Ubuntu
apt package

apt-key has unannounced dependency on wget

Bug #325700 reported by John Edwards
42
This bug affects 7 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
apt (Debian)
Fix Released
Unknown
apt (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: apt

On Ubuntu 8.04 the apt-key program in the apt package requires wget, but this is not listed in the package dependencies for apt. This occurs when apt-key is run with the (undocumented) "net-update" command, including when /etc/cron.daily/apt is run by cron.

--------
$ sudo /usr/bin/apt-key net-update
/usr/bin/apt-key: 168: wget: not found
--------

The wget command is used on line 65 of apt-key to download a new keyring.

The simplest thing would be to add wget to the dependencies of apt, but this may not be the best solution as it would require wget to be installed on all Ubuntu machines. This solution may not be desirable because local sysadmin policy may not want an unrestricted HTTP client to be installed (eg bastion host).

Possible alternative solutions would be to use apt-get or the http apt method, but I don't know enough about the internals of apt to be sure.

Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)
Changed in apt:
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: New → Triaged
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in apt-file (Debian):
status: Unknown → Fix Released
Daniel Hahler (blueyed)
Changed in apt-file (Debian):
status: Fix Released → Unknown
Daniel Hahler (blueyed)
affects: apt-file (Debian) → apt (Debian)
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in apt (Debian):
status: Unknown → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Holger Mauermann (mauermann) wrote :

This bug is still present in Lucid. Error message from cron:

/etc/cron.daily/apt:
ERROR: an installed wget is required for a network-based update

Philip Muškovac (yofel)
Changed in apt (Debian):
status: Fix Released → Unknown
Revision history for this message
Hurl (hurl) wrote :

Is there a plan to fix this bug ?
On JeOS systems (built with vmbuilder), ubuntu-standard is not installed by default, which is normal. And ubuntu-standard is the package providing wget, on classic installs.
So Ubuntu minimal images for virtualization is not so "clean" with lucid, as the apt cronjob daily outputs an error.

John's suggestions are good but maybe a simpler test in the cronjob script may be done before running the apt-key net-update command ?
But this involve modifying a file from the "main" apt package, for a specific ubuntu run case...
Regards

Revision history for this message
Julian Andres Klode (juliank) wrote :

> This solution may not be desirable because local sysadmin policy may not want an unrestricted HTTP client to be installed (eg > bastion host).

You do know that you can download files via APT's http methods anyway? They except HTTP-similar input on stdin and then download the file for you.

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in apt (Debian):
status: Unknown → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Julian Andres Klode (juliank) wrote :

net-update has not been supported since 16.04, so this is somewhat resolved :D

Changed in apt (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Released
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.
Subscribing...

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.