When logging into Virtualmin 7 updates are constantly shown as having updates available,

7 updates to Virtualmin packages are available. Use the Virtualmin Package Updates module to install them selectively.
Package Description Version
postfix A high-performance mail transport agent 2.5.1-1~bpo40+1
postgresql object-relational SQL database management system (transitional) 8.3.3-1~bpo40+1
postgresql-client front-end programs for PostgreSQL (transitional package) 8.3.3-1~bpo40+1
postgresql-client-common manager for multiple PostgreSQL client versions 90~bpo40+1
postgresql-common manager for PostgreSQL database clusters 90~bpo40+1
spamassassin Perl-based spam filter using text analysis 3.2.4-1~bpo40+1
spamc Client for SpamAssassin spam filtering daemon 3.2.4-1~bpo40+1

Have carried out update, but nothing is installed bacause the packages are all up to date. Is there any reason why they should be reported as updates available, or any way of removing this advisory?

I have the same problem. Those are the "kept-back" packages from etch-backports. They are not supposed to be installed, so, in my opinion, they should not show up in Virtualmin. There was a discussion about this somwhere in the forum or in the bug tracker, and someone said it was to be fixed in 3.60 or 3.61, but I see no changes there.

That'd be a bug, but it's not in Virtualmin. It's in the security-updates module...so an update to Virtualmin certainly can't fix it. ;-)

But, we did just roll out 3.1 of that module. If you have that version, and it exhibits this problem, you'll want to file a ticket so Jamie can get it fixed in the next release.

Yeah, sorry all, I did post a bug report, but didnt think it went thru so posted here.

Yes all sorted now, I had a hung apt process, killed it. Updated to Virtualmin 3.61, which was being held back for some reason and the problem has been resolved.

A big thank you to Jamie for his advise.

hmm well i have virtualmin 3.61 on debian 4.0 amd64, and the problem is still there for me :(

Hal9000, check what else was being held back in updates. For me there was about 11 different packages. Since I have updated all those it seems to be working, well for me anyway. There are just 4 that show up in packages updates that are still doing what I originally posted for, when selecting ALL UPDATES. But they are not Virtualmin related, so I am ignoring them.

Sounds like you are running a very similar setup to me.

When I re-installed Virtualmin, it took about 6 attempts for it to fully update properly.

well i have virtualmin 3.61 on debian 4.0 amd64, and the problem is still there for me

As I mentioned, this would be a problem in the security-updates package, not the Virtualmin package.

But Berilac's post leads me to believe we're still having some issues with apt-get in the security updates module. Scripting with apt-get is a challenge, to put it mildly--it fights very hard against being run non-interactively (we run into this problem a lot in the install script, as well). I'm guessing maybe there are still plenty of cases where we aren't accommodating apts issues correctly.

Have I heard right about issue's with apt-get, preferred method now is aptitude. apt-get is being how would you say like synaptec package manager was.

Like I said earlier, it took me awhile to reload Virtualmin using the install script too.

aptitude is simply a UI wrapper for apt. It'd be even harder to script and use non-interactively than apt-get. ;-)

So, aptitude is a good way to use apt from the command line, it is not a replacement for apt-get.