cachy-auto-update 1.2.2

The progress bar counts the download as well as the transaction, and every step says outright that an update is running.
Move the bar while packages are downloading
2026-08-14 14:25:11 +02:00 · 2026-08-14 14:22:05 +02:00 · 2026-08-14 14:13:54 +02:00 · 2026-08-14 11:34:03 +02:00 · 2026-08-14 10:49:02 +02:00 · 2026-08-08 16:30:20 +02:00
20 changed files with 1729 additions and 93 deletions
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # Overridable so a packager can pass the version it is actually building
 # (`make VERSION=$pkgver`). The literal below is the fallback for builds
 # straight from a checkout, and is what a release tag has to carry.
-VERSION      ?= 1.0.7
+VERSION      ?= 1.2.2

 PREFIX       ?= /usr
 DESTDIR      ?=
@@ -64,6 +64,13 @@ check:
 	else \
 		echo "shellcheck not found - skipped"; \
 	fi
+	@if command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then \
+		python3 -m py_compile src/cachy-auto-update-progress \
+			&& echo "ok  src/cachy-auto-update-progress"; \
+		rm -rf src/__pycache__; \
+	else \
+		echo "python3 not found - skipped"; \
+	fi
 	@if command -v visudo >/dev/null 2>&1; then \
 		visudo -cf res/sudoers/cachy-auto-update >/dev/null && echo "ok  sudoers"; \
 	fi
@@ -72,6 +79,9 @@ install: build
 	# executables
 	install -Dm755 src/cachy-auto-update     "$(DESTDIR)$(BINDIR)/cachy-auto-update"
 	install -Dm755 src/cachy-auto-update-run "$(DESTDIR)$(LIBEXECDIR)/cachy-auto-update-run"
+	# holds a session bus connection open so the update can drive a progress bar
+	install -Dm755 src/cachy-auto-update-progress \
+		"$(DESTDIR)$(LIBEXECDIR)/cachy-auto-update-progress"
 	# the version and the resolved lib path are baked in at install time
 	sed -i -e 's|@VERSION@|$(VERSION)|g' \
 	       -e 's|@LIBDIR@|$(LIBDIR)|g' \
@@ -114,6 +124,10 @@ install: build
 	install -Dm644 res/autostart/cachy-auto-update-notify.desktop \
 		"$(DESTDIR)$(XDGAUTOSTART)/cachy-auto-update-notify.desktop"

+	# names and illustrates the progress bar; hidden from the application menu
+	install -Dm644 res/applications/cachy-auto-update.desktop \
+		"$(DESTDIR)$(DATADIR)/applications/cachy-auto-update.desktop"
+
 	# translations
 	@for l in $(LINGUAS); do \
 		if [ -f "po/$$l.mo" ]; then \
@@ -138,6 +152,7 @@ uninstall:
 	rm -f  "$(DESTDIR)$(SYSTEMDDIR)/cachy-auto-update.service"
 	rm -f  "$(DESTDIR)$(SYSTEMDDIR)/cachy-auto-update.timer"
 	rm -f  "$(DESTDIR)$(XDGAUTOSTART)/cachy-auto-update-notify.desktop"
+	rm -f  "$(DESTDIR)$(DATADIR)/applications/cachy-auto-update.desktop"
 	rm -f  "$(DESTDIR)$(MANDIR)/man1/cachy-auto-update.1"

 clean:
@@ -30,9 +30,14 @@ That opens a menu with the two switches there are:
  [3] Update now
  [4] Show log
  [5] Show current conditions
+  [6] Settings
  [q] Quit
 ```

+Everything is configurable from **[6] Settings** — a cursor list covering all
+eighteen options, so nothing needs a text editor. Arrow keys select, Space or
+Right changes a value, `q` goes back; changes are written immediately.
+
 The interface is fully translated; on a German system everything above appears
 in German.

@@ -69,7 +74,7 @@ deliberately.

 A run is postponed — and retried an hour later — when:

- the battery is below 40 % (ignored on mains power; desktops without a battery
+- the battery is below 30 % (ignored on mains power; desktops without a battery
  are never affected),
 - a game is running: GameMode, a known game process, or anything holding a
  blocking idle inhibitor,
@@ -78,8 +83,11 @@ A run is postponed — and retried an hour later — when:
 `cachy-auto-update status` prints every one of these individually, which is the
 fastest way to find out why nothing is happening.

-The machine is **never** restarted on its own. When a kernel update needs a
-restart, you get a notification saying so.
+The machine is **never** restarted on its own. A kernel update that needs a
+restart is reported by `cachy-auto-update status`, not by a notification: the
+running kernel loses its module tree the moment pacman unpacks the new one, so
+a bubble would arrive while the run is still building AUR packages and pulling
+Flatpaks — and reads as an invitation to restart in the middle of it.

 ## About the password question

@@ -123,6 +131,106 @@ A leftover `db.lck` from a crashed transaction is never deleted automatically
 guessing wrong there corrupts a live transaction. After it has been seen
 unheld on several consecutive runs, you get a notification instead.

+## What if the machine is switched off mid-update
+
+Three layers, in order of how much they can actually promise:
+
+**A notification goes out before the transaction starts** — "Installing
+updates, please leave the computer switched on until this is done" — and is
+withdrawn again when the result arrives, so it costs one bubble rather than
+two. This exists because of what the next paragraph does *not* do.
+
+**A progress bar sits in the notification area for the whole run**, the same
+one Dolphin puts there while it copies files: which step is running, which
+package is being unpacked, how far along the whole thing is. A twenty-minute
+run that shows nothing looks indistinguishable from a hung one, and that is
+what gets a machine switched off in the middle of a transaction. See
+[The progress bar](#the-progress-bar).
+
+**Suspend and a normal shutdown are blocked.** The run holds a
+`systemd-inhibit --what=sleep:shutdown --mode=block` lock, so closing the lid or
+picking "Shut down" cannot interrupt a transaction. Be aware of what that looks
+like, though: logind refuses the request and requires the polkit action
+`org.freedesktop.login1.power-off-ignore-inhibit`, which is `auth_admin_keep`.
+The desktop therefore answers a shutdown attempt with an **administrator
+password prompt** reading *"Power off the system while an application is
+inhibiting this"* — a string systemd ships untranslated, and one that never
+mentions updates. No KDE dialog explains the situation. Only `systemctl
+poweroff` in a terminal names the reason. That prompt is exactly why the
+notification above is on by default.
+
+**A hard power-off cannot be prevented by anything.** Holding the power button
+or pulling the plug cuts power in firmware. What limits the damage is that
+pacman's commit phase is short (about a minute even for a 200-package upgrade)
+and that most of a run is downloading, where an interruption costs nothing but
+a partial file.
+
+**The next run repairs it.** A `db.lck` left behind is detected and removed —
+but only when it is *provably* dead, meaning it is older than the current boot,
+so no process that could hold it still exists. The interrupted upgrade is then
+simply run again; pacman reinstalls anything that was caught half-written. A
+lock that is merely unheld within the same boot is never removed, only
+reported, because there the guess could be wrong.
+
+This last part matters more than it sounds: without it, a single power cut
+during an update would leave a lock file that makes every future run defer,
+and the machine would stop updating silently and permanently.
+
+On a Btrfs system with `snapper` and `snap-pac` — the CachyOS default — every
+pacman transaction is bracketed by a pre and post snapshot, so a genuinely
+broken upgrade can still be rolled back with `snapper rollback`.
+
+## How long notifications stay
+
+A message that means the machine still needs you — an update failed, the
+package database is locked, packages had to be held back — **stays until you
+dismiss it**. That kind of message is only worth sending if it is still there
+when you come back to the machine.
+
+Everything else times out on its own, a successful update included. Nothing
+should have to be clicked away for having gone right.
+
+Set per message rather than left to the notification daemon. Daemons do keep
+critical-urgency messages up and the spec asks them to, but that is a *should*,
+it says nothing about the normal-urgency messages here that still need somebody
+to act, and urgency separately controls sound and do-not-disturb bypass — a
+different question. Queued messages delivered at the next login keep the same
+distinction.
+
+## The progress bar
+
+While a run is working, the notification area carries a live entry — headline,
+item count, percentage, and the package currently being unpacked under
+*Details*. It is not a notification but a **job**, the same mechanism Dolphin
+uses for file copies, which is what gets you a bar rather than a line of text.
+
+Two things about how it is put together:
+
+- The desktop ties a job to the D-Bus connection that asked for it, and
+  withdraws the job the moment that connection closes. One-shot bus clients —
+  `gdbus`, `busctl`, `dbus-send` — therefore cannot drive one at all, since
+  every invocation is a fresh connection that closes immediately. So a small
+  helper (`cachy-auto-update-progress`) runs inside each graphical session for
+  the length of the update, holding the connection open and taking instructions
+  on stdin. It needs **python-gobject**; without it there is simply no bar and
+  nothing else changes.
+- Downloading and unpacking are two separate steps on the bar. On a domestic
+  line the download is the longer of the two, and calling the whole thing
+  "installing" leaves the bar sitting at 4% for six minutes, which reads as a
+  hang rather than as progress.
+- Neither phase carries a counter on an unattended run, so both are counted a
+  line at a time — `foo-1.2-1-x86_64 downloading...` and `upgrading foo...`.
+  The database sync just before prints the same shape (` core downloading...`)
+  with the suffix that would give it away already stripped, so counting starts
+  only after pacman's `:: Retrieving packages...` header. pacman's other
+  `(n/m)` sequences — checking keys, package integrity, loading files — each
+  count to the same total, so only the transaction verbs are followed;
+  otherwise the bar would reach the end three times before the first package
+  was unpacked.
+
+This is Plasma's job interface. On a desktop that does not implement it the
+helper exits quietly and the ordinary notifications carry on as before.
+
 ## Configuration

 `/etc/cachy-auto-update/cachy-auto-update.conf`, one `Key=Value` per line, every
@@ -156,7 +264,7 @@ Two things are deliberately *not* automated:

 - **File conflicts** (`exists in filesystem`) — forcing `--overwrite` could
  silently destroy something that was put there on purpose.
- **Reboots** — you get a notification, never a surprise restart.
+- **Reboots** — `status` tells you one is due, never a surprise restart.

 Signature failures trigger one keyring refresh and one retry, since a stale
 keyring blocks everything else until it is fixed.
@@ -179,8 +287,13 @@ sudo systemd-sysusers && sudo systemd-tmpfiles --create
 sudo cachy-auto-update enable
 ```

-`make check` runs `bash -n` over everything, `shellcheck` when available, and
-validates the sudoers drop-in with `visudo -c`.
+`make check` runs `bash -n` over every shell file, `py_compile` over the
+progress helper, `shellcheck` when available, and validates the sudoers drop-in
+with `visudo -c`.
+
+Everything is optional at runtime and degrades to doing less rather than
+failing: `pacman-contrib` for `checkupdates`, an AUR helper, `flatpak`, Gear
+Lever, `libnotify` for notifications, and `python-gobject` for the progress bar.

 ## Relationship to cachy-update

@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ updated in the background, with no password prompt and no terminal.

 Run without a command it opens a small interactive menu with the two switches
 that matter - automatic updates on/off and notifications on/off - plus the
-current status.
+current status, and a settings screen covering every remaining option so the
+configuration file never has to be edited by hand. In the settings screen the
+arrow keys select, Space or Right changes a value, and _q_ goes back; every
+change is written out immediately.

 The actual work is done by a systemd system service. The timer ticks hourly;
 whether a tick does anything is decided by _UpdateInterval_ (daily by default).
@@ -97,8 +100,92 @@ inside each user's own account. AppImages are updated through Gear Lever, for
 users with a graphical session, and AppImages whose application is currently
 running are skipped.

