Is auto-refresh reliable ?

snapd
5

I remember having such popups too, but not in the last few days.

The firmware-updater snap is set that way too, and has been updated recently nevertheless. It probably means ubuntu-23.10 is a “subchannel” and when absent the snap system uses the parent channel, that way it remains possible to set a snap to a version that’s specific to 23.10 if need be, by explicitly creating that subchannel… or maybe it’s a way for the snap integrators to have statistics about which OS version is refreshing what. Anyway, despite not being listed in the channels list indeed, I don’t think it’s a mistake.

$ snap changes
ID   Status  Spawn                Ready                Summary
225  Done    today at 04:18 CEST  today at 04:19 CEST  Actualiser automatiquement les paquets Snap "core18", "core22"

I see the core22 snap (on which firefox depends) has been updated recently, maybe that’s a step before updating the browser… but still, why wait several days before updating ? I’m still looking for a reason. Maybe I’ll leave the system running the whole night (with Firefox closed), to see if it changes anything.

6

Finally, the Firefox snap has been auto-refreshed last night (125.0.2-1), but it turns out 125.0.3-1 has just been made available. Anyway… A few snaps still remain that have still not been auto-refreshed for a long time : core20, gnome-42-2204, snap-store and snapd-desktop-integration, sometimes even as far as back in 2023.

One reason I see behind this, is that auto-refreshes are phased to save server bandwidth, but doesn’t it go too far ? It’s nice to provide a confined environment security-wise, but if that’s at the price of keeping outdated software, I’m not sure the result ends up being positive.

7

With regards to firefox not refreshing, you’re probably hitting this bug:

It was supposedly fixed in snapd 2.61 but I still had multiple systems (including fresh installs) that I could only update manually. Since the recent version 2.62 the situation may have improved as I’ve received one prompt that a firefox update was available.

This problem seems to only affect a subset of users (perhaps there is a region-specific component to it). Hopefully it is finally properly fixed with snapd 2.62 because critical browser security fixes can go unpatched for long times without doing manual firefox snap updates, as you’ve experienced.

8

I was observing how auto-refresh works on my system and unfortunately I also can say it is unreliable.

For example I opened the App Center and there were 4 snaps listed for update. Chromium, Firefox, snapd and snapd-desktop-integration I waited for the auto-refresh to kick in to check how will it work. The first window upgraded musicpod, then in the second update window miracle-wm. Finally in the third auto-refresh two of those snaps were updated (snapd and snapd-desktop-integration).

I didn’t run Chromium or Firefox in that time because neither of those are my main Web browser. There were two more auto-refresh sessions and still those two snaps haven’t been updated.

Also I’m using snapd from the edge channel.

snap version 
snap    2.63+git132.g9e7fed9
snapd   2.63+git132.g9e7fed9
series  16
ubuntu  24.04
kernel  6.8.8-x64v3-xanmod1
9

Today another auto-refresh and still Firefox and Chromium haven’t been updated.

10

I’ve had in the past, and still have (from time to time), problems with firefox. For example now, I’m still on version 124. Out of curiosity I wont be manually refreshing, and wait a little more. But previous situation did not fix itself, so I’m afraid that I am again experiencing the problem when if it goes wrong, it stays wrong

$ snap refresh --list
Name                     Version         Rev   Size   Publisher   Notes
chromium                 124.0.6367.118  2842  169MB  canonical✓  -
code                     b58957e6        158   326MB  vscode✓     classic
firefox                  125.0.3-1       4209  282MB  mozilla✓    -
intellij-idea-community  2024.1.1        498   896MB  jetbrains✓  classic

$ snap info firefox
name:      firefox
summary:   Mozilla Firefox web browser
publisher: Mozilla✓
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/firefox
contact:   https://support.mozilla.org/kb/file-bug-report-or-feature-request-mozilla
license:   unset
description: |
  Firefox is a powerful, extensible web browser with support for modern web application
  technologies.
commands:
  - firefox
  - firefox.geckodriver
snap-id:      3wdHCAVyZEmYsCMFDE9qt92UV8rC8Wdk
tracking:     latest/stable
refresh-date: 20 days ago, at 00:15 CEST
channels:
  latest/stable:    125.0.3-1     2024-04-29 (4209) 282MB -
  latest/candidate: 125.0.3-1     2024-04-27 (4209) 282MB -
  latest/beta:      126.0b8-1     2024-05-01 (4225) 284MB -
  latest/edge:      127.0a1       2024-05-03 (4232) 301MB -
  esr/stable:       115.10.0esr-1 2024-04-16 (4126) 256MB -
  esr/candidate:    115.10.0esr-1 2024-04-11 (4126) 256MB -
  esr/beta:         ↑                                     
  esr/edge:         ↑                                     
installed:          124.0.2-1                (4090) 281MB

