[Bug 1446552] [NEW] Unattended upgrades handles new dependencies inconsistently

[Sjoerd Job Postmus]

Public bug reported:

When an installed package adds a dependency that is not yet installed on
the system, this sometimes causes the package to not be installed,
depending on the origin containing the original candidate version.

I believe that the problem is in /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade, line 102.
Here a check is performed to prevent downgrades. However, as a side
effect it also prevents adjusting the candidate version for packages
that have not yet been installed (because pkg.is_upgradable is False for
packages that have not been installed).

This makes updating private packages using unattended-upgrades
troublesome, especially when new dependencies have been added. Currently
it requires repackaging the dependencies with a slightly higher version
number than what is in the main repository, and then hosting them on the
private repository, which is time consuming and error-prone. With the
included patch, it is sufficient to just host the same version on the
private repository.

** Affects: unattended-upgrades (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Patch added: "also_adjust_candidate_version_for_non_installed_packages.patch"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1446552/+attachment/4380466/+files/also_adjust_candidate_version_for_non_installed_packages.patch

** Description changed:

  When an installed package adds a dependency that is not yet installed on
  the system, this sometimes causes the package to not be installed,
  depending on the origin containing the original candidate version.
  
  I believe that the problem is in /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade, line 102.
  Here a check is performed to prevent downgrades. However, as a side
  effect it also prevents adjusting the candidate version for packages
  that have not yet been installed (because pkg.is_upgradable is False for
  packages that have not been installed).
  
  This makes updating private packages using unattended-upgrades
  troublesome, especially when new dependencies have been added. Currently
  it requires repackaging the dependencies with a slightly higher version
- number than what is in the main repository, and than hosting them on the
+ number than what is in the main repository, and then hosting them on the
  private repository, which is time consuming and error-prone. With the
  included patch, it is sufficient to just host the same version on the
  private repository.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1446552

Title:
  Unattended upgrades handles new dependencies inconsistently

Status in unattended-upgrades package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  When an installed package adds a dependency that is not yet installed
  on the system, this sometimes causes the package to not be installed,
  depending on the origin containing the original candidate version.

  I believe that the problem is in /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade, line
  102. Here a check is performed to prevent downgrades. However, as a
  side effect it also prevents adjusting the candidate version for
  packages that have not yet been installed (because pkg.is_upgradable
  is False for packages that have not been installed).

  This makes updating private packages using unattended-upgrades
  troublesome, especially when new dependencies have been added.
  Currently it requires repackaging the dependencies with a slightly
  higher version number than what is in the main repository, and then
  hosting them on the private repository, which is time consuming and
  error-prone. With the included patch, it is sufficient to just host
  the same version on the private repository.

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