Update Manager -- Not Another Good Idea

Later versions of Mythbuntu come with a version of the Update Manager that is configured to pop up a window and ask the user if they want to perform the updates on the spot. I suppose this could be construed as desirable behavior in some instances but it will come as a huge surprise to anyone using Mythbuntu.

The Update Manager pops up at some random time, when it decides that updates are available or it is time to nag the user, and is given the focus, as a consequence. However, the Myth frontend application remains in the foreground thereby obscuring the Update Manager. This effectively redirects keyboard input to a hidden application which has no idea what to do with it. The viewer is frantically pushing keys on the remote contro, to get their program to pause, rewind, skip commercials, etc., etc. but to no avail. They have no idea that the Update Manager is sucking up all of their key presses and throwing them in the trash, because it is invisible, so they think the system has crashed. Its all pretty comical.

There are two ways to disable the update-manager popup. The first is from the Mythbuntu system, using the gconf-editor application. This secret application allows you to change Gnome desktop settings. You may have to install it (since it is not installed by default) using the package manager or via:

     sudo apt-get install gconf-editor

Once you've installed the editor, you can pick it from the System menu, if it is there, or launch it from a command window via:

     gconf-editor&

The editor window will appear. You should navigate your way through the tree to the apps/update-notifier settings. There you will see a setting named "auto_launch" which has a checkbox for its value. Uncheck that box. Even if the box isn't checked, check it and uncheck it. This will acutally force the setting to be written to the configuration, which it probably wasnt't before. The default behavior (always do whatever is most annoying) needs to be overridden, which it will be when you exit from the editor window.

The alternative method is to run this command, from a SSH terminal session, while you are logged in as the user the normally runs the Myth frontend (this is very important):

     gconftool -s --type bool /apps/update-notifier/auto_launch false

Note that, if you run this command as root or some other user, since the Gnome settings are stored in the user's home directory, the auto launch flag will not have any effect on the session that runs the Myth frontend (i.e. the annoying behavior will still be with us).

However, you may want to run this command while logged in as root, so that when you log in as root (you did remember to set the root password, above, didn't you) you won't be annoyed by the Update Manager either.

You can check that the auto launch flag has been properly set by looking in the home directory of the user. Doing:

     ls -l /home/mythuser/.gconf/apps/update-notifier

Should show something like:

     -rw-r--r-- 1 mythuser mythuser    113 2009-09-11 09:15 %gconf.xml

If you display this file, you should see something like:

     <?xml version="1.0"?>
     <gconf>
       <entry name="auto_launch" mtime="1252674870" type="bool" value="false"/>
     </gconf>

The Update Manager also comes preconfigured to nag the user in other ways, besides the popup that is disabled above. For example, it will periodically pop up a modal dialog box to show the user a list of updates and system upgrades. The dialog box is not hidden but, even if the user can figure out how to move the mouse over the dialog box (mostly, the mouse is hidden, under the Mythbuntu frontend application), you probably don't want them applying the updates or upgrading the system by accident.

The best approach, in our opinion, is to launch the Update Manager from the System menu and the click on the Settings button. From the dialog box that pops up, change the "Automatically check for updates" field to "Never" and the "Notify me of a new Ubuntu version" to "Never". When the windge dialog box that says you must check for updates manually appears, check the box about never showing me this again Once you close this final dialog box and exit the Update Manager, you should experience no further problems.