$ uptime
 14:11:41 up 13 days,  2:21,  1 user,  load average: 2,18, 1,86, 1,74

$ snap changes
ID   Status  Spawn                      Ready                      Summary
498  Done    2 days ago, at 01:25 CEST  2 days ago, at 01:26 CEST  Auto-refresh snap "cups"
499  Done    2 days ago, at 11:19 CEST  2 days ago, at 11:19 CEST  Install "beekeeper-studio" snap from "latest/stable" channel
500  Done    2 days ago, at 12:05 CEST  2 days ago, at 12:06 CEST  Auto-refresh snaps "chromium", "core18"

$ snap version
snap    2.62
snapd   2.62
series  16
ubuntu  22.04
kernel  6.5.0-28-generic
11

Couple auto-refreshes more and still Firefox and Chromium haven’t been updated.

Also I’m on the beta channel of Firefox and in that time there were three releases (126.0b7, 126.0b8 and 126.0b9).

12

I did manual refresh, and now I will check if the problem with auto-refreshing stops, or keeps happening.

13 
$ snap info firefox
name:      firefox
summary:   Mozilla Firefox web browser
publisher: Mozilla✓
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/firefox
contact:   https://support.mozilla.org/kb/file-bug-report-or-feature-request-mozilla
license:   unset
description: |
  Firefox is a powerful, extensible web browser with support for modern web application
  technologies.
commands:
  - firefox
  - firefox.geckodriver
snap-id:      3wdHCAVyZEmYsCMFDE9qt92UV8rC8Wdk
tracking:     latest/stable
refresh-date: 22 days ago, at 00:15 CEST
channels:
  latest/stable:    125.0.3-1     2024-04-29 (4209) 282MB -
  latest/candidate: 125.0.3-1     2024-04-27 (4209) 282MB -
  latest/beta:      126.0b9-1     2024-05-03 (4234) 284MB -
  latest/edge:      127.0a1       2024-05-05 (4238) 301MB -
  esr/stable:       115.10.0esr-1 2024-04-16 (4126) 256MB -
  esr/candidate:    115.10.0esr-1 2024-04-11 (4126) 256MB -
  esr/beta:         ↑                                     
  esr/edge:         ↑                                     
installed:          124.0.2-1                (4090) 281MB -

$ snap changes
ID   Status  Spawn                      Ready                      Summary
498  Done    4 days ago, at 01:25 CEST  4 days ago, at 01:26 CEST  Auto-refresh snap "cups"
499  Done    4 days ago, at 11:19 CEST  4 days ago, at 11:19 CEST  Install "beekeeper-studio" snap from "latest/stable" channel
500  Done    4 days ago, at 12:05 CEST  4 days ago, at 12:06 CEST  Auto-refresh snaps "chromium", "core18"
501  Done    2 days ago, at 22:45 CEST  2 days ago, at 22:45 CEST  Auto-refresh snap "btop"

$ snap refresh --list
Name                     Version         Rev   Size   Publisher   Notes
chromium                 124.0.6367.118  2842  169MB  canonical✓  -
code                     b58957e6        158   326MB  vscode✓     classic
firefox                  125.0.3-1       4209  282MB  mozilla✓    -
intellij-idea-community  2024.1.1        498   896MB  jetbrains✓  classic

syslog:

May  4 22:01:11 pc snapd[2412]: storehelpers.go:923: cannot refresh:
May  4 22:01:11 pc snapd[2412]: snap has no updates available: "bare", "beekeeper-studio", "bitwarden", "btop", "canonical-livepatch", "chromium", "core", "core18", "core20", "core22", "cups", "deja-dup", "firefox", "flameshot", "freecad", "gimp", "gnome-3-28-1804", "gnome-3-38-2004", "gnome-42-2204", "gnome-boxes", "gtk-common-themes", "gtk2-common-themes", "intellij-idea-community", "kde-frameworks-5-96-qt-5-15-5-core20", "kde-frameworks-5-99-qt-5-15-7-core20", "kdenlive", "kf5-5-108-qt-5-15-10-core22", "kf5-5-110-qt-5-15-11-core22", "kf5-5-111-qt-5-15-11-core22", "mesa-core22", "mqtt-explorer", "mumble", "netbeans", "nvim", "onlyoffice-desktopeditors", "rpi-imager", "scrcpy", "snap-store", "snapd", "snapd-desktop-integration", "stellarium-daily", "sublime-text", "superproductivity", "thunderbird"
14

As of now, my Firefox version is still 125.0.2-1, and hasn’t been updated since last time I posted (almost a week ago) when 125.0.3-1 was already available. Other snaps have been updated too, but after a fair amount of time as well… Afaic, firefox and snap-store are still missing updates.