-The machine is never restarted automatically. When a kernel update makes a
-restart necessary, a notification says so.
+The machine is never restarted automatically. A kernel update that makes a
+restart necessary is reported by *cachy-auto-update status*, not by a
+notification: the running kernel loses its module tree as soon as pacman
+unpacks the new one, so a bubble would fire while the run is still working
+through AUR packages and Flatpaks, and reads as an invitation to restart in the
+middle of it.
+
+# PROGRESS
+
+For as long as a run is working, the notification area carries a live progress
+entry: the step being performed, how many items it has got through, an overall
+percentage, and the package currently being unpacked under "Details". This is a
+job in the sense of *org.kde.JobViewServer*, the same mechanism a file manager
+uses while copying, rather than a notification - which is what makes it a bar
+instead of a line of text.
+
+The desktop withdraws a job as soon as the D-Bus connection that requested it
+closes, so a helper process runs inside each graphical session for the duration
+of the update and holds that connection open. It requires _python-gobject_.
+Where that is missing, or on a desktop with no job interface, there is no
+progress entry and nothing else is affected.
+
+Fetching the packages and unpacking them are two steps rather than one. On a
+domestic line the download is the longer of the two, and a bar that called the
+whole thing "installing" would sit near its beginning for minutes at a time
+looking stuck.
+
+Neither phase gets a counter from pacman on an unattended run, so both are
+counted here, a line at a time: "foo-1.2-1-x86_64 downloading..." for the
+first, "upgrading foo..." for the second. Packages already in the cache are
+never announced, so the download step regularly ends short of its total and
+gives up the rest of its share when unpacking begins. pacman's other (n/m)
+sequences - checking keys, package integrity, loading package files - each
+count up to the same total and are deliberately ignored.
+
+# HOW LONG NOTIFICATIONS STAY
+
+A message that reports the machine still needing a person - an update that
+failed, a package database left locked, packages that had to be held back -
+stays on screen until it is dismissed. A message like that is only worth
+sending if it is still there when somebody comes back to the machine.
+
+Everything else times out by itself, an update that simply worked included.
+Nothing should have to be clicked away for having gone right.
+
+This is set per message rather than left to the notification daemon. Daemons do
+keep critical-urgency messages up, and the specification asks them to, but that
+is a recommendation, it does not cover the normal-urgency messages here that
+still need somebody to act, and urgency separately governs sound and whether
+do-not-disturb is overridden.
+
+Where nobody is logged in the message is spooled and delivered at the next
+login, with the same distinction preserved.
+
+# INTERRUPTED UPDATES
+
+Before a transaction starts, a notification says an update is running and asks
+for the machine to be left on. It is withdrawn again when the result arrives,
+so one bubble is used rather than two.
+
+While a transaction is running, *cachy-auto-update* holds a
+*systemd-inhibit*(1) lock on _sleep_ and _shutdown_ in blocking mode, so a
+suspend, a lid close or a normal shutdown request cannot cut it short.
+
+What a user sees when they try anyway is worth knowing: logind refuses the
+request and falls back to the polkit action
+_org.freedesktop.login1.power-off-ignore-inhibit_, which is _auth_admin_keep_,
+so the desktop presents an administrator password prompt reading "Power off the
+system while an application is inhibiting this". That string is shipped
+untranslated by systemd and does not mention updates, and no KDE dialog
+explains the situation either - only *systemctl*(1) names the inhibitor and its
+reason. Hence the notification.
+
+A hard power-off - holding the power button, or losing mains power - is not
+preventable. On the next run a leftover _/var/lib/pacman/db.lck_ is removed if
+it is older than the current boot, since no process able to hold it can still
+exist; the upgrade is then repeated and pacman reinstalls whatever was caught
+half-written. A lock file that is unheld but was created during the current
+boot is reported rather than removed, because there is no way to prove it is
+abandoned.
+
+Without that recovery a single power cut would leave a lock that makes every
+subsequent run defer, silently stopping updates for good.
+
+On Btrfs with *snapper*(8) and *snap-pac*, each pacman transaction is bracketed
+by a pre and post snapshot, so a broken upgrade remains rollbackable.

 # FILES

@@ -168,12 +168,23 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "base-devel is missing - AUR packages cannot be built without it."
 msgstr ""

-msgid "cachy-update also notifies about available updates. Turn its notifications off? [y/N]"
+msgid "cachy-update also notifies about available updates. Turn its notifications off? [Y/n]"
 msgstr ""

 msgid "cachy-update's update check has been disabled."
 msgstr ""

+msgid "CachyOS shows a \"Reboot recommended\" notification while an update is still running. Turn it off? [Y/n]"
+msgstr ""
+
+#, c-format
+msgid "The reboot notification has been turned off. Undo it by deleting %s."
+msgstr ""
+
+#, c-format
+msgid "Could not write %s."
+msgstr ""
+
 msgid "No log yet."
 msgstr ""

@@ -218,6 +229,35 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Without a command an interactive menu is shown."
 msgstr ""

+#. Progress bar
+#. The headline of the desktop's progress entry. Whoever reads it has not gone
+#. looking for it - it appears next to whatever they were doing - so each one
+#. says outright that this is an update running, rather than naming the kind of
+#. package on its own.
+msgid "Downloading updates"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Updating system packages"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Updating AUR packages"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Updating Flatpak apps"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Updating AppImages"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Cleaning up after the update"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Package"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "The update was stopped before it finished."
+msgstr ""
+
 #. Notifications
 msgid "System updated"
 msgstr ""
@@ -232,12 +272,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Something went wrong while updating. Run 'cachy-auto-update log' for details."
 msgstr ""

-msgid "Restart recommended"
-msgstr ""
-
-msgid "A new kernel was installed. Please restart when it suits you."
-msgstr ""
-
 msgid "Package database locked"
 msgstr ""

@@ -257,3 +291,78 @@ msgstr ""

 msgid "The last run was stopped before it finished."
 msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Finishing an interrupted update"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "The last update was cut short, most likely because the machine was switched off. It is being finished now."
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Installing updates"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "%d packages are being updated. Please leave the computer switched on until this is done."
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Settings"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "(none)"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Up/Down select - Space or Right changes - q goes back"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Package names separated by spaces, empty to clear:"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Notify when an update starts"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Notify after a successful update"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Notify when something goes wrong"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Time between update runs"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Postpone while a game is running"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Only update on mains power"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Minimum battery level (%)"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Update AUR packages"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Update Flatpaks"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Update AppImages"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Also rebuild -git packages"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "AUR helper"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Resolve package conflicts automatically"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Trim the package cache"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Cached versions to keep"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Remove packages nothing needs any more"
+msgstr ""
+
+msgid "Never update these packages"
+msgstr ""
@@ -169,12 +169,23 @@ msgstr "Kein AUR-Helper gefunden – für AUR-Updates paru oder yay installieren
 msgid "base-devel is missing - AUR packages cannot be built without it."
 msgstr "base-devel fehlt – ohne das lassen sich AUR-Pakete nicht bauen."

-msgid "cachy-update also notifies about available updates. Turn its notifications off? [y/N]"
-msgstr "cachy-update benachrichtigt ebenfalls über verfügbare Updates. Dessen Benachrichtigungen abschalten? [j/N]"
+msgid "cachy-update also notifies about available updates. Turn its notifications off? [Y/n]"
+msgstr "cachy-update benachrichtigt ebenfalls über verfügbare Updates. Dessen Benachrichtigungen abschalten? [J/n]"

 msgid "cachy-update's update check has been disabled."
 msgstr "Die Update-Prüfung von cachy-update wurde abgeschaltet."

+msgid "CachyOS shows a \"Reboot recommended\" notification while an update is still running. Turn it off? [Y/n]"
+msgstr "CachyOS zeigt eine Benachrichtigung \"Neustart empfohlen\", während ein Update noch läuft. Abschalten? [J/n]"
+
+#, c-format
+msgid "The reboot notification has been turned off. Undo it by deleting %s."
+msgstr "Die Neustart-Benachrichtigung wurde abgeschaltet. Rückgängig durch Löschen von %s."
+
+#, c-format
+msgid "Could not write %s."
+msgstr "%s konnte nicht geschrieben werden."
+
 msgid "No log yet."
 msgstr "Noch kein Protokoll vorhanden."

@@ -219,6 +230,35 @@ msgstr "Version anzeigen"
 msgid "Without a command an interactive menu is shown."
 msgstr "Ohne Befehl wird ein interaktives Menü angezeigt."

+#. Progress bar
+#. The headline of the desktop's progress entry. Whoever reads it has not gone
+#. looking for it - it appears next to whatever they were doing - so each one
+#. says outright that this is an update running, rather than naming the kind of
+#. package on its own.
+msgid "Downloading updates"
+msgstr "Updates werden heruntergeladen"
+
+msgid "Updating system packages"
+msgstr "Systempakete werden aktualisiert"
+
+msgid "Updating AUR packages"
+msgstr "AUR-Pakete werden aktualisiert"
+
+msgid "Updating Flatpak apps"
+msgstr "Flatpak-Programme werden aktualisiert"
+
+msgid "Updating AppImages"
+msgstr "AppImages werden aktualisiert"
+
+msgid "Cleaning up after the update"
+msgstr "Aufräumen nach dem Update"
+
+msgid "Package"
+msgstr "Paket"
+
+msgid "The update was stopped before it finished."
+msgstr "Das Update wurde vor dem Ende abgebrochen."
+
 #. Notifications
 msgid "System updated"
 msgstr "System aktualisiert"
@@ -233,12 +273,6 @@ msgstr "Update fehlgeschlagen"
 msgid "Something went wrong while updating. Run 'cachy-auto-update log' for details."
 msgstr "Beim Update ist etwas schiefgelaufen. Details mit „cachy-auto-update log“."

-msgid "Restart recommended"
-msgstr "Neustart empfohlen"
-
-msgid "A new kernel was installed. Please restart when it suits you."
-msgstr "Es wurde ein neuer Kernel installiert. Bitte bei Gelegenheit neu starten."
-
 msgid "Package database locked"
 msgstr "Paketdatenbank gesperrt"

@@ -258,3 +292,79 @@ msgstr "Zurückgehalten: %s"

 msgid "The last run was stopped before it finished."
 msgstr "Der letzte Lauf wurde abgebrochen, bevor er fertig war."
+
+msgid "Finishing an interrupted update"
+msgstr "Abgebrochenes Update wird beendet"
+
+msgid "The last update was cut short, most likely because the machine was switched off. It is being finished now."
+msgstr "Das letzte Update wurde unterbrochen, vermutlich weil der Rechner ausgeschaltet wurde. Es wird jetzt zu Ende geführt."
+
+msgid "Installing updates"
+msgstr "Updates werden installiert"
+
+#, c-format
+msgid "%d packages are being updated. Please leave the computer switched on until this is done."
+msgstr "%d Pakete werden gerade aktualisiert. Bitte den Rechner so lange eingeschaltet lassen."
+
+msgid "Settings"
+msgstr "Einstellungen"
+
+msgid "(none)"
+msgstr "(keine)"
+
+msgid "Up/Down select - Space or Right changes - q goes back"
+msgstr "Hoch/Runter wählen – Leertaste oder Rechts ändert – q zurück"
+
+msgid "Package names separated by spaces, empty to clear:"
+msgstr "Paketnamen mit Leerzeichen getrennt, leer zum Löschen:"
+
+msgid "Notify when an update starts"
+msgstr "Melden, wenn ein Update beginnt"
+
+msgid "Notify after a successful update"
+msgstr "Melden nach erfolgreichem Update"
+
+msgid "Notify when something goes wrong"
+msgstr "Melden, wenn etwas schiefgeht"
+
+msgid "Time between update runs"
+msgstr "Abstand zwischen Update-Läufen"
+
+msgid "Postpone while a game is running"
+msgstr "Verschieben, solange ein Spiel läuft"
+
+msgid "Only update on mains power"
+msgstr "Nur am Stromnetz aktualisieren"
+
+msgid "Minimum battery level (%)"
+msgstr "Mindest-Akkustand (%)"
+
+msgid "Update AUR packages"
+msgstr "AUR-Pakete aktualisieren"
+
+msgid "Update Flatpaks"
+msgstr "Flatpaks aktualisieren"
+
+msgid "Update AppImages"
+msgstr "AppImages aktualisieren"
+
+msgid "Also rebuild -git packages"
+msgstr "Auch -git-Pakete neu bauen"
+
+msgid "AUR helper"
+msgstr "AUR-Helfer"
+
+msgid "Resolve package conflicts automatically"
+msgstr "Paketkonflikte automatisch auflösen"
+
+msgid "Trim the package cache"
+msgstr "Paket-Cache beschneiden"
+
+msgid "Cached versions to keep"
+msgstr "Behaltene Versionen im Cache"
+
+msgid "Remove packages nothing needs any more"
+msgstr "Nicht mehr benötigte Pakete entfernen"
+
+msgid "Never update these packages"
+msgstr "Diese Pakete nie aktualisieren"
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+[Desktop Entry]
+# Not here to put an entry in the application menu - hence NoDisplay. This is
+# how the desktop learns what to call the update while it runs: the progress
+# bar in the notification area is labelled from the desktop entry named in the
+# job request, and without one the job is filed under whatever the helper
+# process happens to be called.
+Type=Application
+Name=CachyOS Auto-Update
+Comment=Unattended background updates
+Exec=cachy-auto-update
+Icon=system-software-update
+Terminal=true
+Categories=System;PackageManager;
+NoDisplay=true
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ UpdateInterval=1d

 # Never update while the battery is below this percentage. Ignored on mains
 # power and on machines without a battery.
-MinBatteryPercent=40
+MinBatteryPercent=30

 # Update only while plugged in. Stricter than MinBatteryPercent.
 RequireAC=no
@@ -94,6 +94,22 @@ RemoveOrphans=no
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Notification detail
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+#
+# How long a message stays on screen is not configurable, because it follows
+# from what the message is for: anything reporting that the machine still needs
+# a person - a failed update, a paused package queue, a package that had to be
+# skipped - waits until it is dismissed, since a message like that is only ever
+# useful if it is still there when somebody comes back. Everything else, an
+# update that simply worked included, times out on its own.
+
+# Say that an update has started. Worth keeping on: while one runs, a shutdown
+# request is refused and the desktop answers with an untranslated polkit
+# password prompt that never mentions updates. The message is withdrawn again
+# when the result arrives, so it costs one bubble, not two.
+#
+# Separate from the progress bar in the notification area, which is not
+# optional and appears whenever the desktop supports one.
+NotifyOnStart=yes

 # Say something after a successful update. Nothing is ever shown when there
 # was nothing to do.
@@ -102,6 +118,9 @@ NotifyOnSuccess=yes
 # Report failures.
 NotifyOnError=yes

