Bug#961955: reportbug: need a way to skip newer versions check when that fails

[Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au>]

Package: reportbug
Version: 7.6.0
Severity: minor

# reportbug --mode=novice tor 
Warning: no reportbug configuration found.  Proceeding in novice mode.
Running 'reportbug' as root is probably insecure! Continue [y|N|q|?]? y
Detected character set: UTF-8
Please change your locale if this is incorrect.

Using 'Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au>' as your from address.
Getting status for tor...
Verifying package integrity...
Checking for newer versions at madison...

I have reportbug hang for HOURS at the above line when trying to talk to
madison via IPv6.  It has an IPv6 https connection open.  The root cause
might be related to an issue at the server end or it might be due to my
IPv6 networking configuration.  In any case this system is running Unstable
so there aren't newer versions and I'd like to just send the bug report.

A command line option to skip newer versions check would be good.

-- Package-specific info:

-- System Information:
Debian Release: bullseye/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 5.6.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_AU.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_AU.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_AU:en (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: SELinux: enabled - Mode: Enforcing - Policy name: default

Versions of packages reportbug depends on:
ii  apt                2.1.5
ii  python3            3.8.2-3
ii  python3-reportbug  7.6.0
ii  sensible-utils     0.0.12+nmu1

reportbug recommends no packages.

Versions of packages reportbug suggests:
pn  claws-mail                      <none>
pn  debconf-utils                   <none>
ii  debsums                         3.0.0
pn  dlocate                         <none>
pn  emacs-bin-common                <none>
ii  file                            1:5.38-5
ii  gnupg                           2.2.20-1
ii  postfix [mail-transport-agent]  3.5.2-1
pn  python3-urwid                   <none>
pn  reportbug-gtk                   <none>
pn  xdg-utils                       <none>

Versions of packages python3-reportbug depends on:
ii  apt                2.1.5
ii  file               1:5.38-5
ii  python3            3.8.2-3
ii  python3-apt        2.1.3
ii  python3-debian     0.1.37
ii  python3-debianbts  3.0.2
ii  python3-requests   2.23.0+dfsg-2
ii  sensible-utils     0.0.12+nmu1

python3-reportbug suggests no packages.

-- Configuration Files:
/etc/reportbug.conf changed:
submit
query-bts
cc
config-files
compress
email "russell@coker.com.au"
realname "Russell Coker"
smtphost localhost:1587
verify
mode standard


-- no debconf information