So imho, the problem isn’t limited to Firefox. The fact that it’s a program that remains open for long periods of time can explain its updates being blocked more often than others, but then why no notifications about it ? Auto-refreshes are supposed to happen four times a day, but in terms of real auto-refreshes, is that even once a week ? As for the cause, the true figure remains shrouded in mystery, which I find rather unsettling for a problem that has been lurking for so long, and even more since we’re speaking of updates, possibly security ones, in a packaging system.

I guess it’s too late for Noble, which is likely to remain frozen in that disease, but maybe it should be considered to temporarily revert to traditional distro packaging that works in 24.10, at least for the more security-critical components such as web browsers, until that mess gets sorted out ?

1 Like
15

The problem returned.

Again auto-refresh doesn’t want to update Firefox, but also snap-store and snapd.

16

The snapd snap have been updated yesterday, but Firefox and snap-store are still stuck.

Also snap auto-refresh decided that Chromium will join the party of old snaps.

17

Yeah, FF is still at 125.0.2-1 for me. I’m considering switching to the tarball… at least it says when it’s time to get a new one.

18

The problem with auto-refresh not working as it supposed to is quite recent in my case.

I don’t recall snaps not being updated for several days without any reason. Firefox, Chromium and snap-store all of those were updating without problems. Something must triggered this issue, but I don’t know what.

I have been using the App Center to update snaps and the command line recently. Before I didn’t use either of those and just had the auto-refresh do the thing. Also I’m periodically using a script to remove old snaps (the previous revisions).

19

My firefox is still on version 124. But snap refresh --time looksweird: “next” refresh is a past date. My snaps are not updating - #8 by mrk

it seems like I, just like @Recydywa , fell into some weird system state when auto refresh is not working (reliably). I would like to provide more info but no one seems to be interested, and I do not know what more info to provide

20

I have to trust you on this, because I used to be blindly confident that refreshes were done in time, until recently.

My theory to explain the problem is that there’s a mechanism to save bandwidth on the servers, because well, snaps are biiig, but that makes people that don’t manually refresh wait for much too long. That or something else, but on the server side. They know about it, but they don’t want to change it for some reason, hence their silence. I’ve already argued with a Canonical developer once, who wanted to do something despite opposition “because reasons”, maybe it’s the same guy, who knows.

That’s weird indeed. You made me check that instantly, but it looks good on my side :

$ snap refresh --time
timer: 00:00~24:00/4
last: today at 18:52 CEST
next: tomorrow at 02:55 CEST
21

Another refresh and this time snapd did absolutely nothing even thought there are three snaps to update.

snap refresh --time
timer: 00:00~24:00/4
last: today at 00:38 CEST
next: today at 06:54 CEST

snap refresh --list
Name        Version         Rev   Size   Publisher   Notes
chromium    124.0.6367.155  2846  169MB  canonical✓  -
firefox     126.0b9-1       4246  284MB  mozilla✓    -
snap-store  0+git.eb04cf4   1139  10MB   canonical✓  -
22

You mean a manual snap refresh ?

Btw, a snapd update has been pushed recently. Now I have :

$ snap version
snap    2.62+23.10
snapd   2.62+23.10
series  16
ubuntu  23.10
kernel  6.5.0-28-generic

I guess that version is specific to 23.10, but maybe other specific versions have been pushed for other distro versions…

23

No manual refresh would update all snaps that have update available.

The stable version of snapd is 2.62

snap info snapd

tracking:     latest/edge
refresh-date: yesterday at 22:47 CEST
channels:
  latest/stable:    2.62                 2024-04-16 (21465) 40MB -
  latest/candidate: 2.62                 2024-04-08 (21465) 40MB -
  latest/beta:      2.63                 2024-04-24 (21759) 40MB -
  latest/edge:      2.63+git156.g1b035da 2024-05-10 (21871) 40MB -
installed:          2.63+git156.g1b035da            (21871) 40MB snapd
24

Yeah I have that too :

tracking:     latest/stable
refresh-date: 16 days ago, at 13:51 CEST
channels:
  latest/stable:    2.62                 2024-04-16 (21465) 40MB -
  latest/candidate: 2.62                 2024-04-08 (21465) 40MB -
  latest/beta:      2.63                 2024-04-24 (21759) 40MB -
  latest/edge:      2.63+git158.g1692d3a 2024-05-10 (21876) 40MB -
installed:          2.62                            (21465) 40MB snapd

But nevertheless, I recently got an update through update-notifier, not the snap system, that required me to reboot, and since then my snap version has changed to what I posted previously.