise between the two designs. Makes sense to me.