-# Point out that a kernel update needs a restart. The machine is never
-# restarted automatically.
-NotifyReboot=yes
+# A kernel update that needs a restart is not announced by a notification. The
+# running kernel loses its module tree as soon as pacman unpacks the new one,
+# so that would fire while the run is still working through AUR packages and
+# Flatpaks, and reads as an invitation to restart in the middle of it.
+# `cachy-auto-update status` reports it instead. The machine is never restarted
+# automatically either way.
@@ -84,6 +84,48 @@ cau_do_enable() {
 	fi

 	cau_offer_disable_cachy_update
+	cau_offer_disable_reboot_hook
+}
+
+# CachyOS ships a pacman hook that pops up "Reboot recommended!" the moment a
+# kernel, driver or systemd package is unpacked. During a manual upgrade that
+# is fine - the transaction is the last thing happening. During an unattended
+# one it lands in the middle: the run still has AUR packages to build and
+# Flatpaks to pull, and a notification asking for a restart right then is an
+# invitation to cut the update in half.
+#
+# pacman lets a hook be overridden by name from /etc/pacman.d/hooks, which takes
+# precedence over /usr/share/libalpm/hooks, and a symlink to /dev/null there
+# disables it. That is the standard way to switch off a distribution hook, and
+# it is undone by deleting the link.
+#
+# This one is offered, never decided: it is another package's behaviour and it
+# applies to manual upgrades too.
+CAU_REBOOT_HOOK="cachyos-reboot-required.hook"
+
+cau_offer_disable_reboot_hook() {
+	local system="/usr/share/libalpm/hooks/$CAU_REBOOT_HOOK"
+	local override="/etc/pacman.d/hooks/$CAU_REBOOT_HOOK"
+	local answer
+
+	[[ -t 0 && -t 1 ]] || return 0
+	[[ -f $system ]] || return 0
+	[[ -e $override || -L $override ]] && return 0
+
+	printf '\n  %s\n  ' \
+		"$(cau_msg "CachyOS shows a \"Reboot recommended\" notification while an update is still running. Turn it off? [Y/n]")"
+	read -r answer || return 0
+
+	case "${answer,,}" in
+		''|y|yes|j|ja) ;;
+		*) return 0 ;;
+	esac
+
+	if mkdir -p /etc/pacman.d/hooks 2>/dev/null && ln -sfn /dev/null "$override" 2>/dev/null; then
+		cau_ok "$(cau_msg "The reboot notification has been turned off. Undo it by deleting %s." "$override")"
+	else
+		cau_bad "$(cau_msg "Could not write %s." "$override")"
+	fi
 }

 # Whether an AUR helper exists at all, without the logging cau_aur_detect does.
@@ -117,9 +159,17 @@ cau_offer_disable_cachy_update() {
 	(( found )) || return 0

 	printf '\n  %s\n  ' \
-		"$(cau_msg "cachy-update also notifies about available updates. Turn its notifications off? [y/N]")"
+		"$(cau_msg "cachy-update also notifies about available updates. Turn its notifications off? [Y/n]")"
 	read -r answer || return 0
-	[[ ${answer,,} == y ]] || return 0
+
+	# Defaults to yes: once updates install themselves, cachy-update's "N
+	# updates available" is purely noise. "j" is accepted too - the prompt is
+	# translated, so a German user types the German letter and used to have
+	# that silently read as "no".
+	case "${answer,,}" in
+		''|y|yes|j|ja) ;;
+		*) return 0 ;;
+	esac

 	while read -r user uid; do
 		[[ -n $user ]] || continue
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# cachy-auto-update-progress - the update's progress bar on the desktop
+#
+# Started by the update runner, once per logged-in user, inside that user's
+# session. Reads one instruction per line on stdin and turns it into the same
+# progress entry the desktop shows while Dolphin copies files:
+#
+#   info<TAB>text          headline, already translated by the caller
+#   detail<TAB>name<TAB>value  a labelled line under "Details"
+#   total<TAB>n            how many items this step has
+#   done<TAB>n             how many of them are finished
+#   percent<TAB>n          overall progress, 0-100
+#   end[<TAB>message]      finish; a message marks the job as failed
+#
+# Why a separate process at all: the desktop ties the progress entry to the
+# D-Bus connection that asked for it and withdraws the entry the moment that
+# connection goes away. One-shot callers - gdbus, busctl, dbus-send - therefore
+# cannot drive one, because each invocation is its own connection that closes
+# again immediately. So something has to sit there and hold the connection open
+# for as long as the update takes, and read its orders from somewhere else.
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2026 Felitendo
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+
+import sys
+
+try:
+    from gi.repository import Gio, GLib
+except ImportError:
+    # No GLib bindings: the update itself is unaffected, there is just no bar.
+    # Stdin is still drained, because the runner writes into a pipe and a
+    # reader that walks away would eventually block the update behind a full
+    # pipe buffer.
+    for _ in sys.stdin:
+        pass
+    sys.exit(0)
+
+JOB_SERVICE = "org.kde.JobViewServer"
+JOB_PATH = "/JobViewServer"
+DESKTOP_ENTRY = "cachy-auto-update"
+
+
+class Job:
+    """The progress entry, or a do-nothing stand-in where there is no desk."""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.bus = None
+        self.path = None
+
+    def open(self):
+        self.bus = Gio.bus_get_sync(Gio.BusType.SESSION, None)
+        reply = self.bus.call_sync(
+            JOB_SERVICE, JOB_PATH, "org.kde.JobViewServerV2", "requestView",
+            # capabilities 0: no cancel and no pause button. Neither can be
+            # honoured - pacman's commit phase is not interruptible - and a
+            # button that does nothing is worse than no button.
+            GLib.Variant("(sia{sv})", (DESKTOP_ENTRY, 0, {})),
+            GLib.VariantType("(o)"), Gio.DBusCallFlags.NONE, -1, None)
+        self.path = reply.unpack()[0]
+
+    def call(self, method, variant):
+        if self.path is None:
+            return
+        try:
+            self.bus.call_sync(
+                JOB_SERVICE, self.path, "org.kde.JobViewV2", method, variant,
+                None, Gio.DBusCallFlags.NONE, -1, None)
+        except GLib.Error:
+            # The desktop went away mid-update - a logout, or a plasmashell
+            # restart. The update carries on without a bar.
+            self.path = None
+
+    def close(self, message=""):
+        # Always terminate explicitly. A job whose owner simply disappears is
+        # reported by the desktop as "the application closed unexpectedly",
+        # which would turn every successful update into a failure notice.
+        #
+        # The error code is what decides how the entry is labelled; passing a
+        # message to terminate() on its own still files the job as completed,
+        # which next to "the update was stopped before it finished" reads as a
+        # contradiction.
+        #
+        # 100 is KJob::UserDefinedError, and the value does matter: 1 is
+        # KJob::KilledJobError, which the desktop discards without showing
+        # anything on the grounds that whoever killed the job already knows.
+        if message:
+            self.call("setError", GLib.Variant("(u)", (100,)))
+        self.call("terminate", GLib.Variant("(s)", (message,)))
+        self.path = None
+
+
+def main():
+    job = Job()
+    try:
+        job.open()
+    except GLib.Error:
+        # No job server on this desktop - anything that is not Plasma. Same
+        # deal as a missing binding: drain stdin, stay out of the way.
+        for _ in sys.stdin:
+            pass
+        return 0
+
+    unit = "items"
+    try:
+        for line in sys.stdin:
+            fields = line.rstrip("\n").split("\t")
+            cmd = fields[0]
+            arg = fields[1] if len(fields) > 1 else ""
+
+            if cmd == "info":
+                job.call("setInfoMessage", GLib.Variant("(s)", (arg,)))
+            elif cmd == "detail" and len(fields) > 2:
+                job.call("setDescriptionField",
+                         GLib.Variant("(uss)", (0, arg, fields[2])))
+            elif cmd == "total":
+                job.call("setTotalAmount", GLib.Variant("(ts)", (int(arg), unit)))
+            elif cmd == "done":
+                job.call("setProcessedAmount", GLib.Variant("(ts)", (int(arg), unit)))
+            elif cmd == "percent":
+                job.call("setPercent", GLib.Variant("(u)", (int(arg),)))
+            elif cmd == "end":
+                job.close(arg)
+                break
+    except (ValueError, IndexError):
+        # A malformed line is a bug on the writing side, not a reason to leave
+        # a stuck progress bar on somebody's desktop.
+        pass
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        pass
+    finally:
+        job.close()
+
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main())
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ set -uo pipefail

 CAU_LIBDIR="${CAU_LIBDIR:-@LIBDIR@}"

-for _mod in common config users conditions locks notify \
+for _mod in common config users conditions locks notify progress \
            pkg_pacman pkg_aur pkg_flatpak pkg_appimage; do
 	# shellcheck source=/dev/null
 	if ! source "$CAU_LIBDIR/$_mod.sh"; then
@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ cau_log_open
 # all landed or none did; only our own bookkeeping is at risk here.
 _cau_interrupted() {
 	cau_error "Update run interrupted ($1)"
+	# Before anything else: a progress entry whose owner merely disappears is
+	# reported by the desktop as an application crash, so a killed run would
+	# leave a failure message behind on top of everything else.
+	cau_progress_end failed "The update was stopped before it finished."
 	cau_state_write last_result interrupted
 	exit 130
 }
@@ -117,13 +121,22 @@ if (( ! FORCE )); then
 	fi
 fi

+# A lock left behind by a power cut during a previous update. It is cleared
+# before the busy check, because otherwise every future run would defer on it
+# forever and the machine would quietly stop updating.
+if cau_recover_stale_lock; then
+	cau_notify normal no \
+		"Finishing an interrupted update" \
+		"The last update was cut short, most likely because the machine was switched off. It is being finished now."
+fi
+
 # This one is checked even with --force: proceeding anyway would just hand the
 # user a lock error instead of doing anything useful.
 CAU_SKIP_REASON=''
 if cau_package_manager_busy; then
 	if cau_track_stale_lock; then
 		cau_warn "pacman's database lock appears to be stale"
-		cau_notify normal \
+		cau_notify normal yes \
 			"Package database locked" \
 			"pacman's lock file looks left over from an interrupted update. Updates are paused until it is cleared."
 	fi
@@ -169,6 +182,16 @@ fi
 cau_info "Starting update run"
 failed=0

+# Open the desktop's progress bar, told up front which steps this run will
+# perform. Only those count towards the bar, so a machine with no Flatpaks
+# does not sit at 85% for the last second of the run.
+progress_steps=(download repo)
+[[ $CFG_AUR == yes ]]      && progress_steps+=(aur)
+[[ $CFG_FLATPAK == yes ]]  && progress_steps+=(flatpak)
+[[ $CFG_APPIMAGE == yes ]] && progress_steps+=(appimage)
+progress_steps+=(cleanup)
+cau_progress_begin "${progress_steps[@]}"
+
 if ! cau_pacman_update; then
 	failed=1
 fi
@@ -187,6 +210,15 @@ fi

 cau_pacman_cleanup

+# The work is over; the bar goes away and the result takes over from here. No
+# label on a failure: the notification below carries that, and it stays up
+# until it is dismissed.
+if (( failed )); then
+	cau_progress_end failed
+else
+	cau_progress_end ok
+fi
+
 pacnew="$(cau_pacman_pacnew_count)"
 if [[ $pacnew =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && (( pacnew > 0 )); then
 	cau_info "$pacnew .pacnew file(s) present; left untouched"
@@ -204,7 +236,7 @@ cau_state_write last_counts \
 if (( failed )); then
 	cau_state_write last_result failed
 	cau_error "Update run finished with errors"
-	[[ $CFG_NOTIFY_ERROR == yes ]] && cau_notify critical \
+	[[ $CFG_NOTIFY_ERROR == yes ]] && cau_notify_tagged run yes critical yes \
 		"Update failed" \
 		"Something went wrong while updating. Run 'cachy-auto-update log' for details."
 else
@@ -213,7 +245,8 @@ else
 	cau_info "Update run finished successfully ($total item(s) updated)"

 	if (( total > 0 )) && [[ $CFG_NOTIFY_SUCCESS == yes ]]; then
-		cau_notify low "System updated" "%d updates were installed." "$total"
+		cau_notify_tagged run yes low no \
+			"System updated" "%d updates were installed." "$total"
 	fi
 fi

@@ -225,7 +258,7 @@ if [[ -n $CAU_PACMAN_HELD ]]; then
 	cau_state_write held_back "$CAU_PACMAN_HELD"
 	cau_warn "Held back: $CAU_PACMAN_HELD"
 	if [[ $CAU_PACMAN_HELD != "$prev_held" && $CFG_NOTIFY_ERROR == yes ]]; then
-		cau_notify normal "Some packages were held back" \
+		cau_notify normal yes "Some packages were held back" \
 			"%s could not be updated and was skipped. Everything else is up to date." \
 			"$CAU_PACMAN_HELD"
 	fi
@@ -233,12 +266,15 @@ else
 	cau_state_clear held_back
 fi

