Software & Updates

[JeffRedd]

When using Software & Updates sometimes the option, under the Updates tab, “When there are security updates” has been grayed-out and disabled. This has happened to me several times in a new installation. To make this option available again type this command in the terminal:
sudo apt install update-notifier

[Schwarzer Kater]

Sorry, but what are you talking about exactly?

When you install the virtual package update-notifier in Kubuntu (e.g. 22.04) a bunch of new GTK-packages get installed (including e.g. gnome-keyring and software-properties-gtk !).

[JeffRedd]

Software & Updates is used to configure the sources for installable software and updates. I also use it to setup Ubuntu Pro, and to remove trusted provider keys (PPA’s) and to decide which software I want to have updated and that which I want removed (because it’s not updating properly).

[Schwarzer Kater]

Oh, OK - you are talking about Software Sources (accessible from Discover -> Settings -> Software Sources ) or software-properties-qt (formerly known as software-properties-kde ).

I really don't think installing the GTK version that is used in Ubuntu (GNOME), Xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Unity and Ubuntu Cinnamon additionally in Kubuntu is a good solution for any Kubuntu user.
It is meant for the GTK-based Ubuntu Flavours, not Kubuntu, Lubuntu or Ubuntu Studio…

I don't want to sound hostile in any way, I appreciate your posts in this forum and sorry I have to say this, but IMHO a "real" solution would be more something like reconfiguring packages, deleting corrupt caches or settings files (perhaps even installing a single missing package) - and not installing some GTK packages that were never meant to be part of Kubuntu additionally to their Qt counterparts…

[JeffRedd]

I really don't think installing the GTK version that is used in Ubuntu (GNOME), Xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Unity and Ubuntu Cinnamon additionally in Kubuntu is a good solution for any Kubuntu user

Black Cat, Then you probably shouldn't use it. I know of no other way of setting up Ubuntu Pro and attaching the token. Please tell me how you set up Ubuntu Pro? I don’t know of another way to attach the token. Just because you don’t do something doesn’t mean it’s wrong. GTK+ 3 is part of all Ubuntu flavors. Ubuntu Pro offers Enterprise-grade security to the home user for free for up to 5 computers. Some people may believe that Ubuntu Pro is unnecessary, I believe it is necessary

[claydoh]

As per the information provided when you sign up:

sudo pro attach <your-token>

More detailed instructions for all the different ways to do this:
https://ubuntu.com/pro/tutorial
Of course, much of this only works on Ubuntu proper.

Installing update-manager pulls in 62 packages on my mostly stock Kubuntu system, which is not harmful, but a LOT of people here don't want to install all of this Gnome/Gtk-specific stuff unnecessarily.
This is quite a huge number of things just to get an extra instance of the Software Sources tool, with an extra tab in it.


The command is actually much simpler to do - one doesn't need to faff with getting that extra 6 character code or anything.

But, stating what might happen when installing it up front is probably a friendly thing to warn about

But Pro doesn't have anything to do with your original reason for suggesting this as a workaround, and we don't even have the specific wording or layout in our Software Sources for “When there are security updates”, so maybe your issue is unrelated to Plasma/Kubuntu to begin with?
Here is what ours looks like:




I will wager that a fix for your issue with the Ubuntu/Gtk specific version of the Software Sources tool having greyed-out options would likely be solved via a much less..."invasive"(?) set of packages.
Or there is something amiss with the config file it accesses for this setting.

[Schwarzer Kater]

claydoh : Thank you for untangling this a bit!

JeffRedd : To be more useful for other people, I would suggest to change the title of this thread to something more specific.
And I have to point out that a "Software & Updates" normally is not available to Kubuntu users - only if you have installed additional software. So this might also be worth mentioning (e.g. what exactly have you installed before to get to this problem in the first place…).