The "Proposed updates" checkbox must be changed

Bug #76279 reported by Ricardo Pérez López
4
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
python-apt (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: update-manager

In Software Sources -> Internet Updates, there's a "Proposed updates" checkbox. Checking it on we include the "edgy-proposed" channel into our sources.list. I propose to change this checkbox (or even remove it completely).

Rationale:

- The proposed updates contains packages which are not fully tested, so an average user could unconsciously install software which leads to instability and system failure.
- The checkbox not warns the user about the above issue.
- The "edgy-proposed" is useful only when you want to test potentially harmful packages, in order to put it in "edgy-updates" or "edgy-security" when those packages are considered stable. An average user typically will not go into that business.
- The user which could be really interested in testing packages, typically has the knowledge of editing his sources.list accordingly.

I propose to do one of the following:

- To add the text "(not recommended)" to the "Proposed updates" checkbox label.
- To remove the "Proposed updates" checkbox completely.
- A pop-up window could appear when the user turn on the checkbox, containing a message like this: "This channel contains untested software which could be potentially dangerous to your system. Are you sure you want to turn it on?".
- To move the checkbox into another, less obvious location (for example, a new tab like the "Statistics" tab, with a warning message and a brief description about the "proposed" intends).

Revision history for this message
Ricardo Pérez López (ricardo) wrote :

Screenshot of the tool, showing "Proposed updates" (unchecked in my system)

Revision history for this message
Ricardo Pérez López (ricardo) wrote :

Any news on this? Anybody sees this as a bug?

Revision history for this message
Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor) wrote :

Right, we could improve the wording a lot. I am open to suggestions.

But removing or hiding the checkbutton is not a good idea, you have to keep the interface consistent.

Popups are nasty and annoying - especially a checbutton should not tigger an alert dialog.

Adding tooltips would require some changes to the underlaying infrastructure since I want to keep the code distro neutral.

Changed in update-manager:
status: Unconfirmed → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor) wrote :

Renamed to "Pre-released updates".

Waiting for mvo merge and upload.

Cheers,

Sebastian

Changed in python-apt:
status: Confirmed → Fix Committed
Changed in python-apt:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
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