+# Recorded, deliberately not announced. The running kernel loses its module
+# tree the moment pacman unpacks the new one, so this turns true partway
+# through a run that still has AUR builds and Flatpaks ahead of it - and a
+# "restart recommended" bubble arriving then reads as an invitation to restart
+# while the update is still going. `cachy-auto-update status` and the menu say
+# so instead, where nobody is being interrupted mid-transaction.
 if cau_pacman_reboot_needed; then
 	cau_state_write reboot_needed 1
 	cau_info "A kernel update needs a restart"
-	[[ $CFG_NOTIFY_REBOOT == yes ]] && cau_notify normal \
-		"Restart recommended" \
-		"A new kernel was installed. Please restart when it suits you."
 else
 	cau_state_write reboot_needed 0
 fi
@@ -75,13 +75,55 @@ cau_msg() {
 	cau_msg_in "$(cau_ui_locale)" "$@"
 }

+# cau_msg_into <locale> <msgid>
+# Plain lookup with the result in CAU_MSG_RESULT and no printf formatting.
+# For callers that redraw many labels per keypress, where wrapping cau_msg in a
+# command substitution would cost a fork per label.
+CAU_MSG_RESULT=''
+
+cau_msg_into() {
+	local locale="$1" msgid="$2" cachekey
+	cachekey="${locale}"$'\x1f'"${msgid}"
+
+	if [[ -n ${CAU_MSG_CACHE[$cachekey]+set} ]]; then
+		CAU_MSG_RESULT="${CAU_MSG_CACHE[$cachekey]}"
+		return 0
+	fi
+
+	CAU_MSG_RESULT="$(LC_ALL="$locale" LANGUAGE="${locale%%.*}" gettext -- "$msgid" 2>/dev/null)"
+	[[ -n $CAU_MSG_RESULT ]] || CAU_MSG_RESULT="$msgid"
+	CAU_MSG_CACHE[$cachekey]="$CAU_MSG_RESULT"
+	return 0
+}
+
+# Translations are memoized. Every gettext lookup is a fork, and the settings
+# screen redraws forty-odd labels per keypress; without this the redraw takes
+# long enough that a keystroke arriving during it is lost when the terminal
+# switches back to single-character mode.
+declare -A CAU_MSG_CACHE=()
+
 # cau_msg_in <locale> <msgid> [printf args...]
 cau_msg_in() {
-	local locale="$1" msgid="$2" translated
+	local locale="$1" msgid="$2" translated cachekey
 	shift 2

-	translated="$(LC_ALL="$locale" LANGUAGE="${locale%%.*}" gettext -- "$msgid" 2>/dev/null)"
-	[[ -n $translated ]] || translated="$msgid"
+	cachekey="${locale}"$'\x1f'"${msgid}"
+	if [[ -n ${CAU_MSG_CACHE[$cachekey]+set} ]]; then
+		translated="${CAU_MSG_CACHE[$cachekey]}"
+	else
+		translated="$(LC_ALL="$locale" LANGUAGE="${locale%%.*}" gettext -- "$msgid" 2>/dev/null)"
+		[[ -n $translated ]] || translated="$msgid"
+		CAU_MSG_CACHE[$cachekey]="$translated"
+	fi
+
+	# With no arguments the message is plain text, not a format string. Feeding
+	# it to printf anyway turns any literal percent sign in it - "Battery (%)",
+	# "100 % done" - into an invalid conversion, and that is a trap every
+	# translator would eventually walk into.
+	if (( $# == 0 )); then
+		printf '%s' "$translated"
+		return
+	fi

 	# shellcheck disable=SC2059  # the format string is the translated message
 	printf -- "$translated" "$@"
@@ -6,14 +6,39 @@
 # root-run daemon, and sourcing it would turn a stray line into arbitrary code
 # execution. The format is one "Key=Value" per line, '#' starts a comment.

-# cau_config_get <Key> [default]
-cau_config_get() {
-	local key="$1" default="${2:-}" val
+# The file is cached and parsed in-process rather than shelled out to sed on
+# every lookup. The settings screen reads every key on every redraw, and a fork
+# per key made the redraw slow enough to swallow keystrokes.
+CAU_CONFIG_CACHE=''
+CAU_CONFIG_CACHED=0

-	[[ -r $CAU_CONFIG ]] || { printf '%s\n' "$default"; return; }
+_cau_config_slurp() {
+	(( CAU_CONFIG_CACHED )) && return 0
+	CAU_CONFIG_CACHE=''
+	[[ -r $CAU_CONFIG ]] && CAU_CONFIG_CACHE="$(< "$CAU_CONFIG")"
+	CAU_CONFIG_CACHED=1
+	return 0
+}

-	val="$(sed -nE "s/^[[:space:]]*${key}[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*(.*)$/\\1/p" \
-		"$CAU_CONFIG" 2>/dev/null | tail -n1)"
+# _cau_config_lookup <Key> [default]
+# Result in CAU_CONFIG_VALUE. Assigning rather than printing matters on the
+# settings screen, which reads every key on every frame: a command substitution
+# there is a fork, and forks were the entire cost of a redraw.
+CAU_CONFIG_VALUE=''
+
+_cau_config_lookup() {
+	local key="$1" default="${2:-}" val='' line
+
+	CAU_CONFIG_VALUE="$default"
+	[[ -r $CAU_CONFIG ]] || return 0
+	_cau_config_slurp
+
+	# last assignment wins, matching the previous sed|tail behaviour
+	while IFS= read -r line; do
+		[[ $line == *"$key"* ]] || continue
+		[[ $line =~ ^[[:space:]]*"$key"[[:space:]]*=(.*)$ ]] || continue
+		val="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+	done <<< "$CAU_CONFIG_CACHE"

 	# strip a trailing comment and surrounding whitespace/quotes
 	val="${val%%#*}"
@@ -22,11 +47,14 @@ cau_config_get() {
 	val="${val%\"}"
 	val="${val#\"}"

-	if [[ -n $val ]]; then
-		printf '%s\n' "$val"
-	else
-		printf '%s\n' "$default"
-	fi
+	[[ -n $val ]] && CAU_CONFIG_VALUE="$val"
+	return 0
+}
+
+# cau_config_get <Key> [default]
+cau_config_get() {
+	_cau_config_lookup "$@"
+	printf '%s\n' "$CAU_CONFIG_VALUE"
 }

 # cau_config_bool <Key> <default: yes|no>
@@ -78,6 +106,7 @@ cau_config_set() {
 	fi

 	mv -f "$tmp" "$CAU_CONFIG"
+	CAU_CONFIG_CACHED=0
 }

 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -98,13 +127,13 @@ cau_config_load() {
 	CFG_RESOLVE_CONFLICTS=no;     cau_config_bool AutoResolveConflicts yes && CFG_RESOLVE_CONFLICTS=yes
 	CFG_CLEAN_CACHE=no;           cau_config_bool CleanCache           yes && CFG_CLEAN_CACHE=yes
 	CFG_REMOVE_ORPHANS=no;        cau_config_bool RemoveOrphans        no  && CFG_REMOVE_ORPHANS=yes
+	CFG_NOTIFY_START=no;          cau_config_bool NotifyOnStart        yes && CFG_NOTIFY_START=yes
 	CFG_NOTIFY_SUCCESS=no;        cau_config_bool NotifyOnSuccess      yes && CFG_NOTIFY_SUCCESS=yes
 	CFG_NOTIFY_ERROR=no;          cau_config_bool NotifyOnError        yes && CFG_NOTIFY_ERROR=yes
-	CFG_NOTIFY_REBOOT=no;         cau_config_bool NotifyReboot         yes && CFG_NOTIFY_REBOOT=yes

 	CFG_INTERVAL="$(cau_config_get UpdateInterval 1d)"
 	CFG_INTERVAL_SECONDS="$(cau_duration_to_seconds "$CFG_INTERVAL" 86400)"
-	CFG_MIN_BATTERY="$(cau_config_int MinBatteryPercent 40)"
+	CFG_MIN_BATTERY="$(cau_config_int MinBatteryPercent 30)"
 	CFG_KEEP_OLD="$(cau_config_int KeepOldPackages 3)"
 	CFG_AUR_HELPER="$(cau_config_get AURHelper auto)"
 	CFG_IGNORE_PKG="$(cau_config_get IgnorePkg '')"
@@ -60,11 +60,55 @@ cau_package_manager_busy() {
 	return 1
 }

+# cau_pacman_lock_is_stale
+# True only when the lock provably cannot belong to anything alive.
+#
+# The rigorous test is the boot time: no process that existed before the
+# current boot can still be running, so a db.lck older than boot is abandoned
+# by definition - which is exactly what a power cut during an update leaves
+# behind. A lock that is merely unheld *within* this boot is not provable in
+# the same way, so it is only reported (see cau_track_stale_lock) and never
+# removed; guessing wrong there would corrupt a live transaction.
+#
+# The fuser check is kept as a second condition purely to survive a backwards
+# clock jump making a live lock look pre-boot.
+cau_pacman_lock_is_stale() {
+	local boot lock
+
+	[[ -e $CAU_PACMAN_LOCK ]] || return 1
+
+	boot="$(awk '/^btime /{print $2}' /proc/stat 2>/dev/null)"
+	[[ $boot =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || return 1
+
+	lock="$(stat -c %Y "$CAU_PACMAN_LOCK" 2>/dev/null)" || return 1
+	[[ $lock =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || return 1
+
+	(( lock < boot )) || return 1
+	[[ -z "$(cau_pacman_lock_holder)" ]]
+}
+
+# cau_recover_stale_lock
+# Clears a provably abandoned lock so an interrupted update can be finished on
+# the next run. Without this, one power cut during an update stops every future
+# update permanently and silently - the worst possible outcome for a machine
+# nobody is watching.
+cau_recover_stale_lock() {
+	cau_pacman_lock_is_stale || return 1
+
+	cau_warn "Found a pacman lock older than this boot - an update was cut short"
+	rm -f "$CAU_PACMAN_LOCK" 2>/dev/null || {
+		cau_error "Could not remove the stale pacman lock"
+		return 1
+	}
+	cau_state_clear stale_lock_count
+	cau_info "Stale lock removed; the interrupted update will be finished now"
+	return 0
+}
+
 # cau_track_stale_lock
-# A db.lck with no process behind it is left over from a crashed transaction.
-# Removing it automatically would be reckless - if the guess is wrong it
-# corrupts a live transaction - so instead it is counted, and after enough
-# consecutive sightings the user is told to clean it up.
+# A db.lck with no process behind it but created during this boot: a crashed
+# pacman rather than a power cut. Not provable, so it is counted, and after
+# enough consecutive sightings the user is told to clean it up.
 CAU_STALE_LOCK_RUNS=3

 cau_track_stale_lock() {
@@ -7,6 +7,316 @@

 CAU_UNIT="cachy-auto-update.timer"

