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[Launchpad Bug Tracker <2015420@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This bug was fixed in the package update-notifier - 3.192.68build1

---------------
update-notifier (3.192.68build1) noble; urgency=medium

  * No-change rebuild against libglib2.0-0t64

 -- Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@xxxxxxxxxx>  Mon, 11 Mar 2024
23:47:11 +0000

** Changed in: update-notifier (Ubuntu)
       Status: In Progress => Fix Released

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2015420

Title:
  motd: can't disable esm-related messages

Status in update-notifier package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in update-notifier source package in Xenial:
  Fix Released
Status in update-notifier source package in Bionic:
  Fix Released
Status in update-notifier source package in Focal:
  Fix Released
Status in update-notifier source package in Jammy:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [ Impact ]

  If ESM Infra/Apps is available for a system, users will always see
  messages related to those Ubuntu Pro services in their MOTDs. As
  stated in the original description, there have been complaints on how
  hard it is to disable those messages - we have users who don't want
  Pro and don't want to be reminded of Pro all the time.

  The fix here is making it easier for people to disable the ESM related
  messages in the update-related MOTD, by giving them a way to opt-out.
  Users will have the option to create the /var/lib/ubuntu-
  advantage/hide-esm-in-motd marker file, causing the /usr/lib/update-
  notifier/update-motd-updates-available script to include a --no-esm-
  messages flag when generating the outputs.

  This file is the same file used in the Pro Client to suppress those
  messages.

  [ Test Plan ]

  Compare the messages before and after installing the new version of the package, and make sure they are exactly the same in different scenarios:
  - ESM status: unavailable, disabled, enabled
  - LTS system: yes or no
  - updates available: yes or no

  Thankfully, the unit test suite in tests/test_motd.py covers all of
  those scenarios functionality-wise. Manual checks on real systems may
  endorse the functionality.

  New tests were added to the suite making sure the flag hides the ESM
  related messages when it is present.

  On real systems, creating the /var/lib/ubuntu-advantage/hide-esm-in-
  motd marker file and making sure to update the MOTDs should remove ESM
  related messages for the same scenarios above.

  The execution of the script relies on running one of a couple trigger
  hooks set in the apt configuration. Running `apt update` will trigger
  one of them. To make sure messages will be updated, the
  /var/lib/update-notifier/updates-available stamp file can be removed
  before the update. (The alternative would be running manually with
  --force, but that is slightly worse for acceptance testing)

  [ Where problems could occur ]

  - Other software may be relying on the apt-check script to generate
  human-readable messages. A mistake here could intefere with the
  message generated, changing expectation on stable releases, or causing
  errors. To mitigate that, the standard behavior is exactly the same if
  the marker file is absent, and all existing functionality is
  preserved.

  - Users may make mistakes when creating the marker file. We will
  mitigate that by having comprehensible documentation with a clear
  explanation of what the flag does and where to put it. The worst that
  can happen is that users create a useless file, and no change happens.

  [ Other Info ]

  As opposed to what was in the original description, the proposed
  changeset does not separate esm messages from the regular updates
  messages - this ensures current users and potential callers get
  exactly the same result when checking their outputs after the change
  lands.

  As suggested in the original description, we understand that it is not
  the easiest and straightforward approach create a specific file when
  compared to running a command or clicking a button. However, the
  messages are there for a product decision, and it is a product
  decision not to have a "too easy opt-out". On the other hand, users
  who want to disable this are capable of creating the file, and it will
  be way easier for them than making the changes in the python script
  itself - plus the configuration is kept between upgrades.

  As noted in a subsequent comment, the patch fixing this bug introduces
  a new help message. The translations of update-notifier are shipped
  together with the package. Consulting with @enr0n, the decision about
  this new entry is:

  - For the Noble version, @enr0n will add this new line to the pot file, so it can be translated for the future releases.
  - For the SRUs, we will let it be as is. The main two reasons are:

    1. there is low value in translating this string to the couple
  languages we know, and new translations would require a new SRU in the
  future - except in special cases, there are no translations done in
  SRUs anyway

    2. there is low exposure of the string - it is not in the consumable
  output of the command, but rather help text for a command that is
  niched enough - as also noted, we don't expect all users to be
  applying this.

  [ Original Description ]

  See https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-pro-client/issues/2458 for the
  origin of the conversation.

  We don't think it needs to be _easy_, but it should probably be less
  burdensome to disable ESM update notifications in MOTD without
  disabling all update notifications in MOTD.

  One idea to accomplish this is to separate the /etc/update-motd.d/
  files into two. One would print the normal update message, and the
  other would print the ESM message. Then, if an admin knows what
  they're doing and is willing to accept the risk, they can remove or
  edit the ESM update-notifier motd conffile. This is similar to how you
  can remove the APT ESM messages by removing/editing
  /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20apt-esm-hook.conf if you know what you're doing.

  This would also require some changes to how the messages are created,
  since currently it is all in apt_check.py and printed into a single
  message file. They'll need to be separated somehow.

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