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Sometimes when I log in my Gnome session on Debian, I get a system popup saying something like "Important operating system updates are available." (it's my translation from the message I see in French, which is exactly "D'importantes mises à jour du système d'exploitation sont disponibles"). This is mostly fine.

However, sometimes the only update available is for the package google-chrome-stable. Updates for this package seem then to trigger the warning. I do not consider it a "important system update", as Google Chrome is not even my default browser, and I'd like to not see the message for a Chrome update.

How to deactivate the message for Chrome updates and keep it for the others packages that trigger it (I don't which they are). My computer runs a Debian 10 with Gnome 3.10.2. Google Chrome is in my apt sources list.

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    it probably is an important operating system update, and you should consider it as such. Chances are, this is a security update, and as long as you or anything in your system uses chrome, you should update it ASAP. Commented Dec 14, 2021 at 17:20
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    The just released Google Chrome fixes critical security vulnerabilities - your package manager has no idea whether you're using the browser or not. Not updating it and then still using it occasionally poses a huge security risk. If you really don't need it, uninstall it. chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/12/… Commented Dec 14, 2021 at 18:19
  • I agree that it is very important to keep your packages up-to-date, and I'm well aware of the security risks of running outdated software. As a matter of fact, I run a apt full-upgrade almost everyday, and with certainty before using Chrome, when I do use it. Still I consider my question is valid because: 1) I don't consider a browser to be a part of the OS, especially not one that is not default, so I consider the message misleading 2) I don't need the message to remind me to update Chrome. 3) I'm curious to know where this setting is. Commented Dec 14, 2021 at 19:36

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Here is a partial answer. I only checked that Firefox was set as the default browser in the gnome-control-center, which actually isn't enough according to the Debian documentation about the DefaultWebBrowser. For example, opening a webpage from the desktop would open Firefox, but from inside Visual Studio it would open Google Chrome.

I had to run the commands

update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

and

update-alternatives --config gnome-www-browser

to actually make Firefox the default browser. Now that I've done that, I don't see the warnings about Chrome updates anymore.

This doesn't answer the part of the question about how to enable/disable these warnings though.

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