+# Terminal mode.
+#
+# bash flips the terminal into non-canonical mode for each `read -sn1` and back
+# out again in between. That gap matters: in canonical mode DEL is the ERASE
+# character, so the line discipline eats it instead of delivering it, and a
+# backspace typed while the interface was between reads simply vanished.
+# Holding non-canonical mode for the whole interface removes the gap.
+CAU_TERM_SAVED=''
+
+cau_ui_term_raw() {
+	cau_have stty || return 0
+	[[ -t 0 ]] || return 0
+	[[ -n $CAU_TERM_SAVED ]] && return 0
+
+	CAU_TERM_SAVED="$(stty -g 2>/dev/null)" || { CAU_TERM_SAVED=''; return 0; }
+	stty -icanon -echo min 1 time 0 2>/dev/null || true
+}
+
+cau_ui_term_restore() {
+	[[ -n $CAU_TERM_SAVED ]] || return 0
+	stty "$CAU_TERM_SAVED" 2>/dev/null || true
+	CAU_TERM_SAVED=''
+}
+
+# Runs an action with the terminal handed back to normal line mode, so anything
+# it prints - or prompts for - behaves the way a program expects.
+cau_ui_cooked() {
+	cau_ui_term_restore
+	"$@"
+	local rc=$?
+	cau_ui_term_raw
+	return $rc
+}
+
+# cau_read_key
+# One keypress, resolved to a symbolic name: a literal character, or one of
+# up/down/left/right/enter/space/escape. Arrow keys arrive as ESC [ A, so the
+# tail of the sequence is consumed here rather than being mistaken for three
+# separate presses.
+cau_read_key() {
+	local k rest
+
+	IFS= read -rsn1 k || return 1
+
+	case "$k" in
+		$'\e')
+			if IFS= read -rsn2 -t 0.05 rest; then
+				case "$rest" in
+					'[A') printf 'up\n' ;;
+					'[B') printf 'down\n' ;;
+					'[C') printf 'right\n' ;;
+					'[D') printf 'left\n' ;;
+					*)    printf 'escape\n' ;;
+				esac
+			else
+				printf 'escape\n'
+			fi
+			;;
+		# Enter is an empty read in cooked mode and a carriage return in raw
+		# mode, depending on whether the terminal is translating it.
+		''|$'\r')      printf 'enter\n' ;;
+		$'\x7f'|$'\b') printf 'backspace\n' ;;
+		' ')           printf 'space\n' ;;
+		*)             printf '%s\n' "$k" ;;
+	esac
+}
+
+# cau_ui_read_line <initial>
+# A minimal line editor built on cau_read_key, with the result in
+# CAU_LINE_RESULT.
+#
+# This exists instead of bash's own `read -r` because mixing line mode into a
+# single-key interface breaks it: after one cooked-mode read the following
+# `read -sn1` stops receiving keystrokes entirely, reproducibly, on a real pty.
+# Never leaving single-character mode side-steps that completely.
+CAU_LINE_RESULT=''
+
+cau_ui_read_line() {
+	local buf="${1:-}" key
+
+	CAU_LINE_RESULT=''
+	printf '%s' "$buf"
+
+	while true; do
+		key="$(cau_read_key)" || { printf '\n'; return 1; }
+
+		case "$key" in
+			enter)
+				printf '\n'
+				CAU_LINE_RESULT="$buf"
+				return 0
+				;;
+			escape)
+				printf '\n'
+				return 1
+				;;
+			backspace)
+				if [[ -n $buf ]]; then
+					buf="${buf%?}"
+					printf '\b \b'
+				fi
+				;;
+			space)
+				buf+=' '
+				printf ' '
+				;;
+			up|down|left|right) ;;   # no cursor movement in this editor
+			*)
+				# a single printable character; control keys arrive as names
+				[[ ${#key} -eq 1 ]] || continue
+				buf+="$key"
+				printf '%s' "$key"
+				;;
+		esac
+	done
+}
+
+# Everything that can be changed without opening a text editor.
+# Format: Key|type|default|label-msgid
+# type is bool, choice:<space separated values>, or text.
+CAU_SETTINGS=(
+	"NotifyOnStart|bool|yes|Notify when an update starts"
+	"NotifyOnSuccess|bool|yes|Notify after a successful update"
+	"NotifyOnError|bool|yes|Notify when something goes wrong"
+	"UpdateInterval|choice:6h 12h 1d 2d 1w|1d|Time between update runs"
+	"SkipWhenGaming|bool|yes|Postpone while a game is running"
+	"RequireAC|bool|no|Only update on mains power"
+	"MinBatteryPercent|choice:0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80|30|Minimum battery level (%)"
+	"UpdateAUR|bool|yes|Update AUR packages"
+	"UpdateFlatpak|bool|yes|Update Flatpaks"
+	"UpdateAppImages|bool|yes|Update AppImages"
+	"UpdateDevel|bool|no|Also rebuild -git packages"
+	"AURHelper|choice:auto paru yay pikaur|auto|AUR helper"
+	"AutoResolveConflicts|bool|yes|Resolve package conflicts automatically"
+	"CleanCache|bool|yes|Trim the package cache"
+	"KeepOldPackages|choice:0 1 2 3 5|3|Cached versions to keep"
+	"RemoveOrphans|bool|no|Remove packages nothing needs any more"
+	"IgnorePkg|text||Never update these packages"
+)
+
+_cau_is_true() {
+	case "${1,,}" in
+		yes|y|true|1|on|enabled) return 0 ;;
+		*) return 1 ;;
+	esac
+}
+
+# _cau_setting_display <type> <value>
+# Result in CAU_SETTING_SHOWN. The three constant strings are resolved once by
+# the caller into CAU_LBL_*; looking them up here would put a translation call
+# on the per-line path.
+CAU_SETTING_SHOWN=''
+CAU_LBL_ON=''
+CAU_LBL_OFF=''
+CAU_LBL_NONE=''
+
+_cau_setting_display() {
+	local type="$1" value="$2"
+
+	case "$type" in
+		bool)
+			if _cau_is_true "$value"; then
+				CAU_SETTING_SHOWN="${CAU_C_GREEN}${CAU_LBL_ON}${CAU_C_RESET}"
+			else
+				CAU_SETTING_SHOWN="${CAU_C_DIM}${CAU_LBL_OFF}${CAU_C_RESET}"
+			fi
+			;;
+		text)
+			if [[ -n $value ]]; then
+				CAU_SETTING_SHOWN="$value"
+			else
+				CAU_SETTING_SHOWN="${CAU_C_DIM}${CAU_LBL_NONE}${CAU_C_RESET}"
+			fi
+			;;
+		*) CAU_SETTING_SHOWN="$value" ;;
+	esac
+}
+
+# _cau_setting_cycle <type> <value> <direction: 1|-1>
+# The next value for this setting. Choices wrap around, so one key is enough to
+# reach everything without needing a second one for the other direction.
+_cau_setting_cycle() {
+	local type="$1" value="$2" dir="$3"
+
+	if [[ $type == bool ]]; then
+		_cau_is_true "$value" && printf 'no\n' || printf 'yes\n'
+		return
+	fi
+
+	local -a choices
+	read -r -a choices <<< "${type#choice:}"
+	(( ${#choices[@]} )) || { printf '%s\n' "$value"; return; }
+
+	local i idx=0
+	for i in "${!choices[@]}"; do
+		[[ ${choices[i]} == "$value" ]] && { idx=$i; break; }
+	done
+
+	idx=$(( (idx + dir + ${#choices[@]}) % ${#choices[@]} ))
+	printf '%s\n' "${choices[idx]}"
+}
+
+# cau_ui_settings
+# A cursor list rather than a numbered menu: there are eighteen settings, and
+# numbering them would run out of digits and force paging.
+#
+# The frame is assembled in memory and written once. Everything constant - the
+# specs, the translated labels, the clear sequence - is resolved before the
+# loop, and the values are re-read only after something actually changes.
+# Drawing the naive way cost a command substitution per label per frame, which
+# measured 435 ms per keypress: arrow keys felt like the console was reloading,
+# because in effect it was.
+cau_ui_settings() {
+	local count=${#CAU_SETTINGS[@]}
+	local -a names=() types=() defaults=() labels=()
+	local -a values=()
+	local spec name type default label locale i key frame row pad dirty=1 cursor=0
+
+	locale="$(cau_ui_locale)"
+	cau_msg_into "$locale" "ON";     CAU_LBL_ON="$CAU_MSG_RESULT"
+	cau_msg_into "$locale" "OFF";    CAU_LBL_OFF="$CAU_MSG_RESULT"
+	cau_msg_into "$locale" "(none)"; CAU_LBL_NONE="$CAU_MSG_RESULT"
+
+	for spec in "${CAU_SETTINGS[@]}"; do
+		IFS='|' read -r name type default label <<< "$spec"
+		names+=("$name"); types+=("$type"); defaults+=("$default")
+		cau_msg_into "$locale" "$label"
+		labels+=("$CAU_MSG_RESULT")
+	done
+
+	local title hint
+	cau_msg_into "$locale" "Settings"; title="$CAU_MSG_RESULT"
+	cau_msg_into "$locale" "Up/Down select - Space or Right changes - q goes back"
+	hint="$CAU_MSG_RESULT"
+
+	# the terminfo clear string, fetched once instead of forking per frame
+	local clearseq
+	clearseq="$(clear 2>/dev/null)" || clearseq=$'\033[H\033[2J'
+
+	while true; do
+		if (( dirty )); then
+			for i in "${!names[@]}"; do
+				_cau_config_lookup "${names[i]}" "${defaults[i]}"
+				values[i]="$CAU_CONFIG_VALUE"
+			done
+			dirty=0
+		fi
+
+		frame="$clearseq"$'\n'"${CAU_C_BOLD}${CAU_C_BLUE}  ${title}${CAU_C_RESET}"$'\n\n'
+
+		local marker selected="${CAU_C_BLUE}▸${CAU_C_RESET} "
+		for i in "${!names[@]}"; do
+			_cau_setting_display "${types[i]}" "${values[i]}"
+			pad=$(( 42 - ${#labels[i]} ))
+			(( pad < 0 )) && pad=0
+			if (( i == cursor )); then marker="$selected"; else marker='  '; fi
+			printf -v row '  %s%s%*s %s' \
+				"$marker" "${labels[i]}" "$pad" '' "$CAU_SETTING_SHOWN"
+			frame+="$row"$'\n'
+		done
+
+		frame+=$'\n'"  ${CAU_C_DIM}${hint}${CAU_C_RESET}"$'\n'
+		printf '%s' "$frame"
+
+		key="$(cau_read_key)" || return 0
+
+		type="${types[cursor]}"
+		name="${names[cursor]}"
+
+		case "$key" in
+			up|k)    cursor=$(( (cursor - 1 + count) % count )) ;;
+			down|j)  cursor=$(( (cursor + 1) % count )) ;;
+			space|enter|right|l)
+				if [[ $type == text ]]; then
+					cau_ui_edit_text "$name" "${values[cursor]}"
+				else
+					cau_config_set "$name" "$(_cau_setting_cycle "$type" "${values[cursor]}" 1)" \
+						|| { cau_bad "$(cau_msg "Could not write the configuration file.")"; cau_pause; }
+				fi
+				dirty=1
+				;;
+			left|h)
+				if [[ $type != text ]]; then
+					cau_config_set "$name" "$(_cau_setting_cycle "$type" "${values[cursor]}" -1)" \
+						|| { cau_bad "$(cau_msg "Could not write the configuration file.")"; cau_pause; }
+					dirty=1
+				fi
+				;;
+			q|Q|escape) return 0 ;;
+			*) ;;
+		esac
+	done
+}
+
+# cau_ui_edit_text <key> <current>
+# The one setting that is a free-text list rather than a choice.
+cau_ui_edit_text() {
+	local name="$1" current="$2"
+
+	printf '\n  %s\n' "$(cau_msg "Package names separated by spaces, empty to clear:")"
+	printf '  > '
+
+	# pre-filled with the current value so it can be corrected rather than
+	# retyped; Escape leaves it unchanged
+	if cau_ui_read_line "$current"; then
+		cau_config_set "$name" "$CAU_LINE_RESULT" \
+			|| { cau_bad "$(cau_msg "Could not write the configuration file.")"; cau_pause; }
+	fi
+}
+
 # _cau_row <label> <value>
 # printf's %-28s pads by bytes, so a label containing "ü" comes out one column
 # short. ${#s} counts characters in a UTF-8 locale, so the padding is computed
@@ -141,6 +451,10 @@ cau_ui_status_conditions() {
 cau_ui_menu() {
 	local choice

+	cau_ui_term_raw
+	# restore the terminal even if this exits through Ctrl-C or an error
+	trap 'cau_ui_term_restore' EXIT INT TERM
+
 	while true; do
 		cau_config_load

@@ -153,45 +467,52 @@ cau_ui_menu() {
 		printf '  [3] %s\n' "$(cau_msg "Update now")"
 		printf '  [4] %s\n' "$(cau_msg "Show log")"
 		printf '  [5] %s\n' "$(cau_msg "Show current conditions")"
+		printf '  [6] %s\n' "$(cau_msg "Settings")"
 		printf '  [q] %s\n' "$(cau_msg "Quit")"
 		printf '\n  > '

-		# One keypress, no Enter. -s keeps the raw character out of the
-		# display so the echo below is the only thing printed, and a failing
-		# read means EOF (Ctrl-D, or a script piping input) - that quits.
-		read -rsn1 choice || { printf '\n'; return 0; }
+		# One keypress, no Enter. A failing read means EOF (Ctrl-D, or a
+		# script piping input), which quits.
+		choice="$(cau_read_key)" || {
+			printf '\n'; cau_ui_term_restore; trap - EXIT INT TERM; return 0
+		}
+		case "$choice" in
+			enter|space|up|down|left|right|escape) choice='' ;;
+		esac
 		printf '%s\n' "$choice"

+		# Actions run in normal line mode: they print program output and some
+		# of them prompt, neither of which behaves in raw mode.
 		case "$choice" in
 			# The two switches flip and return straight to the menu, where the
 			# status block shows the result. Only a warning or an error holds
 			# the screen (see CAU_UI_NEEDS_ACK).
 			1)
 				CAU_UI_NEEDS_ACK=''
-				if [[ $CFG_ENABLED == yes ]]; then cau_do_disable; else cau_do_enable; fi
+				if [[ $CFG_ENABLED == yes ]]; then
+					cau_ui_cooked cau_do_disable
+				else
+					cau_ui_cooked cau_do_enable
+				fi
 				if [[ -n $CAU_UI_NEEDS_ACK ]]; then cau_pause; fi
 				;;
 			2)
 				CAU_UI_NEEDS_ACK=''
 				if [[ $CFG_NOTIFICATIONS == yes ]]; then
-					cau_do_notifications off
+					cau_ui_cooked cau_do_notifications off
 				else
-					cau_do_notifications on
+					cau_ui_cooked cau_do_notifications on
 				fi
 				if [[ -n $CAU_UI_NEEDS_ACK ]]; then cau_pause; fi
 				;;
-			3) cau_do_run --force; cau_pause ;;
-			4) cau_do_log; cau_pause ;;
+			3) cau_ui_cooked cau_do_run --force; cau_pause ;;
+			4) cau_ui_cooked cau_do_log; cau_pause ;;
 			5) cau_ui_status_conditions; cau_pause ;;
-			q|Q) return 0 ;;
-			$'\e')
-				# Arrow keys and friends arrive as ESC [ X. Swallow the rest so
-				# one keypress does not redraw the menu three times. Escape is
-				# deliberately not a quit key: that would make a stray arrow
-				# key close the menu.
-				read -rsn2 -t 0.05 _ 2>/dev/null || true
-				;;
-			# Anything else, Enter included, just redraws.
+			6) cau_ui_settings ;;
+			q|Q) cau_ui_term_restore; trap - EXIT INT TERM; return 0 ;;
+			# Anything else - Enter, arrow keys, stray characters - just
+			# redraws. Escape is deliberately not a quit key, so a mistyped
+			# arrow key cannot close the menu.
 			*) ;;
 		esac
 	done
@@ -15,17 +15,68 @@
 CAU_NOTIFY_ICON="system-software-update"
 CAU_NOTIFY_QUEUE_MAX=20

