update-notifier does not hide after update when less-than-critical updates not applied

Binary package hint: update-notifier

The update-notifier icon does not hide itself if an update is done where advertised less-than-critical updates are explicitly left out of an update. This results in the icon being left on the screen perpetually, which very much reduces its usefulness - it it's always there, what triggers me to click it to find out that updates are available?

For example, I applied a bunch of critical updates this morning that included the latest update for Thunderbird. However, there was also one "recommended" update, ubufox (0.4-beta1-0ubuntu4), that I really didn't care about at the time, so I unchecked it. I then installed the remaining critical updates.

One the update was complete, I closed the update manager and found that the update notifier was still hanging around on my taskbar. This now means that unless I take the "recommended" update, I effectively lose automatic notification of updates through update-notifier. I'll be stuck with a large orange blob on my screen that tells me nothing (without manually checking) that new updates are available because of this one recommended update that I didn't want to take.

update-notifier is in itself a good idea. More importantly than just deciding on which updates to apply, it shows me *when* I have to make a decision about what gets updated. However, this behaviour seems a little off. If I explicitly decide (by unchecking a box in the update manager) to leave out an update that isn't hugely important for whatever reason, then having the update notification hang around to show the update I left out seems a little off.

A better option might be to show the update notification as normal and have it persist until the user has at least opened up the update manager to see what's available. Then, if an update is performed successfully but one or more updates are left out, it would seem to make sense for the notification to hide itself as the user has chosen not to accept the update(s) at that time.

This doesn't mean that the update(s) refused earlier by the user shouldn't be offered again when the next round of critical updates come along (reminders are always good), but the notification of updates should go away - consider me notified, already!

If this behaviour is definitely wanted so that most people keep their system up to date, then I understand. However, at least provide an option in preferences where updates that are explicitly turned down won't cause the notification to persist forever.

This is not bug #33861. When updates are performed, the notifier shows only the remaining updates.

This is not bug #102762, which is a wish-list entry to stop and start the update notifier process to save resources on less capable machines.

Anyway, I guess I'm going to go update ubufox now to get rid of the nag icon...

Seen on:
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Xubuntu 7.10
Ubuntu 7.10

Severity:
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This is not a severe problem. It does not hinder the update mechanism in any way. However, it does reduce the effectiveness of update-notifier in indicating new updates. This could even be a wish-list item, but I'd argue for slightly higher severity based on the reduction in notification effectiveness.

How to reproduce:
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1. When updates are available, update-notifier will appear. Click on the notifier to pull up the Update Manager.
2. Deselect at least one update. Click "Install Updates" to fetch and install the remaining updates.
3. Once the updates are complete, the update(s) left out will still be shown. Close the update manager.
4. The update notification icon will still be visible. Its tooltip will show the number of updates that were left out.

This is 100% reproducible.

Preferred operation:
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1. When updates are available, update-notifier will appear. Click on the notifier to pull up the Update Manager.
2. Deselect at least one update. Click "Install Updates" to fetch and install the remaining updates.
3. Once the updates are complete, the update(s) left out will still be shown. Close the update manager.

The important part:

4: When Update Manager is closed after a successful update, the update notification will be hidden until the next round of updates arrive.