Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 116473
Incorrect error reporting on transfer error
Last modified: 2007-11-30 17:10:37 EST
If a file transfer fails part way through then up2date reports a GPG signature error and starts suggesting scary things like the package having been tampered with. It should be reporting the failed transfer instead
This bug has been around for about 2 years now. It would be nice if it could actually resume the download automatically (if necessary switching mirrors). This not only saves on bandwidth, but if someone is on dialup, needs to download a large package (I've seen 40 MB) and is unable/unwilling to wait long enough (for example if their ISP imposes a time limit), they need this feature. I get the impression that the keepers of the code are hoping that using mirrors will make this stop manifesting, so it doesn't need to be fixed. Not only is this bad programming practice (bugs should be fixed while they're obvious, otherwise they never get fixed and do damage forever), but as I pointed out above some people need to break up their downloads, even if the server doesn't quit. If resuming downloads isn't implemented, then at least the error message needs to be changed, so people know what's going on (maybe this will increase pressure to fix it, too). I've seen a fedora-list message where someone actually reinstalled because the GPG signature message led them to believe that their current install was corrupt! Not to mention the countless duplicate bug reports, like this one, which are typically ignored.
Switched to yum, would suggest anyone else does the same if they hit this.
FC thankfully now uses yum not up2date. Closing as obsolete