[Bug 1889117] [NEW] switch to wget results in no motd-news in clouds

[Andreas Hasenack]

Public bug reported:

cloud-specific motd news relies on the user-agent string cloud_id
/<cloud-name> being included in the user-agent. The server, when
receiving this string, will try to return the cloud-specific index file,
which is `index.txt.<cloud-name>`. If that file doesn't exist, then the
404 error document is returned, which happens to be set to the default
`index.txt` normal motd-news file.

curl happily returns that without flagging this as an error situation (a
404: it needs an extra command-line argument for that). wget, however,
fails without printing the error document:

$ wget -U cloud_id/aws https://motd.ubuntu.com -O-
--2020-07-27 15:45:47--  https://motd.ubuntu.com/
Resolving motd.ubuntu.com (motd.ubuntu.com)... 54.171.230.55, 34.249.145.219, 2a05:d018:91c:3200:c887:2f22:290f:a7c, ...
Connecting to motd.ubuntu.com (motd.ubuntu.com)|54.171.230.55|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
2020-07-27 15:45:48 ERROR 404: Not Found.

Not only that, it will also fail in its exit status:
$ echo $?
8

Whereas curl didn't:
$ curl -A cloud_id/aws https://motd.ubuntu.com
 * "If you've been waiting for the perfect Kubernetes dev solution for
   macOS, the wait is over. Learn how to install Microk8s on macOS."

   https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-install-microk8s-on-macos/
$ echo $?
0
$ 


We need to pass --content-on-error, ignore the error status 8 (or all?) and make it quiet (-q):

$ wget -U cloud_id/aws https://motd.ubuntu.com -O- --content-on-error -q ; echo $?
 * "If you've been waiting for the perfect Kubernetes dev solution for
   macOS, the wait is over. Learn how to install Microk8s on macOS."

   https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-install-microk8s-on-macos/
8

** Affects: base-files (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Andreas Hasenack (ahasenack)
         Status: In Progress

** Changed in: base-files (Ubuntu)
     Assignee: (unassigned) => Andreas Hasenack (ahasenack)

** Changed in: base-files (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => In Progress

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1889117

Title:
  switch to wget results in no motd-news in clouds

Status in base-files package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  cloud-specific motd news relies on the user-agent string cloud_id
  /<cloud-name> being included in the user-agent. The server, when
  receiving this string, will try to return the cloud-specific index
  file, which is `index.txt.<cloud-name>`. If that file doesn't exist,
  then the 404 error document is returned, which happens to be set to
  the default `index.txt` normal motd-news file.

  curl happily returns that without flagging this as an error situation
  (a 404: it needs an extra command-line argument for that). wget,
  however, fails without printing the error document:

  $ wget -U cloud_id/aws https://motd.ubuntu.com -O-
  --2020-07-27 15:45:47--  https://motd.ubuntu.com/
  Resolving motd.ubuntu.com (motd.ubuntu.com)... 54.171.230.55, 34.249.145.219, 2a05:d018:91c:3200:c887:2f22:290f:a7c, ...
  Connecting to motd.ubuntu.com (motd.ubuntu.com)|54.171.230.55|:443... connected.
  HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
  2020-07-27 15:45:48 ERROR 404: Not Found.

  Not only that, it will also fail in its exit status:
  $ echo $?
  8

  Whereas curl didn't:
  $ curl -A cloud_id/aws https://motd.ubuntu.com
   * "If you've been waiting for the perfect Kubernetes dev solution for
     macOS, the wait is over. Learn how to install Microk8s on macOS."

     https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-install-microk8s-on-macos/
  $ echo $?
  0
  $ 

  
  We need to pass --content-on-error, ignore the error status 8 (or all?) and make it quiet (-q):

  $ wget -U cloud_id/aws https://motd.ubuntu.com -O- --content-on-error -q ; echo $?
   * "If you've been waiting for the perfect Kubernetes dev solution for
     macOS, the wait is over. Learn how to install Microk8s on macOS."

     https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-install-microk8s-on-macos/
  8

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