PPA isn't updating after release

[MarekM25]

Lots of users reported that they don't see the latest version of Nethermind in PPA.

[MarekM25]

And there is confusion about docs

Don't see location for logs for PPA in documentation -> /usr/share/nethermind
https://docs.nethermind.io/nethermind/ethereum-client/logging-configuration

If I install a new version of the PPA, will the config files be deleted? -> probably the configs from /usr/share will be replaced

[iSOcH]

can we please package the deb in a way to allow "deterministic" installations or would this need another issue?

this really should not mismatch:

root@nethermind-goerli:~# apt list nethermind
Listing... Done
nethermind/focal,now 1.1350 amd64 [installed]

whereas:

root@nethermind-goerli:~# nethermind --version
Executing Nethermind Runner
...
Nethermind/v1.13.6-0-be7b4ab4c-20220802/X64-Linux/6.0.7

[xtc0r]

I installed Nethermind 1.13.4.0 via PPA. Two days later 1.13.5.0 came out and I performed
apt update && apt upgrade
I saw that 1.13.5.0 was downloaded.
But nethermind --version gives me Nethermind/v1.13.4-0-3e5972c24-20220803/X64-Linux/6.0.6. Also cat /usr/share/nethermind/git-hash gives me 1.13.4-0-g3e5972c24.

But sudo apt list nethermind give me nethermind/focal,now 1.1350 amd64 [installed]

[smartprogrammer93]

@xtc0r Please create a new Issue about this.

[kamilchodola]

@FalcoXYZ Is this still the thing to fix?

[xtc0r]

For me it works, but I had to re-add the PPA. It got somehow lost.

[iSOcH]

@rubo why was this issue closed? the problem is still exactly the same

root@nethermind-mainnet:~# apt update
Hit:1 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nethermindeth/nethermind/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Hit:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Hit:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease
Hit:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
2 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

root@nethermind-mainnet:~# apt search nethermind
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
nethermind/now 1.2400 amd64 [installed,local]
  An Ethereum client built on .NET

root@nethermind-mainnet:~# apt list --upgradable
Listing... Done
[ not nethermind ]

currently consistent with actually installed version:

root@nethermind-mainnet:~# nethermind --version
Executing Nethermind
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6240|Nethermind starting initialization.
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6605|Client version: Nethermind/v1.24.0+9c1d76b5/linux-x64/dotnet7.0.14
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6630|Loading embedded plugins
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6631|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Consensus.AuRa.AuRaPlugin
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6631|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Consensus.Clique.CliquePlugin
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6631|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Consensus.Ethash.EthashPlugin
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6631|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Consensus.Ethash.NethDevPlugin
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6631|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Hive.HivePlugin
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6631|  Found plugin type Nethermind.UPnP.Plugin.UPnPPlugin
Resolved executing directory as /usr/share/nethermind.
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6739|Loading 12 assemblies from /usr/share/nethermind/plugins
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6740|Loading assembly Nethermind.Optimism
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6773|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Optimism
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6773|Loading assembly Nethermind.Mev
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6793|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Mev
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6794|Loading assembly Nethermind.Consensus.AuRa
2024-01-26 16-38-02.6990|Loading assembly Nethermind.AccountAbstraction
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7008|  Found plugin type Nethermind.AccountAbstraction
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7008|Loading assembly Nethermind.HealthChecks
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7015|  Found plugin type Nethermind.HealthChecks
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7015|Loading assembly Nethermind.Api
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7017|Loading assembly Nethermind.Init.Snapshot
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7020|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Init.Snapshot
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7020|Loading assembly Nethermind.Merge.Plugin
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7038|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Merge.Plugin
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7039|Loading assembly Nethermind.JsonRpc.TraceStore
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7043|  Found plugin type Nethermind.JsonRpc.TraceStore
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7043|Loading assembly Nethermind.Merge.AuRa
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7046|  Found plugin type Nethermind.Merge.AuRa
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7046|Loading assembly Nethermind.EthStats
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7049|  Found plugin type Nethermind.EthStats
2024-01-26 16-38-02.7049|Loading assembly Nethermind.Init

Version: 1.24.0+9c1d76b5
Commit: 9c1d76b5eb9de7822fdc21579f43ef47403b870e
Build Date: 2023-12-14 16:28:17Z
OS: Linux x64
Runtime: .NET 7.0.14

Not updating PPA means a system update does not update nethermind - this defeats the purpose of having a PPA in the first place.

Of course, since the PPA does not properly package nethermind, doing the following "helps":

root@nethermind-mainnet:~# apt remove nethermind
Reading package lists... Done
[...]
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  nethermind
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
After this operation, 11.3 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
(Reading database ... 22599 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing nethermind (1.2400) ...

root@nethermind-mainnet:~# apt install nethermind
Reading package lists... Done
[...]
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  nethermind
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Need to get 2486 B of archives.
After this operation, 12.3 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nethermindeth/nethermind/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 nethermind amd64 1.25.3 [2486 B]
Fetched 2486 B in 0s (13.8 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package nethermind.
(Reading database ... 22597 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../nethermind_1.25.3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking nethermind (1.25.3) ...
Setting up nethermind (1.25.3) ...
Downloading https://github.com/NethermindEth/nethermind/releases/download/1.25.3/nethermind-1.25.3-e64bee70-linux-x64.zip
################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################### 100.0%
nethermind.zip: OK
Extracting archive...
Starting package install...
Successfully installed

root@nethermind-mainnet:~# nethermind --version
2024-01-26 16-41-16.5441|Nethermind starting initialization.
2024-01-26 16-41-16.5587|Client version: Nethermind/v1.25.3+e64bee70/linux-x64/dotnet8.0.1
[...]
Version: 1.25.3+e64bee70
Commit: e64bee7033c6d74cb53323b703cb573a739cd9dd
Build Date: 2024-01-22 15:11:29Z
OS: Linux x64
Runtime: .NET 8.0.1

[rubo]

@iSOcH As the old package is now replaced with a new one, we expect this should no longer be an issue. The old one had its versioning wrong; say, instead of 1.25.1, it had 1.2510. So, you won't see any updates as 1.2510 is considered greater than 1.25.1. Therefore, starting from the next release, PPA users will need to do the following before updating Nethermind:

apt-get purge nethermind
apt-get update

This is basically what you've done above. Feel free to reopen this issue if you encounter any problems on our next release. We'll communicate this change accordingly.

[iSOcH]

Does the package now actually contain the build-output (as it is the case for normal .deb) or does it still download them?

[rubo]

It downloads the archive, as you can see in your last code block:

Downloading https://github.com/NethermindEth/nethermind/releases...

[iSOcH]

Imho this is bad. Does it at least download the version it is supposed to according to the deb package version? Or put differently: Is it possible to install a non-latest nethermind version using the PPA?

[rubo]

• Yes, it does. The version info is hardcoded in the package, so it no longer pulls the latest one as it was doing previously
• Afaik, PPA removes superseded packages, so those packages need to be downloaded from the Launchpad website directly

[iSOcH]

so that means installing the deb-package for 1.25.3 will always install nethermind 1.25.3 and nothing else (unlike what could happen in the past as shown above)? That would be very desirable :)

[rubo]

Correct. That was one of the reasons for revising our PPA packaging.
Also, update/remove won't delete the sync database and keystore (does not apply to apt-get purge). Nevertheless, we don't recommend keeping sync data in the package directory but use the -dd flag pointing to somewhere else instead.