From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux


intro :
I have enabled automatic updates (I mean downloads, not
automatic installing : the system simply downloads stuff
when there are updates and let me choose when to install it)
for every service I was able to.
This last sentence may sound vague, so let me clarify it :
I have multiple package managers enabled
The classic APT / synaptic, that should look for updates as
soon as they are available.
Flatpak : here the situation is not clear to me since I have
two distinct services / d|amons : Plasma Discovery and Gnome
Software. They both have options, if I recall it right, but
I don't always see them running in the task monitor in the
background. They both, or one of them, often downloads in
the background.

Then I have some programs (telegram, pCloud, dropbox) that
manage their own updates privately. Telegram too manages it
completely transparently (and shows update to just complete
and install the new version, pCloud just notifies the
availability and let choose both dnld and installing,
dropbox dunno, honestly).


So far so good. But my problem is : i have a very week
mobile connection and no ADSL, so it happens that in certain
particular situations, I'd need to reserve all the bandwidth
to the high priority task (uploading files, dnlding stuff
faster), and thus I'd need to just SUSPEND every background
downloading or lookup the repos, at least for the two
central databases (APT and FLATPAK).
Without breaking or damaging any (i.g. hunting for the
services in task list and kill them !), like .... dunno,
sending polite requests by systemD or so.

Have anybody any advice how to fulfil this task ?
tnx in advance.
--
1) Resistere, resistere, resistere.
2) Se tutti pagano le tasse, le tasse le pagano tutti
MarioCCCP

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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On Sun, 1/25/2026 7:10 AM, MarioCCCP wrote:

intro :
I have enabled automatic updates (I mean downloads, not automatic installing : the system simply downloads stuff when there are updates and let me choose when to install it) for every service I was able to.
This last sentence may sound vague, so let me clarify it :
I have multiple package managers enabled
The classic APT / synaptic, that should look for updates as soon as they are available.
Flatpak : here the situation is not clear to me since I have two distinct services / d|amons : Plasma Discovery and Gnome Software. They both have options, if I recall it right, but I don't always see them running in the task monitor in the background. They both, or one of them, often downloads in the background.

Then I have some programs (telegram, pCloud, dropbox) that manage their own updates privately. Telegram too manages it completely transparently (and shows update to just complete and install the new version, pCloud just notifies the availability and let choose both dnld and installing, dropbox dunno, honestly).

So far so good. But my problem is : i have a very week mobile connection and no ADSL, so it happens that in certain particular situations, I'd need to reserve all the bandwidth to the high priority task (uploading files, dnlding stuff faster), and thus I'd need to just SUSPEND every background downloading or lookup the repos, at least for the two central databases (APT and FLATPAK).
Without breaking or damaging any (i.g. hunting for the services in task list and kill them !), like .... dunno, sending polite requests by systemD or so.

Have anybody any advice how to fulfil this task ?
tnx in advance.

For processes that listen to user preferences, there are features like this.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/711949/set-wifi-as-metered-connection

nmcli connection modify YOUR_WIFI_SSID connection.metered yes

That is basically a mechanism that is supposed to shed unnecessary
downloading activity. Like if you were on Hughes Satellite service
with the 2GB per month download cap, you would be enabling that
so only the barest necessities are downloaded.

You will have to check and see if such a feature exists today
in the networking stack (whatever has replaced Network Manager
this week).

Programs running in Ring3, don't have to listen to any settings.
They can be ignorant programs, sending packets whenever they feel like it.

Using the Firewall to block them, is another option. Constructing
a Raspberry PI and "PiHole" to externally block wasteful activity,
is another way to do it.

I don't use Flatpak, but when I saw the traffic that an (unused)
Flatpak was generating, I removed the package completely!

Paul

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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On 25/01/26 23:30, Paul wrote:

On Sun, 1/25/2026 7:10 AM, MarioCCCP wrote:

intro :
I have enabled automatic updates (I mean downloads, not automatic installing : the system simply downloads stuff when there are updates and let me choose when to install it) for every service I was able to.
This last sentence may sound vague, so let me clarify it :
I have multiple package managers enabled
The classic APT / synaptic, that should look for updates as soon as they are available.
Flatpak : here the situation is not clear to me since I have two distinct services / d|amons : Plasma Discovery and Gnome Software. They both have options, if I recall it right, but I don't always see them running in the task monitor in the background. They both, or one of them, often downloads in the background.

Then I have some programs (telegram, pCloud, dropbox) that manage their own updates privately. Telegram too manages it completely transparently (and shows update to just complete and install the new version, pCloud just notifies the availability and let choose both dnld and installing, dropbox dunno, honestly).


So far so good. But my problem is : i have a very week mobile connection and no ADSL, so it happens that in certain particular situations, I'd need to reserve all the bandwidth to the high priority task (uploading files, dnlding stuff faster), and thus I'd need to just SUSPEND every background downloading or lookup the repos, at least for the two central databases (APT and FLATPAK).
Without breaking or damaging any (i.g. hunting for the services in task list and kill them !), like .... dunno, sending polite requests by systemD or so.

Have anybody any advice how to fulfil this task ?
tnx in advance.

For processes that listen to user preferences, there are features like this.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/711949/set-wifi-as-metered-connection

nmcli connection modify YOUR_WIFI_SSID connection.metered yes

That is basically a mechanism that is supposed to shed unnecessary downloading activity. Like if you were on Hughes Satellite service
with the 2GB per month download cap, you would be enabling that
so only the barest necessities are downloaded.

You will have to check and see if such a feature exists today
in the networking stack (whatever has replaced Network Manager
this week).

Programs running in Ring3, don't have to listen to any settings.

sad to learn :\

They can be ignorant programs, sending packets whenever they feel like it.

Using the Firewall to block them, is another option.

mmm, that would require me to modify filter rules back and
forth, to disable and reenable. Rather annoying

Constructing
a Raspberry PI and "PiHole" to externally block wasteful activity,
is another way to do it.

I don't use Flatpak, but when I saw the traffic that an (unused)
Flatpak was generating, I removed the package completely!

here I should have explained it wrong : it is not a single
package that consumes bandwidth, it's the updater itself. I
have a lot of frameworks versions 2-3 for KDE and 3-4 for
gnome that need updating regularly, and are rather heavy in
size (more copies are kept due to dependencies, I guess).
Normally it is handy that this heavy dnld is managed in the
foreground (when I check for updates, part of the work had
just been done), but sometimes I have prioritized tasks,
then the slow down of the network affects the work. The
solutions are alas too awkward for me, I will bear the
problem as is :\
TNX, Paul

Paul

--
1) Resistere, resistere, resistere.
2) Se tutti pagano le tasse, le tasse le pagano tutti
MarioCCCP
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