Lite Widget reports "System Never Updated"

[Daveyboy]

Despite the fact that I always ensure that my system (lite 5. 8) is always updated regularly the Lite Widget continues to report "System Never Updated" - anybody able to advise why please

[stevef]

Do you routinely save the update reports ?
If so, post up the most recent one you have.

Otherwise, next time there is an update can you save and post the report please ?

[Daveyboy]

Hi Steve


I'm sorry, I don't normally save the reports however, I will do at next update and post up as requested

[Daveyboy]

Steve
No sooner had I sent my last message a "new update available" flashed up on screen - did you order this LOL - content of report is as follows :-



Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Calculating upgrade...
The following packages will be upgraded:
  python3-pil
1 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
Need to get 366 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 python3-pil amd64 7.0.0-4ubuntu0.7 [366 kB]
Fetched 366 kB in 1s (620 kB/s)
(Reading database ...
(Reading database ... 5%
(Reading database ... 10%
(Reading database ... 15%
(Reading database ... 20%
(Reading database ... 25%
(Reading database ... 30%
(Reading database ... 35%
(Reading database ... 40%
(Reading database ... 45%
(Reading database ... 50%
(Reading database ... 55%
(Reading database ... 60%
(Reading database ... 65%
(Reading database ... 70%
(Reading database ... 75%
(Reading database ... 80%
(Reading database ... 85%
(Reading database ... 90%
(Reading database ... 95%
(Reading database ... 100%
(Reading database ... 387382 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../python3-pil_7.0.0-4ubuntu0.7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking python3-pil:amd64 (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.7) over (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.6) ...
Setting up python3-pil:amd64 (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.7) ...

[stevef]

That looks fine.

I understand that the widget checks the apt history log to determine when the most recent update was.
Can you open a terminal by pressing 'Ctrl' 'Alt' and 't' at the same time.

In the window that opens paste the following commands and press enter after each
(This could be done in one command but the forum won't let me post that)

Code:

cd /var

Code:

cd log

Code:

cd apt

Code:

cat history.log | grep End-Date

This should show a list of dates and times.  Please post back with what you get.

[Daveyboy]

Info as requested



dave  ~  cd /var
dave  /  var  cd log
dave  /  var  log  cd apt
dave  /  var  log  apt  cat history.log | grep End-Date
dave  /  var  log  apt  0  1 


HOWEVER
I've just noticed that now the widget is currently reporting "Update Staus - 16 Hours since your last update" which is indeed correct - Go Figure ?

[stevef]

Don't understand what is going on.  On my system I get

Code:

cat history.log | grep End-Date
End-Date: 2022-12-01  05:51:49
End-Date: 2022-12-01  13:19:24
End-Date: 2022-12-01  19:22:43
End-Date: 2022-12-01  19:25:04
End-Date: 2022-12-05  15:09:11
End-Date: 2022-12-05  20:37:52
End-Date: 2022-12-08  09:57:59
End-Date: 2022-12-09  05:46:23
End-Date: 2022-12-12  21:54:51
End-Date: 2022-12-14  05:22:10

These are all date/times when the apt-get operation ended.  The widget picks out the most recent date and time for use in the Last Update report.

The return code 0 1 in your case suggests that the file 'history.log' was searched but the text 'End-Date' wasn't found.
This would have explained why widget was reporting your system was never updated.

Maybe repeating the search now might find the text.

[Daveyboy]

Just repeated your instructions with exactly the same results - widget now reporting "21 hours since your last update" so appears to have rectified itself.


Would you like me to mark this as SOLVED as my initial enquiry was more out of curiosity than anything else and I wouldn't want anyone wasting too much time on this ?

[Daveyboy]

Steve


I think I've got to the root of the problem - ME - after I sent my last message I received a notification of further updates available so proceeded to install these as normal. I then decided to run your instructions once more for curiosities sake and it reported "End-Date: 2022-12-14  18:32:29".


I assumed - obviously wrongly - that this information updated whether the Widget was displayed or not and as I have it "Disabled" (the clues in the name Doh) most of the time it couldn't possibly report historical information.


My apologies for wasting your time but thank you for trying your best to educate and idiot LOL

[stevef]

I think your assumption is correct.  As far as I am aware, the apt history.log files are maintained by the apt process regardless of whether or not widget is enabled. Widget (if enabled) looks there to find when updates have happened and displays the time since the most recent.

I don't have widget enabled, but the apt logs are still up to date - here's mine now showing an update just completed at 20:41:51

Code:

End-Date: 2022-12-01  05:51:49
End-Date: 2022-12-01  13:19:24
End-Date: 2022-12-01  19:22:43
End-Date: 2022-12-01  19:25:04
End-Date: 2022-12-05  15:09:11
End-Date: 2022-12-05  20:37:52
End-Date: 2022-12-08  09:57:59
End-Date: 2022-12-09  05:46:23
End-Date: 2022-12-12  21:54:51
End-Date: 2022-12-14  05:22:10
End-Date: 2022-12-14  20:41:51

The fact that your history.log file had no dates in is a mystery (at the moment).
The apt log gets archived every month, but widget will look through the current log first and if it can't find a valid date there it then scans through  the archived logs until it finds one.

Do you run a script to clear logs by any chance ?
Perhaps the one in lite tweaks ?

If you did that would explain the symptom.