A tell-tell for the unattended-upgrades process

[Jerry]

Your opening statement from your first post was "I have a habit of performing updates via Synaptic". That very specific statement was addressed.
New people to linux won't even know what Synaptic is, let alone use it to perform Updates.

But let's suppose I had approached the forum this way:
   Hi. I am a new Linux Lite user. I like it very much.
   I began my session today by clicking on 'Install Updates'.
   A message appeared saying 'Linux Lite Updates have failed'.
   The log file says it couldn't get a lock or something.
   What's going on?

We have many threads where this kind of question is asked and a suitable solution is provided. The same goes for your Chrome hypothetical. The solution in any of those cases has never been "Would the response to either of these have been, try again tomorrow, try again in half an hour; maybe 15 minutes?"

As for "some kind of tell-tell were to appear somewhere on the screen to advise us when this process is underway", if you're using Synaptic and this happens, then let me refer once again to my second answer where I recommend the use of our application, Install Updates. It already has code in place to completely avoid this from happening and is the best solution.

[bluzeo]

here the best way get on  the repo server site and see if it up or down. check Irc also. if it coming from the next state it my need time to get there but also it may be down. give it time. i always update twice a day after login before logout

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[Oobuntus]

Yes, of course.

But let's suppose I had approached the forum this way:
   Hi. I am a new Linux Lite user. I like it very much.
   I began my session today by clicking on 'Install Updates'.
   A message appeared saying 'Linux Lite Updates have failed'.
   The log file says it couldn't get a lock or something.
   What's going on?

Or suppose I had approached the forum this way:
   I fired up the old laptop today and proceeded to install Google Chrome
   (unavailable in Lite Software) using gdebi with a downloaded deb.
   I got a message saying,
    'Only one software management tool is allowed to run at the same time'.
   I'm not running any software management tool that I know of,
   so what's going on?

Would the response to either of these have been, try again tomorrow, try
again in half an hour; maybe 15 minutes? Or would I have received an
introductory note about the background unattended upgrades process
(which can sometimes take a considerable time to complete)
and that I should indeed try again later? But how long do I have to wait?

The suggestion was not meant as a favor to me, but as a means to
avoid the mystery that will inevitably confront other users someday.
'Stick to recommended procedure' was not a particularly good response.

[Jerry]

We have written a very specific application to cover Update installation. Going out side of this doesn't warrant us addressing other approaches. The best habit to develop here is to stick to the recommend procedure

[Oobuntus]

I have a habit of performing updates via Synaptic. Sometimes I do this immediately upon starting a session. Often this activity is obstructed and a message appears advising me that only one software management tool is allowed to run at the same time. I have learned that this is invariably due to an active unattended-upgrade process. I am no longer mystified about it.

However, it would still be nice if some kind of tell-tell were to appear somewhere on the screen to advise us when this process is underway. Then, when the upgrade is finished and the tell-tell disappears, we could carry on with the operation that had to be postponed, be it apt-get, dpkg, gdebi, Synaptic, or Installing Updates.