-# cau_notify <urgency> <title-msgid> <body-msgid> [body printf args...]
+# cau_notify <urgency> <linger: yes|no> <title-msgid> <body-msgid> [args...]
 # Never fails: a machine without libnotify, or with nobody logged in, is a
 # normal state, not an error.
 cau_notify() {
-	local urgency="$1" title="$2" body="$3"
-	shift 3
+	cau_notify_tagged '' yes "$@"
+}
+
+# cau_notify_close <user> <uid> <id>
+# notify-send can create and replace notifications but not withdraw one, so
+# this goes to the bus directly. gdbus comes from glib2, which libnotify itself
+# links against, so it is present wherever notify-send is.
+cau_notify_close() {
+	cau_as_user "$1" "$2" gdbus call --session \
+		--dest org.freedesktop.Notifications \
+		--object-path /org/freedesktop/Notifications \
+		--method org.freedesktop.Notifications.CloseNotification \
+		"$3" > /dev/null 2>&1 || true
+}
+
+# cau_notify_tagged <tag> <queue: yes|no> <urgency> <linger: yes|no> \
+#                   <title> <body> [args...]
+#
+# linger=yes keeps the message on screen until somebody dismisses it; anything
+# else lets it time out on its own. The line it draws is whether the machine
+# still needs a person: a finished update is over and done with and should not
+# have to be clicked away, while a failure, a paused queue or a package that
+# had to be skipped is only ever seen if it waits.
+#
+# Set explicitly rather than left to the server. Notification daemons do keep
+# critical-urgency messages up - the spec asks them to, and Plasma obliges -
+# but that is a "should", it says nothing about the normal-urgency messages
+# here that still need somebody to act, and urgency separately controls sound
+# and whether do-not-disturb is overridden. Those are not the same question.
+#
+# A tag means "at most one bubble of this kind on screen at a time": the
+# previous one carrying the same tag is withdrawn first, so "installing
+# updates" gives way to "system updated" instead of leaving two messages that
+# contradict each other.
+#
+# Withdraw-then-post rather than the obvious --replace-id, because replacing
+# only works while the old bubble is still on screen. Plasma's server drops a
+# Notify() whose replaces_id names an expired notification: no bubble, no
+# error, and the id it hands back is the dead one it just ignored. An update
+# run lasts minutes and the start bubble times out after seconds, so the
+# finished message landed in exactly that hole and was never seen. Closing an
+# id that is already gone is a no-op, which makes this safe either way.
+#
+# queue=no is for messages that only mean anything while somebody is looking.
+# Telling a user at next login that an update started an hour ago is noise.
+cau_notify_tagged() {
+	local tag="$1" queue="$2" urgency="$3" linger="$4" title="$5" body="$6"
+	shift 6
 	local -a args=("$@")
-	local delivered=0 user uid locale t b
+	local delivered=0 user uid locale t b prev newid

 	[[ $CFG_NOTIFICATIONS == yes ]] || return 0

+	# -1 is "whatever the server thinks", which is what a message nobody has to
+	# act on wants; 0 is "until dismissed".
+	local -a expiry=(--expire-time=-1)
+	[[ $linger == yes ]] && expiry=(--expire-time=0)
+
 	while read -r user uid; do
 		[[ -n $user ]] || continue
 		cau_as_user "$user" "$uid" sh -c 'command -v notify-send >/dev/null' || continue
@@ -34,22 +85,36 @@ cau_notify() {
 		t="$(cau_msg_in "$locale" "$title")"
 		b="$(cau_msg_in "$locale" "$body" "${args[@]}")"

-		if cau_as_user "$user" "$uid" notify-send \
+		if [[ -n $tag ]]; then
+			prev="$(cau_state_read "notify_id_${tag}_${user}" 0)"
+			if [[ $prev =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && (( prev > 0 )); then
+				cau_notify_close "$user" "$uid" "$prev"
+			fi
+			cau_state_clear "notify_id_${tag}_${user}"
+		fi
+
+		if newid="$(cau_as_user "$user" "$uid" notify-send \
 			--app-name="$CAU_PRETTY" \
 			--icon="$CAU_NOTIFY_ICON" \
 			--urgency="$urgency" \
-			-- "$t" "$b" 2>/dev/null
+			"${expiry[@]}" \
+			--print-id \
+			-- "$t" "$b" 2>/dev/null)"
 		then
 			delivered=1
+			if [[ -n $tag && $newid =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+				cau_state_write "notify_id_${tag}_${user}" "$newid"
+			fi
 		fi
 	done < <(cau_active_session_users)

 	(( delivered )) && return 0
+	[[ $queue == yes ]] || return 0

-	cau_notify_enqueue "$urgency" "$title" "$body" "${args[@]}"
+	cau_notify_enqueue "$urgency" "$linger" "$title" "$body" "${args[@]}"
 }

-# cau_notify_enqueue <urgency> <title-msgid> <body-msgid> [args...]
+# cau_notify_enqueue <urgency> <linger> <title-msgid> <body-msgid> [args...]
 # Tab-separated records, oldest first. The file is world-readable on purpose:
 # the login-time delivery runs unprivileged and only ever reads it.
 #
@@ -57,13 +122,13 @@ cau_notify() {
 # progress by "last key seen", so two records sharing a key could make the
 # second one unreachable forever if a login landed between them.
 cau_notify_enqueue() {
-	local urgency="$1" title="$2" body="$3"
-	shift 3
+	local urgency="$1" linger="$2" title="$3" body="$4"
+	shift 4
 	local record tmp

 	mkdir -p "$CAU_STATEDIR" 2>/dev/null || return 0

-	record="$(date +%s%N)"$'\t'"$urgency"$'\t'"$title"$'\t'"$body"
+	record="$(date +%s%N)"$'\t'"$urgency"$'\t'"$linger"$'\t'"$title"$'\t'"$body"
 	local arg
 	for arg in "$@"; do
 		record+=$'\t'"${arg//$'\t'/ }"
@@ -85,8 +150,8 @@ cau_notify_enqueue() {
 # entry. State about what has already been seen lives in the user's own home,
 # so no write access to /var/lib is needed and each user is tracked separately.
 cau_notify_deliver_queue() {
-	local seen_file seen ts urgency title body
-	local -a args
+	local seen_file seen ts urgency linger title body rest
+	local -a args expiry

 	[[ -r $CAU_NOTIFY_QUEUE ]] || return 0
 	cau_have notify-send || return 0
@@ -99,20 +164,34 @@ cau_notify_deliver_queue() {
 	[[ $seen =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || seen=0

 	local newest="$seen"
-	while IFS=$'\t' read -r ts urgency title body rest; do
+	while IFS=$'\t' read -r ts urgency linger title body rest; do
 		[[ $ts =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || continue
 		(( ts > seen )) || continue

+		# Records spooled before the linger field existed have the title where
+		# the flag now sits. Shift them back rather than announcing an update
+		# under the headline "yes".
+		if [[ $linger != yes && $linger != no ]]; then
+			rest="${body}${rest:+$'\t'}${rest:-}"
+			body="$title"
+			title="$linger"
+			linger=no
+		fi
+
 		# remaining tab-separated fields are the body's printf arguments
 		args=()
 		if [[ -n ${rest:-} ]]; then
 			IFS=$'\t' read -r -a args <<< "$rest"
 		fi

+		expiry=(--expire-time=-1)
+		[[ $linger == yes ]] && expiry=(--expire-time=0)
+
 		notify-send \
 			--app-name="$CAU_PRETTY" \
 			--icon="$CAU_NOTIFY_ICON" \
 			--urgency="${urgency:-normal}" \
+			"${expiry[@]}" \
 			-- "$(cau_msg "$title")" "$(cau_msg "$body" "${args[@]}")" 2>/dev/null || true

 		(( ts > newest )) && newest="$ts"
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ cau_appimage_update() {
 	local user uid count rc=0
 	local -a cmd

+	cau_progress_step appimage "Updating AppImages"
+
 	while read -r user uid; do
 		[[ -n $user ]] || continue

@@ -126,6 +126,8 @@ cau_aur_update() {

 	cau_aur_ready || return 0

+	cau_progress_step aur "Updating AUR packages"
+
 	pending="$(cau_aur_pending)"
 	if (( pending == 0 )); then
 		cau_info "No AUR updates pending"
@@ -134,10 +136,15 @@ cau_aur_update() {
 	fi

 	cau_info "Updating $pending AUR package(s) with $CAU_AUR_HELPER"
+
+	# The helper builds each package from source with no counter this side of
+	# its output, so the bar sits at the start of the step until it is done.
+	cau_progress_item 0 "$pending"
 	mapfile -t args < <(cau_aur_helper_args)

 	if cau_run_logged cau_as_build_user "$CAU_AUR_HELPER" "${args[@]}"; then
 		CAU_AUR_COUNT="$pending"
+		cau_progress_item "$pending"
 		cau_state_clear aur_failures
 		return 0
 	fi
@@ -28,14 +28,18 @@ cau_flatpak_update() {

 	cau_have flatpak || return 0

+	cau_progress_step flatpak "Updating Flatpak apps"
+
 	# refresh appstream metadata first so remote-ls sees current versions
 	cau_run_logged flatpak update --appstream --system --noninteractive || true

 	pending="$(cau_flatpak_pending_system)"
 	if (( pending > 0 )); then
 		cau_info "Updating $pending system Flatpak(s)"
+		cau_progress_item 0 "$pending"
 		if cau_run_logged flatpak update --system --noninteractive --assumeyes; then
 			CAU_FLATPAK_COUNT=$(( CAU_FLATPAK_COUNT + pending ))
+			cau_progress_item "$pending"
 		else
 			cau_warn "System Flatpak update failed"
 			rc=1
@@ -27,6 +27,119 @@ cau_pacman_flags() {
 	done
 }

+# The verbs pacman puts in front of a package as it works through a
+# transaction. Matched against English on purpose: the runner forces LC_ALL=C
+# precisely so pacman's output stays parseable.
+CAU_PACMAN_OP_RE='^(\([[:space:]]*[0-9]+/[0-9]+\) )?(upgrading|installing|reinstalling|downgrading|removing) [^[:space:]]+'
+
+# Before any of that, everything has to be fetched, and on a domestic line
+# that is the longer half of the run: two hundred packages take minutes to
+# arrive and seconds to unpack. pacman prints one line per package while it
+# does it,
+#
+#    glibc-2.44+r24+g16be1518495f-1-x86_64_v3 downloading...
+#
+# and nothing else - no counter, no total - so the position here is counted the
+# same way the transaction is.
+#
+# The database sync a few lines earlier prints the very same shape (" core
+# downloading..."), and pacman strips the suffix that would tell a database
+# from a package, so the count begins only after the header that separates the
+# two phases.
+CAU_PACMAN_DL_AWK='
+	/^:: Retrieving packages/ { retrieving = 1; next }
+	retrieving && / downloading\.\.\.$/ { n++; name = $1 }
+	END { print n + 0, name }'
+
+# _cau_pacman_progress_watch <logfile>
+# Feeds the desktop's progress bar by watching pacman work, through both of the
+# phases a pacman run has: first everything is fetched, then everything is
+# unpacked. They are two steps on the bar rather than one, because they are two
+# steps to sit through - a run that has been "installing updates" at 4% for six
+# minutes has not hung, it is still downloading, and the bar should say so.
+#
+# In the transaction, pacman announces each package twice over, in one of two
+# shapes, and which one depends on a flag this program sets itself:
+#
+#   upgrading glibc...              with --noprogressbar, i.e. every timer run
+#   ( 12/218) upgrading glibc [##]  with the bar, i.e. an interactive `run`
+#
+# Only the second carries a counter, and the unattended runs that this bar
+# exists for are exactly the ones that do not get it. So the position is
+# counted here instead - one line per package - and the total taken from the
+# "Package (218)" header pacman prints before it starts. That header is the
+# better number anyway: checkupdates counts packages with an update available
+# and knows nothing about the new dependencies pulled in alongside them.
+#
+# What must not be counted is the other (n/m) sequence pacman prints, for
+# hooks and for checking keys, integrity and file conflicts. Each of those runs
+# up to its own total, so following them would drive the bar to the end several
+# times before the first package was unpacked. Requiring one of the verbs above
+# is what excludes them.
+#
+# Read by polling the log rather than from a pipe: the log is written either by
+# pacman directly or through tee depending on whether a person is watching, and
+# one reader that works for both is worth the second of latency it costs.
+_cau_pacman_progress_watch() {
+	local log="$1"
+	local total="${CAU_PACMAN_COUNT:-0}" announced processed line pkg last=''
+	local phase=download fetched shown=''
+
+	while :; do
+		sleep 1
+
+		announced="$(grep -aoE '^Packages? \([0-9]+\)' "$log" 2>/dev/null \
+			| head -n1 | grep -oE '[0-9]+')"
+		[[ $announced =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && (( announced > 0 )) && total="$announced"
+
+		line="$(grep -aoE "$CAU_PACMAN_OP_RE" "$log" 2>/dev/null | tail -n1)"
+
+		# Nothing unpacked yet, so this is still the download - or the database
+		# sync ahead of it, which the awk above declines to count.
+		if [[ -z $line ]]; then
+			read -r fetched pkg < <(awk "$CAU_PACMAN_DL_AWK" "$log" 2>/dev/null)
+			[[ $fetched =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && (( fetched > 0 )) || continue
+			[[ $fetched != "$shown" ]] || continue
+			shown="$fetched"
+
+			cau_progress_item "$fetched" "$total"
+			# Down to the bare name, as the transaction reports it: the file
+			# pacman names here carries version, release and architecture.
+			cau_progress_detail "Package" "${pkg%-*-*-*}"
+			continue
+		fi
+
+		# The first package being unpacked ends the download step. Its share of
+		# the bar is given up wherever it had got to - packages already in the
+		# cache are fetched in no time at all and never print a line, so the
+		# tally regularly stops short of the total it was promised.
+		if [[ $phase == download ]]; then
+			phase=install
+			cau_progress_step repo "Updating system packages" "$total"
+		fi
+
+		# Nothing new since the last look. Checked before the counting grep
+		# because on a large upgrade this loop spends most of its life here.
+		[[ $line != "$last" ]] || continue
+		last="$line"
+
+		processed="$(grep -acE "$CAU_PACMAN_OP_RE" "$log" 2>/dev/null)"
+		[[ $processed =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || continue
+
+		# Where pacman does carry a counter, believe it over the tally: it is
+		# the same number, but it also knows the true total.
+		if [[ $line =~ ^\([[:space:]]*([0-9]+)/([0-9]+)\) ]]; then
+			processed="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+			total="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
+		fi
+
+		cau_progress_item "$processed" "$total"
+
+		pkg="${line##* }"
+		cau_progress_detail "Package" "${pkg%...}"
+	done
+}
+
 # _cau_pacman_exec <logfile> <pacman args...>
 # Captures pacman's output for classification, and streams it as well when a
 # person is watching. Upgrading a few hundred packages takes minutes; without
@@ -35,13 +148,28 @@ cau_pacman_flags() {
 _cau_pacman_exec() {
 	local log="$1"
 	shift
+	local rc watcher=0
+
+	# Only worth a second process and a grep per second if a bar exists to feed.
+	if cau_progress_active; then
+		_cau_pacman_progress_watch "$log" &
+		watcher=$!
+	fi

