[Bug 1693900] Re: apt-get update should return exit code != 0 on error

[Jens Elkner]

Actually this is the problem: Users think, their system is up-to-date,
but it is not for sure because a site failed to respond. Therefore only
if _all_ sites answered the request properly, apt-get should return 0.
If not, it should return a specified return code, which lets the callee
know, that there was a problem [and imply, that a subsequent apt-get
upgrade might bring the system to the latest supported state, or not].
If the exit code for such situations is documented properly, the tool
can still decide, whether to run the upgrade or would be bredless art.

BTW: It doesn't really matter, what error (whether temp. DNS, LDAP
lookup, network, etc.) prevented a successful update. Fact is, that
there was an error and this needs to be communicated. CLI tools do that
via exit code.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1693900

Title:
  apt-get update should return exit code != 0 on error

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  When running 'apt-get update' (e.g. on a container install post-
  install script), apt-get return with exit code 0, even so it wasn't
  able to "update" properly. E.g.:

  + apt-get update
  Err:1 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
    Temporary failure resolving 'de.archive.ubuntu.com'
  Err:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease
    Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com'
  Err:3 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
    Temporary failure resolving 'de.archive.ubuntu.com'
  Reading package lists... Done
  W: Failed to fetch http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'de.archive.ubuntu.com'
  W: Failed to fetch http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'de.archive.ubuntu.com'
  W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-security/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'security.ubuntu.com'
  W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

  It should be corrected to return useful exit code, so that scripts can
  take the appropriate actions ...

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