[Bug 1943189] Re: "cannot refresh whilst network offline" bug
Erich Eickmeyer
1943189 at bugs.launchpad.net
Fri Sep 17 16:11:47 UTC 2021
** Description changed:
+ Impact]
+
In Ubuntu Impish, an issue has been noted in regards to refreshing
packages in Plasma Discover for upgrade or installation. An error
appears upon initialization of the Discover interface:
"cannot refresh whilst network offline"
This will happen regardless of if a system is online or not.
I identified a race condition in which this is occurring on systems
where packagekitd is initialized before the network service is online.
This was a relatively easy fix and required adding one line to the
packagekit.service file:
Wants=network-online.target
This ensures that packagekitd is not initialized prior to being online.
If the 90 second deadline isn't met, then packagekitd will simply not
start as a background process until the user connects to the network and
initializes it via a graphical utility, such as with GNOME Software or
Plasma Discover, both of which initialize packagekitd on a user level.
The attached patch will easily apply the fix via normal Debian packaging
methods.
- Unfortunately, the upstream PackageKit maintainers seem to be unwilling
- to apply this fix themselves, seeing it as not an issue per
- https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/issues/336
+ [Test Plan]
+
+ * Install Kubuntu or Ubuntu Studio
+
+ * While connected to network, Run Discover
+
+ * Discover will complain about "cannot refresh whilst offline", which
+ is being communicated from PackageKit. All functionality in Discover is
+ hindered from this point forward. This is due to a hung packagekitd
+ process which sees the network offline, even though this is false.
+
+ [Where problems could occur]
+
+ * packagekitd's systemd service will time-out after 90 seconds if
+ systemd finds no network, which means any update notifications will not
+ automatically start until packagekitd is manually started. Luckily,
+ Discover and GNOME Software both attempt to start packagekitd for the
+ user when run. I'd consider this to be expected behavior for an offline
+ system. The fix is mostly to prevent the false-negative of the system
+ being offline when it's really not.
+
+ [Other Info]
+
+ * This fix has been accepted upstream by the PackageKit maintainers as a sane workaround for when gio misbehaves or otherwise. It's a decent safety net. https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/pull/506
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.10
Package: packagekit 1.2.2-2ubuntu1 [modified: lib/systemd/system/packagekit.service]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.13.0-14.14-lowlatency 5.13.1
Uname: Linux 5.13.0-14-lowlatency x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu68
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Thu Sep 9 16:34:12 2021
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-03-20 (172 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Studio 21.04 "Hirsute Hippo" - Alpha amd64 (20210320)
SourcePackage: packagekit
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to impish on 2021-06-13 (88 days ago)
** Also affects: packagekit (Ubuntu Focal)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Also affects: packagekit (Ubuntu Hirsute)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1943189
Title:
"cannot refresh whilst network offline" bug
Status in packagekit package in Ubuntu:
Fix Committed
Status in packagekit source package in Focal:
New
Status in packagekit source package in Hirsute:
New
Status in packagekit source package in Impish:
Fix Committed
Bug description:
Impact]
In Ubuntu Impish, an issue has been noted in regards to refreshing
packages in Plasma Discover for upgrade or installation. An error
appears upon initialization of the Discover interface:
"cannot refresh whilst network offline"
This will happen regardless of if a system is online or not.
I identified a race condition in which this is occurring on systems
where packagekitd is initialized before the network service is online.
This was a relatively easy fix and required adding one line to the
packagekit.service file:
Wants=network-online.target
This ensures that packagekitd is not initialized prior to being
online. If the 90 second deadline isn't met, then packagekitd will
simply not start as a background process until the user connects to
the network and initializes it via a graphical utility, such as with
GNOME Software or Plasma Discover, both of which initialize
packagekitd on a user level.
The attached patch will easily apply the fix via normal Debian
packaging methods.
[Test Plan]
* Install Kubuntu or Ubuntu Studio
* While connected to network, Run Discover
* Discover will complain about "cannot refresh whilst offline", which
is being communicated from PackageKit. All functionality in Discover
is hindered from this point forward. This is due to a hung packagekitd
process which sees the network offline, even though this is false.
[Where problems could occur]
* packagekitd's systemd service will time-out after 90 seconds if
systemd finds no network, which means any update notifications will
not automatically start until packagekitd is manually started.
Luckily, Discover and GNOME Software both attempt to start packagekitd
for the user when run. I'd consider this to be expected behavior for
an offline system. The fix is mostly to prevent the false-negative of
the system being offline when it's really not.
[Other Info]
* This fix has been accepted upstream by the PackageKit maintainers as a sane workaround for when gio misbehaves or otherwise. It's a decent safety net. https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/pull/506
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.10
Package: packagekit 1.2.2-2ubuntu1 [modified: lib/systemd/system/packagekit.service]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.13.0-14.14-lowlatency 5.13.1
Uname: Linux 5.13.0-14-lowlatency x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu68
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Thu Sep 9 16:34:12 2021
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-03-20 (172 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Studio 21.04 "Hirsute Hippo" - Alpha amd64 (20210320)
SourcePackage: packagekit
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to impish on 2021-06-13 (88 days ago)
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