[System] Stuck on "Fetching Updates

[Teksonik]

I keep getting stuck on "Fetching Updates". It's been stuck for fifteen minutes today and there is no network activity and very little CPU demand. Is this a known issue? Something I'm doing wrong? I'm not new to Linux or Kubuntu but I am by no means an expert with either. 26.04, Kernel version 7.0.0-15. Thanks for any help.

[Snowhog]

How are you 'updating'; from Discover, or from a terminal using apt?

[Teksonik]

I'm updating from Discover as it offers updates. Apt works fine.

[Teksonik]

This is what a search reveals:

"Users experiencing KDE Discover stuck on Fetching Updates in Kubuntu can resolve the issue through several targeted fixes, primarily involving fwupd, network configuration, or package dependencies.

Disable or Remove fwupd The most common cause is a hang in the firmware update backend.

• GUI Fix: Open Discover Settings and uncheck any options related to fwupd (firmware updates).
• CLI Fix: If the GUI option is unavailable, remove the backend packages via terminal:
  sudo apt-get remove fwupd plasma-discover-backend-fwupd

[Snowhog]

It will serve you better; IMO; if you use the terminal (Konsole) and use apt (sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade) to keep your system up to date.

[die.boer]

It will serve you better; IMO; if you use the terminal (Konsole) and use apt (sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade) to keep your system up to date.

Yea that's what I normally do too ,if I see there's updates in discover ,I just run that command in terminal rather.
But I use Nala instead of apt , it's prettier and clearer what's happening ,and supposedly faster ...

[Teksonik]

That may well be but what's the point of a non-terminal update method through Discover if that method doesn't work? Discover notifies me that updates are available but then fails to install those updates. That smells like a bug to me or certainly not the way things should work. People coming from Windows don't want to faff about with terminal commands they just want things to work. This is a perfect example of why Linux struggles to gain more acceptance. Anyway thanks for your response.

[die.boer]

That may well be but what's the point of a non-terminal update method through Discover if that method doesn't work? Discover notifies me that updates are available but then fails to install those updates. That smells like a bug to me or certainly not the way things should work. People coming from Windows don't want to faff about with terminal commands they just want things to work. This is a perfect example of why Linux struggles to gain more acceptance. Anyway thanks for your response.

there have been quite a few reports of this with Discover on recent KDE Plasma / Kubuntu releases, especially early in a release cycle like 26.04. “Fetching Updates…” hanging indefinitely while showing no network or CPU activity is usually a Discover/PackageKit backend issue rather than an actual apt problem.
A lot of experienced Kubuntu users eventually stop using Discover for system updates entirely and use:sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade , or Nala

Discover is generally fine for:
Flatpaks
browsing apps
firmware notifications

…but it has had intermittent reliability problems with PackageKit for years on some distros.
also early-release versions like 26.04 often have rough edges that get smoothed out over the following months through updates. Long-term support releases tend to stabilize significantly after the first few point releases.

[Teksonik]

…but it has had intermittent reliability problems with PackageKit for years on some distros.

As I said that's a bug, either in Discover or Kubuntu. It would seem to me that the developers (and fans) of Kubuntu would want an issue like this to be fixed.

As someone who has been an alpha and beta tester for a lot of Windows software I know full well that early releases can contain bugs and unresolved issues but the end goal is always to fix those bugs and solve those issues.

I love Kubuntu and want to recommend it to those who are looking into switching to Linux but an issue like this gives me pause to do so. In October if Micro$oft doesn't extend support for Windows 10 again there is likely to be a large influx of people looking for an alternative. But they're going to want updates to work without workarounds since updates have always been a source of problems on Windows. Out of the frying pan into the fire so to speak.

[Schwarzer Kater]

So did you try disabling the options under Discover -> Settings -> Firmware Updates?
Did Discover work without being stuck afterwards?

And if it is a bug, it is likely one in Discover (if in Discover at all, could also be one in e.g. fwupd…) - not Kubuntu - and therefore should be reported to KDE.


slighty off topic:

Linux distributions are a puzzle of components from many, many different sources - unlike Windows or macOS.

Hard but true: there is also no commercial interest in replacing Windows or macOS on the desktop, since no one makes money from a Linux desktop distribution - perhaps with the exception of niches like Zorin OS. And there one only pays for (installation) support for the "Pro" version.

And for a standard user with very limited computer skills who is coming from Windows (and has no one to hold their hand) I would always recommend Linux Mint over *Ubuntu - sorry, guys…
Don't get me wrong: IMHO KDE Plasma is by far the best GUI for medium to advanced users and power users (and most production systems), but (as one example) this is completely irrelevant to e.g. my mother-in-law (85) who simply wants to erase an USB stick with three mouse clicks or connect her iPhone and import her photos…

[Cumbres]

Below is a comment to remove the firmware updates in the discover settings. So if I uncheck this will I potentially miss out on any important updates?

Currently I am having some hangs as the OP. I did the Sudo apt update as recommended in one of the previous posts. But I have a "Microsoft KEK CA 2011-2023" that gives me an error when discover tries to update it. Namely "failed to write-firmware: failed to write (null): failed to write data to efivarsfs: Error writing to file descriptor: Invalid argument"

The sudo apt update and sudo apt full-update did not install this item as identified by discover.

I am new to Kubuntu and relatively new to Linux, by no means an expert just tired of Windows shenigans. If I should make a new post instead of tagging in here I will do so.

Thanks!

This is what a search reveals:

"Users experiencing KDE Discover stuck on Fetching Updates in Kubuntu can resolve the issue through several targeted fixes, primarily involving fwupd, network configuration, or package dependencies.

Disable or Remove fwupd The most common cause is a hang in the firmware update backend.

• GUI Fix: Open Discover Settings and uncheck any options related to fwupd (firmware updates).
• CLI Fix: If the GUI option is unavailable, remove the backend packages via terminal:
  sudo apt-get remove fwupd plasma-discover-backend-fwupd

[Schwarzer Kater]

Try
sudo fwupdmgr get-updates
and
sudo fwupdmgr update
in the Konsole terminal emulator instead.