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Apt Origin string is meaningless and may conflict with other Apt repo providers #263

@threepistons

Description

@threepistons

Describe the bug
The InRelease file says:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Origin: . noble
Label: . noble
Suite: noble
Codename: noble
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2025 22:32:32 UTC
Architectures: amd64 arm64 armhf
Components: main
Description: Generated by aptly
[snip]

A more helpful Origin would be Lithnet or similar. Reasoning:

  1. When configuring unattended-upgrades using /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades, the line I must add to automatically upgrade Access Manager Agent says ". ${distro_codename}:${distro_codename}";, which is not very self-documenting.
  2. If another package provider also decides to use Aptly and also doesn't put the name of their company in the settings, it will be impossible to enable automated upgrades of your Access Manager Agent but not theirs. In the use case I have, being able to upgrade security packages automatically whilst leaving untouched other packages—the repos for which may be added by device users without my knowledge— is essential. I can foresee a user adding a repo that also has "Origin: . noble" and then complaining that their research software is getting automatically upgraded against their will.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behaviour:

  1. Install the Lithnet Apt packages repo in /etc/apt/sources.list.d and its associated GPG key.
  2. Run apt update; apt install LithnetAccessManagerAgent3 as root.
  3. Look at /var/lib/apt/lists/packages.lithnet.io_linux_deb_prod_repos_ubuntu_dists_noble_InRelease. This file is also available from https://packages.lithnet.io/linux/deb/prod/repos/ubuntu/dists/noble/InRelease

Expected behaviour

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Origin: Lithnet # Or something else that uniquely identifies your package repo to Apt's config system.
Label: Lithnet noble # Or whatever you prefer here because Apt doesn't use this in configs
Suite: noble
Codename: noble
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2025 22:32:32 UTC
Architectures: amd64 arm64 armhf
Components: main
Description: Generated by aptly
[Snip]

And being able to add "Lithnet:${distro_codename}"; to 50unattended-upgrades.

Access Manager installation

  • OS: Ubuntu 24.04
  • Access Manager Version: all versions of the agent

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