So, it had been a while since I updated so I thought I would open the GUI application to do so and check on something else on my mind. Unsurprisingly, it wanted to do so immediately with a modal dialog blocking all other input. I couldn’t remember what version I was on, so I thought I would find it somewhere in the tabs and then relaunch the update dialog so I could compare numbers and catch up on what had changed. But no… it demanded to be updated right then and there. I didn’t comply so the application force closed itself.
I nearly swore out loud. I have never seen an application so completely insistent on doing things its own way or else giving you the middle finger. It was so outside of what I expected from my prior experiences that I was taken aback.
Maybe I’ll update it tomorrow when I’m less indignant.
The app does have a mode to pretty much make an update mandatory(-ish), but it would depend what version you were on. Versions around 6.0.11 up to about 6.0.14 had a renewal bug that would retry every 5 minutes instead of every 48 hrs and that could in turn causes CA rate limits to be quickly met.
In general we avoid forcing updates and have only used the option very rarely, but this particular bug could get you put on a special (new) Let’s Encrypt blacklist that would prevent further renewals until you manually opted to restart them (via a special email link LE would send you).
I guess my only suggestion might be to have a label next to the Later button that describes there’s a critical update waiting.
Force quitting vs not being able to dismiss the update at all… I guess there’s no good choice here. Clearly informing the user that this is a special occasion would have gone a long way in changing how I perceived events, I think. The series of MessageBoxes were awkward and didn’t give me the correct impression.
I want to at least thank you for not sneakily updating in the background. My security software would not have allowed the unattended install and I would have been equally annoyed.