 	if [[ -n $CAU_INTERACTIVE ]]; then
 		pacman "$@" 2>&1 | tee "$log"
-		return "${PIPESTATUS[0]}"
+		rc="${PIPESTATUS[0]}"
+	else
+		pacman "$@" > "$log" 2>&1
+		rc=$?
 	fi

-	pacman "$@" > "$log" 2>&1
+	if (( watcher )); then
+		kill "$watcher" 2>/dev/null
+		wait "$watcher" 2>/dev/null
+	fi
+
+	return "$rc"
 }

 # cau_pacman_pending
@@ -117,6 +245,10 @@ cau_pacman_update() {
 	local log kind
 	local -a flags

+	# The download comes first and the watcher moves on to the repo step once
+	# pacman starts unpacking.
+	cau_progress_step download "Downloading updates"
+
 	if ! cau_pacman_pending; then
 		cau_info "No repository updates pending"
 		return 0
@@ -126,6 +258,7 @@ cau_pacman_update() {
 		CAU_PACMAN_COUNT="$(grep -c . <<< "$CAU_PACMAN_PENDING")"
 		[[ $CAU_PACMAN_COUNT =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || CAU_PACMAN_COUNT=0
 		cau_info "Updating $CAU_PACMAN_COUNT repository package(s)"
+		cau_progress_item 0 "$CAU_PACMAN_COUNT"
 	else
 		# checkupdates is unavailable, so the list is unknown and pacman is
 		# asked to work it out itself.
@@ -133,6 +266,20 @@ cau_pacman_update() {
 		cau_info "Running a full system upgrade (pending list unavailable)"
 	fi

+	# Say so before the transaction starts, not after it finishes.
+	#
+	# While an upgrade runs, a shutdown request is refused by logind and the
+	# desktop answers with a polkit password prompt reading "Power off the
+	# system while an application is inhibiting this" - which never mentions
+	# updates and, on a German system, is not even translated. Somebody who was
+	# simply told beforehand does not end up staring at that.
+	if [[ $CFG_NOTIFY_START == yes ]]; then
+		cau_notify_tagged run no normal no \
+			"Installing updates" \
+			"%d packages are being updated. Please leave the computer switched on until this is done." \
+			"${CAU_PACMAN_COUNT:-0}"
+	fi
+
 	mapfile -t flags < <(cau_pacman_flags)
 	log="$(mktemp)" || return 1

@@ -244,6 +391,8 @@ cau_pacman_pacnew_count() {
 cau_pacman_cleanup() {
 	local -a orphans

