[Bug 1815494] Re: May remove autoremovable non-kernel packages matching pattern from APT::VersionedKernelPackages

[Balint Reczey]

** Description changed:

+ [Impact]
+ 
+ * Non-kernel related autoremovable packages may be removed by unattended-upgrades due to their name matching generic patterns like '.*-modules' which should be applied to versioned kernel packages only.
+ * The fix corrects the way those patterns are handled.
+ 
+ [Test Case]
+ 
+ * test/test_remove_unused.py checks for correct pattern usage now.
+ 
+ [Regression Potential]
+ 
+ * Unattended-upgrades may stop removing autoremovable kernels, but the
+ tests also contain cases covering this and u-u's kernel autoremoval
+ still works.
+ 
+ [Original Bug Text]
+ 
  Unattended-upgrades and Update Manager use the patterns from the
  APT::VersionedKernelPackages list directly for finding kernel packages
  to remove while APT uses patterns by attaching version and flavor to
  them.
  
  As a result in APT's script ".*-modules" becomes
  "^.*-modules-4\.15\.0-45-generic$":
  
  ...
-         for package in $(apt-config dump --no-empty --format '%v%n' 'APT::VersionedKernelPackages'); do
-                 for kernel in $kernels; do
-                         echo "   \"^${package}-${kernel}$\";"
- 		done
+         for package in $(apt-config dump --no-empty --format '%v%n' 'APT::VersionedKernelPackages'); do
+                 for kernel in $kernels; do
+                         echo "   \"^${package}-${kernel}$\";"
+   done
  ...
  
  In unattended-upgrades and update-manager ".*-modules" is used directly
  for matching and may false  identify autoremovable packages as kernel-
  related ones and remove them (of just offer the removal in case of
  update-manager):
  
  ...
  Removing unused kernel packages: extra-cmake-modules
  marking extra-cmake-modules for removal
  (Reading database ... 31149 files and directories currently installed.)
  Removing extra-cmake-modules (5.44.0-0ubuntu1) ...
  Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ...
  Packages that were successfully auto-removed: extra-cmake-modules
  ...

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1815494

Title:
  May remove autoremovable non-kernel packages matching pattern from
  APT::VersionedKernelPackages

Status in unattended-upgrades package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in update-manager package in Ubuntu:
  New
Status in unattended-upgrades source package in Cosmic:
  Fix Committed

Bug description:
  [Impact]

  * Non-kernel related autoremovable packages may be removed by unattended-upgrades due to their name matching generic patterns like '.*-modules' which should be applied to versioned kernel packages only.
  * The fix corrects the way those patterns are handled.

  [Test Case]

  * test/test_remove_unused.py checks for correct pattern usage now.

  [Regression Potential]

  * Unattended-upgrades may stop removing autoremovable kernels, but the
  tests also contain cases covering this and u-u's kernel autoremoval
  still works.

  [Original Bug Text]

  Unattended-upgrades and Update Manager use the patterns from the
  APT::VersionedKernelPackages list directly for finding kernel packages
  to remove while APT uses patterns by attaching version and flavor to
  them.

  As a result in APT's script ".*-modules" becomes
  "^.*-modules-4\.15\.0-45-generic$":

  ...
          for package in $(apt-config dump --no-empty --format '%v%n' 'APT::VersionedKernelPackages'); do
                  for kernel in $kernels; do
                          echo "   \"^${package}-${kernel}$\";"
    done
  ...

  In unattended-upgrades and update-manager ".*-modules" is used
  directly for matching and may false  identify autoremovable packages
  as kernel-related ones and remove them (of just offer the removal in
  case of update-manager):

  ...
  Removing unused kernel packages: extra-cmake-modules
  marking extra-cmake-modules for removal
  (Reading database ... 31149 files and directories currently installed.)
  Removing extra-cmake-modules (5.44.0-0ubuntu1) ...
  Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ...
  Packages that were successfully auto-removed: extra-cmake-modules
  ...

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