Re: Apt-get Upgrade Problem in Stretch?

[davidson@freevolt.org]

On Wed, 19 Jul 2017, Patrick Bartek wrote:

> Getting no results from apt-get upgrade after a week.  Can install apps,
> etc., but get no security or stretch-update "fixes," etc.  I find
> this unusual.

And so, understandably, you feel prompted to seek confirmation that
there have, in fact, been no updates applicable to your system.

I have a somewhat minimal[1] amd64 stretch system too, and examining
/var/log/apt/history.log indicates that the most recent date there
were upgrades available for an already installed package was on
2017-07-09:

  Start-Date: 2017-07-09  hh:mm:ss
  Commandline: /usr/bin/apt-get upgrade
  Upgrade: libdns-export162:amd64 (1:9.10.3.dfsg.P4-12.3, 1:9.10.3.dfsg.P4-12.3+deb9u1), xserver-common:amd64 (2  :1.19.2-1, 2:1.19.2-1+deb9u1), xserver-xorg-core:amd64 (2:1.19.2-1, 2:1.19.2-1+deb9u1), libtiff5:amd64 (4.0.8-  2, 4.0.8-2+deb9u1), libisc-export160:amd64 (1:9.10.3.dfsg.P4-12.3, 1:9.10.3.dfsg.P4-12.3+deb9u1)
  End-Date: 2017-07-09  hh:mm:ss

Casting an eye over the entries in debian-security-announce list
archives, since that date, suggests to me that there have, indeed,
been no upgrades that apply to any package I have installed.

If you are not subscribed to that list, you can examine them here:

  https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/2017/

Depending on the contents of your /etc/apt/sources.list , you might
also want to examine other lists like debian-stable-announce:

  https://lists.debian.org/debian-stable-announce/recent

In principle, the fewer packages you have installed, the more likely
there will be such apparent "dry spells".

> Did a mail list archive search for this, but didn't find
> anything specific. Or did I miss the solution?

It seems to me that the first step is determining whether there exists
a problem to be solved.

Hope this helps.

Notes
  1. Roughly quantifying "somewhat minimal":
     $ dpkg-query -l |grep '^ii' |wc -l
     686

--

"One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the
twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a
question of motive." -- Hannah Arendt