+	cau_progress_step cleanup "Cleaning up after the update"
+
 	if [[ $CFG_REMOVE_ORPHANS == yes ]]; then
 		mapfile -t orphans < <(pacman -Qtdq 2>/dev/null)
 		if (( ${#orphans[@]} )); then
@@ -0,0 +1,268 @@
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+#
+# The update's progress bar on the desktop.
+#
+# An unattended upgrade can take twenty minutes, and for most of that a user is
+# told only that "an update is running". This drives the desktop's job list -
+# the same widget that shows a bar while Dolphin copies files - so how far
+# along the run is stays visible the whole time.
+#
+# The desktop ends the progress entry as soon as the D-Bus connection that
+# asked for it goes away, which no one-shot bus client can survive. So an
+# actual process per session holds that connection open and takes instructions
+# on stdin; see cachy-auto-update-progress. Everything below is the writing end
+# of those pipes, plus the arithmetic that turns "package 120 of 260 in the
+# repository step" into one number for the bar.
+#
+# Absent anywhere along the way - no session, no Plasma, no Python bindings -
+# this does nothing at all and the update proceeds exactly as before.
+
+CAU_PROGRESS_HELPER="${CAU_LIBEXECDIR}/cachy-auto-update-progress"
+
+# One entry per session being driven; the indices line up across all four.
+CAU_PROGRESS_FDS=()
+CAU_PROGRESS_PIDS=()
+CAU_PROGRESS_FIFOS=()
+CAU_PROGRESS_LOCALES=()
+
+# What each step is worth on the bar. Rough shares of a typical run rather than
+# anything measured: the repositories dominate - fetching them and unpacking
+# them about equally, on a domestic line - and the cleanup is a rounding error.
+# They do not have to add up to 100 - only the steps a given run will actually
+# perform are counted, and the total is normalised against those.
+declare -A CAU_PROGRESS_WEIGHTS=(
+	[download]=30 [repo]=40 [aur]=15 [flatpak]=10 [appimage]=3 [cleanup]=2
+)
+
+CAU_PROGRESS_PLAN=()
+CAU_PROGRESS_SCALE=0
+CAU_PROGRESS_BASE=0
+CAU_PROGRESS_SPAN=0
+CAU_PROGRESS_TOTAL=0
+CAU_PROGRESS_SHOWN=-1
+
+# _cau_progress_send <line>
+# The same instruction to every session. A session whose helper has exited is
+# dropped rather than written to: the runner writes into a pipe, and a pipe
+# nobody is draining fills up and would eventually block the update itself.
+_cau_progress_send() {
+	local i fd
+
+	for i in "${!CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[@]}"; do
+		fd="${CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[$i]}"
+		[[ -n $fd ]] || continue
+
+		if ! kill -0 "${CAU_PROGRESS_PIDS[$i]}" 2>/dev/null; then
+			CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[$i]=''
+			continue
+		fi
+
+		printf '%s\n' "$1" >&"$fd" 2>/dev/null || CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[$i]=''
+	done
+}
+
+# _cau_progress_line <format> [printf args...]
+# Assembled with printf -v rather than in a command substitution: this is on
+# the per-package path of a large upgrade, and a fork per line is a fork too
+# many for something whose entire job is to be unobtrusive.
+_cau_progress_line() {
+	local line
+	# shellcheck disable=SC2059  # the format is ours; the arguments are numbers
+	printf -v line "$@"
+	_cau_progress_send "$line"
+}
+
+# cau_progress_begin <step-id...>
+# Opens the progress entry in every graphical session, and records which steps
+# this run is going to perform so the bar can be scaled to them.
+cau_progress_begin() {
+	local user uid fifo pid
+	local fd=''
+
+	CAU_PROGRESS_PLAN=("$@")
+	CAU_PROGRESS_SCALE=0
+	local step
+	for step in "${CAU_PROGRESS_PLAN[@]}"; do
+		CAU_PROGRESS_SCALE=$(( CAU_PROGRESS_SCALE + ${CAU_PROGRESS_WEIGHTS[$step]:-0} ))
+	done
+	(( CAU_PROGRESS_SCALE > 0 )) || return 0
+
+	[[ $CFG_NOTIFICATIONS == yes ]] || return 0
+	[[ -x $CAU_PROGRESS_HELPER ]] || return 0
+	mkdir -p "$CAU_RUNDIR" 2>/dev/null || return 0
+
+	while read -r user uid; do
+		[[ -n $user ]] || continue
+
+		# The helper speaks D-Bus through GLib's Python bindings. Checked here
+		# rather than left to fail inside the helper, because a helper that
+		# gave up immediately would leave nobody draining the pipe.
+		cau_as_user "$user" "$uid" sh -c \
+			'command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1 && python3 -c "import gi" 2>/dev/null' \
+			|| continue
+
+		fifo="${CAU_RUNDIR}/progress.${uid}"
+		rm -f "$fifo" 2>/dev/null
+		mkfifo -m 0600 "$fifo" 2>/dev/null || continue
+		chown "$uid" "$fifo" 2>/dev/null || true
+
+		cau_as_user "$user" "$uid" "$CAU_PROGRESS_HELPER" < "$fifo" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
+		pid=$!
+
+		# Read-write deliberately. Opening the writing end of a fifo blocks
+		# until a reader shows up, so if the helper died on the way in, the
+		# update would hang here for good. O_RDWR never blocks, and the helper
+		# still sees end-of-file once this descriptor is closed.
+		if ! exec {fd}<> "$fifo"; then
+			kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null
+			rm -f "$fifo" 2>/dev/null
+			continue
+		fi
+
+		CAU_PROGRESS_FDS+=("$fd")
+		CAU_PROGRESS_PIDS+=("$pid")
+		CAU_PROGRESS_FIFOS+=("$fifo")
+		CAU_PROGRESS_LOCALES+=("$(cau_user_locale "$user" "$uid")")
+	done < <(cau_active_session_users)
+}
+
+# cau_progress_active
+# Whether anybody is listening. For callers that would otherwise do work whose
+# only purpose is to feed the bar.
+cau_progress_active() {
+	(( ${#CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[@]} ))
+}
+
+# cau_progress_step <step-id> <label-msgid> [item-count]
+# Moves on to the next step. The bar jumps to where that step begins, so a step
+# that reported fewer items than it promised still completes rather than
+# leaving a gap.
+cau_progress_step() {
+	local id="$1" label="$2" total="${3:-0}"
+	local step i fd base=0
+
+	(( ${#CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[@]} )) || return 0
+
+	for step in "${CAU_PROGRESS_PLAN[@]}"; do
+		[[ $step == "$id" ]] && break
+		base=$(( base + ${CAU_PROGRESS_WEIGHTS[$step]:-0} ))
+	done
+
+	CAU_PROGRESS_BASE=$base
+	CAU_PROGRESS_SPAN=${CAU_PROGRESS_WEIGHTS[$id]:-0}
+	CAU_PROGRESS_TOTAL=$total
+
+	# The label is the one line a user actually reads, so it is rendered in
+	# each session's own locale rather than the run's C locale.
+	for i in "${!CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[@]}"; do
+		fd="${CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[$i]}"
+		[[ -n $fd ]] || continue
+		cau_msg_into "${CAU_PROGRESS_LOCALES[$i]}" "$label"
+		printf 'info\t%s\n' "$CAU_MSG_RESULT" >&"$fd" 2>/dev/null || true
+	done
+
+	# Unconditionally, including the zero case: a step with no item count of
+	# its own would otherwise keep displaying the previous step's tally, and
+	# "260 of 260 items" under the heading "Flatpaks" is worse than no count.
+	_cau_progress_line 'total\t%s' "$total"
+	_cau_progress_line 'done\t%s' 0
+
+	cau_progress_item 0
+}
+
+# cau_progress_item <processed> [total]
+# How far through the current step we are.
+cau_progress_item() {
+	local processed="$1" total="${2:-$CAU_PROGRESS_TOTAL}" pct scaled
+
+	(( ${#CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[@]} )) || return 0
+	[[ $processed =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || return 0
+
+	if [[ $total =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && (( total > 0 )); then
+		(( processed > total )) && processed=$total
+		if (( total != CAU_PROGRESS_TOTAL )); then
+			CAU_PROGRESS_TOTAL=$total
+			_cau_progress_line 'total\t%s' "$total"
+		fi
+		_cau_progress_line 'done\t%s' "$processed"
+		scaled=$(( CAU_PROGRESS_BASE * 100 + CAU_PROGRESS_SPAN * 100 * processed / total ))
+	else
+		scaled=$(( CAU_PROGRESS_BASE * 100 ))
+	fi
+
+	pct=$(( scaled / CAU_PROGRESS_SCALE ))
+	(( pct > 100 )) && pct=100
+
+	# Only when the whole number changes. Percent is the one field the runner
+	# would otherwise rewrite for every package on a 500-package upgrade.
+	(( pct == CAU_PROGRESS_SHOWN )) && return 0
+	CAU_PROGRESS_SHOWN=$pct
+	_cau_progress_line 'percent\t%s' "$pct"
+}
+
+# cau_progress_detail <label-msgid> <value>
+# A labelled line under the entry's "Details" - which package is being unpacked
+# right now, say.
+cau_progress_detail() {
+	local label="$1" value="$2" i fd
+
+	(( ${#CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[@]} )) || return 0
+
+	for i in "${!CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[@]}"; do
+		fd="${CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[$i]}"
+		[[ -n $fd ]] || continue
+		cau_msg_into "${CAU_PROGRESS_LOCALES[$i]}" "$label"
+		printf 'detail\t%s\t%s\n' "$CAU_MSG_RESULT" "$value" >&"$fd" 2>/dev/null || true
+	done
+}
+
+# cau_progress_end [outcome: ok|failed] [failure-msgid]
+# Closes the entry. Must run on every exit path, including a killed run: an
+# entry whose owner merely vanishes is reported by the desktop as "the
+# application closed unexpectedly", which would end every update with a failure
+# notice. Safe to call twice, and safe to call when nothing was ever opened.
+#
+#   ok             the bar fills and the entry goes away
+#   failed         the entry goes away from wherever the bar had got to
+#   failed <msgid> and the desktop labels it as failed, with that text
+#
+# The distinction between the last two is which message the user ends up with.
+# An ordinary failure already sends a notification that stays until dismissed,
+# and two messages about one problem is one too many; a run that was killed
+# sends nothing at all, so there the label is the only thing that explains why
+# a bar that was at 40% is suddenly gone.
+cau_progress_end() {
+	local outcome="${1:-ok}" msgid="${2:-}"
+	local i fd
+
+	# The last step never consumes its own share - nothing reports items for
+	# the cleanup - so the bar would stop a few percent short of the end and
+	# vanish there. Only on the way out of a run that actually worked, though:
+	# filling the bar for a failed update says the opposite of what happened.
+	[[ $outcome == ok ]] && _cau_progress_line 'percent\t100'
+
+	for i in "${!CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[@]}"; do
+		fd="${CAU_PROGRESS_FDS[$i]}"
+		[[ -n $fd ]] || continue
+
+		CAU_MSG_RESULT=''
+		[[ -n $msgid ]] && cau_msg_into "${CAU_PROGRESS_LOCALES[$i]}" "$msgid"
+
+		printf 'end\t%s\n' "$CAU_MSG_RESULT" >&"$fd" 2>/dev/null || true
+		exec {fd}>&-
+	done
+
+	for i in "${!CAU_PROGRESS_PIDS[@]}"; do
+		wait "${CAU_PROGRESS_PIDS[$i]}" 2>/dev/null
+	done
+
+	for i in "${!CAU_PROGRESS_FIFOS[@]}"; do
+		rm -f "${CAU_PROGRESS_FIFOS[$i]}" 2>/dev/null
+	done
+
+	CAU_PROGRESS_FDS=()
+	CAU_PROGRESS_PIDS=()
+	CAU_PROGRESS_FIFOS=()
+	CAU_PROGRESS_LOCALES=()
+	CAU_PROGRESS_SHOWN=-1
+}
Author	SHA1	Message	Date
Felitendo	8834abe648	cachy-auto-update 1.2.2 The progress bar counts the download as well as the transaction, and every step says outright that an update is running.	2026-08-14 14:25:11 +02:00
Felitendo	b796b2711a	Move the bar while packages are downloading The progress entry sat at "0 von 123" for the whole download and only started counting once pacman began unpacking - which on a domestic line is most of the run spent looking like nothing was happening. What was being watched for was the transaction, and the transaction had not started yet. Downloading is now a step of its own, worth 30 of the bar against the transaction's 40, counted the same way: one line per package out of pacman's "foo-1.2-1-x86_64 downloading...". The database sync just before it prints the identical shape with the suffix that would give it away already stripped, so the tally starts only after the ":: Retrieving packages..." header. Packages already in the cache never announce themselves, so the step regularly ends short of its total and hands the rest of its share over when unpacking begins. The headline follows: "Updates werden heruntergeladen", then "Systempakete werden aktualisiert".	2026-08-14 14:22:05 +02:00
Felitendo	6538c1510d	Say on the progress bar that this is an update running The headline read "Paketquellen" over KDE's own "0 von 123 Elementen" - two nouns and a count, with nothing anywhere saying that the machine was updating itself. Nobody goes looking for this entry; it turns up beside whatever they were doing, so it has to explain itself in one line. Each step now says so outright: "Systempakete werden aktualisiert", "Flatpak-Programme werden aktualisiert", and so on. The count line underneath belongs to Plasma, which only counts in bytes, files, dirs or items - "Paketen" is not on offer, so "Elementen" stays, now under a headline that says what is being counted.	2026-08-14 14:13:54 +02:00
Felitendo	ea3f0d21fa	Make the progress bar follow the transaction it was supposed to be watching It sat at "0 of 218 items" for an entire run. The watcher looked for "(120/218) upgrading foo", which pacman only prints when it is drawing its progress bar - and the unattended runs this exists for are precisely the ones started with --noprogressbar, where it instead prints "upgrading glibc..." with no counter at all. So nothing ever matched and the position never moved. Both shapes are handled now. Where there is no counter the packages are tallied here, one line each, and the total is read from the "Package (218)" header pacman prints before it starts - a better number than checkupdates gives, since that counts packages with an update available and knows nothing about new dependencies pulled in alongside them. Replayed against a real 218-package run from the log: 63, 137, 215, 218 of 218, with the package name in each step. Offer to switch off CachyOS's reboot notification while enabling. cachyos-hooks ships a PostTransaction hook that pops up "Reboot recommended!" the moment a kernel, driver or systemd package is unpacked. That is fine for a manual upgrade, where the transaction is the last thing happening. In an unattended one it lands mid-run, with AUR packages still to build and Flatpaks still to pull, and asking for a restart there is an invitation to cut the update in half. Overriding the hook by name from /etc/pacman.d/hooks is the standard way to switch a distribution hook off and is undone by deleting the link. Offered rather than done, like the existing cachy-update prompt: it is another package's behaviour and it applies to manual upgrades too.	2026-08-14 11:34:03 +02:00
Felitendo	6aa9b147b8	Put a progress bar on the desktop, and repair the notifications around it An unattended run takes twenty minutes and said nothing at all while it worked. The notification area now carries a live entry for the duration - which step is running, which package is being unpacked, item count, percentage. It is a job in the sense of org.kde.JobViewServer, the same mechanism Dolphin uses while copying files, rather than a notification, which is what makes it a real bar instead of a line of text. That mechanism needs a process of its own. The desktop ties a job to the D-Bus connection that requested it and withdraws it the moment that connection closes, so gdbus, busctl and dbus-send cannot drive one at all - every invocation is a fresh connection that closes again immediately. A small helper therefore runs inside each graphical session for the length of the update, holding the connection open and taking instructions on stdin. It needs python-gobject; without it there is no bar and nothing else changes. Position within the repository step is read from pacman's own "(120/260) upgrading foo" lines. Its other (n/m) sequences are ignored on purpose: checking keys, package integrity and loading files each count up to the same total, and following them would run the bar to the end three times before the first package was unpacked. The "system updated" notification never arrived, which is what prompted looking at any of this. Tagged notifications were posted with --replace-id naming the start message, and Plasma silently drops a Notify() whose replaces_id points at an expired notification: no bubble, no error, and the id it hands back is the dead one it just ignored. The start bubble times out in seconds and a run lasts minutes, so the result fell into exactly that hole every single time. The previous message is now withdrawn and a fresh one posted. How long a message stays is set per message rather than left to the daemon. Anything reporting that the machine still needs a person - a failed update, a locked package database, packages that had to be held back - waits until it is dismissed. Everything else times out on its own, a successful update included; nothing should have to be clicked away for having gone right. Daemons do keep critical-urgency messages up and the specification asks them to, but that is a should, it says nothing about the normal-urgency messages here that still need somebody to act, and urgency separately governs sound and do-not-disturb. "Restart recommended" is gone, and NotifyReboot with it. The running kernel loses its module tree the moment pacman unpacks the new one, so the notice fired while the run was still building AUR packages and pulling Flatpaks, where it reads as an invitation to restart in the middle of an update. The state is still recorded and cachy-auto-update status still reports it. The option went rather than only its default, because an installed system keeps its own configuration file and would have carried on notifying regardless.	2026-08-14 10:49:02 +02:00
Felitendo	a17aed4b3d	Lower the battery threshold to 30% and default the cachy-update prompt to yes The prompt offering to silence cachy-update's own update notification now defaults to yes: once updates install themselves that notification is nothing but noise, so the common answer should be the one you get by pressing Enter. It also accepts "j" now. The prompt is translated, so a German user reads "[J/n]" and types the German letter - which the old check for "y" alone silently read as a refusal.	2026-08-08 16:30:20 +02:00
Felitendo	2fa830284e	Make the settings screen redraw 50x faster Arrow-key navigation took 435 ms per keypress, which reads as the whole console reloading on every press - because it effectively was. The cost was forks: each frame ran a command substitution per label for the value, the translation and the rendered state, 54 subshells for eighteen rows. The frame is now assembled in memory and written once. Translations, the split specs and the terminfo clear string are resolved before the loop; values are re-read only after something actually changes, not on cursor movement. Helpers on that path assign to a variable instead of printing, since printing is what forced the substitution. Measured on the same machine: 435 ms -> 7.5 ms per keypress.	2026-08-08 16:25:09 +02:00
Felitendo	c308b7e286	Add a settings screen so nothing needs a text editor All eighteen options are now reachable from the menu as a cursor list: arrows select, Space or Right cycles a value, q goes back, changes are written immediately. A numbered menu would have run out of digits. Three real bugs surfaced while building it, each found by testing against an actual pty rather than a pipe: - Labels went through printf as format strings, so the percent sign in "Minimum battery level (%)" was an invalid conversion. cau_msg_in now only treats a message as a format string when arguments were actually passed - otherwise any literal % a translator writes is a trap. - Mixing bash's line-mode read into a single-key interface left the following read -sn1 receiving nothing at all, reproducibly, so the screen froze after editing the package list. Replaced with a small line editor built on the same single-character reader. - Backspace was being swallowed: in canonical mode DEL is the ERASE character and the line discipline consumes it, and bash returns to canonical mode between each read -sn1. The interface now holds non-canonical mode for its whole lifetime and hands the terminal back only around actions that print or prompt, with a trap restoring it on Ctrl-C. Translations and config reads are memoized; the screen redraws every label on every keypress and a fork per lookup was the reason the redraw was slow enough to matter.	2026-08-08 16:18:59 +02:00
Felitendo	2eff62f9fd	Say an update is running before it starts, not only after Asked what happens if someone shuts the laptop down mid-update, the honest answer turned out to be poor. The inhibitor does stop them - logind refuses and falls back to org.freedesktop.login1.power-off-ignore-inhibit, which is auth_admin_keep - so the desktop answers with an administrator password prompt reading "Power off the system while an application is inhibiting this". systemd ships that string untranslated, it never mentions updates, and no KDE catalog contains any shutdown-blocked text at all. Only systemctl names the reason. So a notification now goes out before the transaction, asking for the machine to be left on. Notifications gained a tag: the result replaces the start message in place rather than stacking a second, contradictory bubble beside it. Tagged notifications also carry a queue flag. "An update is starting" is only meaningful while somebody is looking, so unlike the result it is not spooled for delivery at next login.	2026-08-08 15:48:55 +02:00
Felitendo	0f91a79ba6	Recover from a pacman lock left behind by a power cut A machine switched off mid-update leaves /var/lib/pacman/db.lck behind. Nothing removed it, so every subsequent run deferred on it - one power cut would have stopped updates permanently and silently, which on an unattended machine is the worst outcome there is. A lock older than the current boot is provably abandoned: no process that could hold it still exists. Those are now removed and the interrupted upgrade is repeated, with pacman reinstalling anything caught half-written. A lock that is merely unheld within the same boot stays untouched and is only reported, since removing it could corrupt a live transaction; the boot-time test is what makes the difference between a proof and a guess. A fuser check is kept alongside it so a backwards clock jump cannot make a live lock look abandoned. Documented what each layer can actually promise: suspend and normal shutdown are blocked by the existing inhibitor, a hard power-off cannot be prevented by anything, and snap-pac's pre/post snapshots remain the backstop.	2026-08-08 15:40:07 +02:00