Software center emails have stopped

NethServer Version: 7.7.1908
Module: software center

Since I’ve updated my system to 7.7.1908 the software center update notifications have stopped. This happened before i upgraded to Cockpit so i think the bug is somewhere in the 7.7.1908 update and not cockpit.

System > software center > config is configured to send admin emails
System > settings > Smarthost is configured
System > settings > email notifications is configured to send messages to me

I’ve tested email notifications using the old server manager, and messages get through. However the software center is not sending notifications.

Everything worked fine prior to upgrading to 7.7.1908

thanks
Bob

Seeing as you are now on the latest version, exactly what e-mails do you think you should be receiving. You should only get them if there are installed components that have a pending update.

Cheers.

I doubt it’s a bug, I’ve gotten emails from several upgraded machines over the last couple of days without any changes post upgrade.

That’s a good point!!!
Before I updated to 7.7.1908 I used to get email notifications if there were ANY updates available, I can’t remember the exact wording of the emails (I’m at work), but it was something like
Yum: Updates available

The notification emails were sent to root@nethbox and the root user was redirected to actualuser@nethbox, the messages would arrive in my inbox everyday if there were updates to install.

So far, 7.7.1908 has not sent any update emails, even though there are updates available (some for webtop and some for cockpit)

How are the update notifications supposed to behave with version 7.7.1908?

@fasttech my system is a standard nethserver install with subscription. I’m not sure what’s happened, but the behavior is different now the system has updated to 7.7.1908

Regards
Bob

This thread might help explain what you are seeing, due to your subscription.

Cheers.

Thank you for the thread reference, that doesn’t explain what’s happened.
I used to get software center update messages, now i don’t. The only difference is the update to 7.7.1908.
Here is an example of the emails i used to get:

The following updates will be downloaded on nethserver.xxx.org.uk:
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Updating:
nethserver-webtop5 noarch 1.4.0-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 177 k
tomcat8 noarch 8.5.35-2.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 8.5 M
webtop5 noarch 1.4.0-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 116 M
webtop5-webdav noarch 0.2.0-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 1.1 M
webtop5-zpush noarch 1.2.0-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 1.0 M
Installing for dependencies:
nethserver-rh-php72-php-fpm noarch 1.0.0-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 5.6 k
rh-php72 x86_64 1-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 4.3 k
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install ( 14 Dependent packages)
Upgrade 5 Packages
Updates downloaded successfully.

Software center currently shows 21 updates are available, but i’ve not recieved any email. 4 updates are “nethserver” items, 17 updates are “base system” items.

AFAIK it’s down to 2 things, because you have a subscription.
Firstly, if you query the updates via the UI it will always show what’s available to update, regardless of when it was added to the repository.
The e-mail will only show what’s been available for a certain length of time (can’t remember the exact time) so that, as a subscriber, you only see them after they’ve been validated as not causing issues.
Cheers.

oh…that’s a surprise. The previous version never did that. I guess I’ll have to wait and see how long it takes to send me a notification.
Thanks
Bob

I’ve been investigating this problem.
I’ve been following the guide here:

If I change the random_sleep time to 0 and run
yum-cron /etc/yum/yum-cron.conf
I get an email notification

This is the contents of /etc/cron.daily/0yum-cron on my system
#!/bin/bash

# Only run if this flag is set. The flag is created by the yum-cron init
# script when the service is started -- this allows one to use chkconfig and
# the standard "service stop|start" commands to enable or disable yum-cron.
if [[ ! -f /var/lock/subsys/yum-cron ]]; then
  exit 0
fi

# Action!
exec /usr/sbin/yum-cron

Should the last line be

exec /usr/sbin/yum-cron /etc/yum/yum-cron.conf

For reference, this is the contents of /etc/cron.hourly/0yum-hourly.cron
#!/bin/bash

# Only run if this flag is set. The flag is created by the yum-cron init
# script when the service is started -- this allows one to use chkconfig and
# the standard "service stop|start" commands to enable or disable yum-cron.
if [[ ! -f /var/lock/subsys/yum-cron ]]; then
  exit 0
fi

# Action!
exec /usr/sbin/yum-cron /etc/yum/yum-cron-hourly.conf

Please note the last line is different.

many thanks
bob

/etc/yum/yum-cron.conf is the default value if no parameter is passed. From /usr/sbin/yum-cron:

default_config_file = '/etc/yum/yum-cron.conf'

Cheers.

OK, I see the default_config_file option in /usr/sbin/yum-cron

If I set

random_sleep=0

in

/etc/yum/yum-cron.conf

and then run yum-conf from the command line (whilst logged in as root), i get an email notification with a list of updates.

The following updates will be downloaded on nethserver.xxxx.org.uk:
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
kernel x86_64 3.10.0-1062.4.3.el7 sb-updates 50 M
Updating:
kernel-headers x86_64 3.10.0-1062.4.3.el7 sb-updates 8.7 M
kernel-tools x86_64 3.10.0-1062.4.3.el7 sb-updates 7.8 M
kernel-tools-libs x86_64 3.10.0-1062.4.3.el7 sb-updates 7.7 M
microcode_ctl x86_64 2:2.1-53.3.el7_7 sb-updates 2.3 M
nethserver-backup-data noarch 1.6.5-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 63 k
nethserver-cockpit noarch 1.2.2-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 2.2 M
nethserver-cockpit-lib noarch 1.2.2-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 34 k
nethserver-fail2ban noarch 1.2.1-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 913 k
nethserver-firewall-base
noarch 3.7.4-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 127 k
nethserver-firewall-base-ui
noarch 3.7.4-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 1.6 M
nethserver-phonehome noarch 1.4.0-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 20 k
nethserver-samba noarch 4.5.1-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 1.1 M
nethserver-squid noarch 1.10.2-1.ns7 sb-nethserver-updates 1.3 M
openvpn x86_64 2.4.8-1.el7 sb-epel 523 k
python-perf x86_64 3.10.0-1062.4.3.el7 sb-updates 7.8 M
rh-php71-php-cli x86_64 7.1.30-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 2.7 M
rh-php71-php-common x86_64 7.1.30-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 657 k
rh-php71-php-fpm x86_64 7.1.30-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 1.4 M
rh-php71-php-json x86_64 7.1.30-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 53 k
rh-php71-php-mbstring x86_64 7.1.30-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 521 k
rh-php71-php-process x86_64 7.1.30-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 61 k
rh-php71-php-xml x86_64 7.1.30-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 160 k
rh-php71-php-zip x86_64 7.1.30-2.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 89 k
rh-php72-php-cli x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 2.9 M
rh-php72-php-common x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 680 k
rh-php72-php-fpm x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 1.5 M
rh-php72-php-json x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 54 k
rh-php72-php-mbstring x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 553 k
rh-php72-php-pdo x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 101 k
rh-php72-php-process x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 62 k
rh-php72-php-xml x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 160 k
rh-php72-php-zip x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-rh 90 k
sclo-php72-php-imap x86_64 7.2.24-1.el7 sb-centos-sclo-sclo 36 k
Removing:
kernel x86_64 3.10.0-957.12.1.el7 @sb-updates 63 M

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install 1 Package
Upgrade 33 Packages
Remove 1 Package
Updates downloaded successfully.

The run-parts(/etc/cron.daily) log shows that 0yum-daily.cron was started and stopped at about 3:30am, but i did not receive an email.

Something is not working properly since the update to 7.7.1908

If I manually start yum-cron, i get an update email. If the scheduled task 0yum-daily.cron is left to run, I don’t an email.

Bob