In the update log appeared the message I almost overlooked:
Restarting the system to load the new kernel will not be handled automatically, so you should consider rebooting. [Return]
Would be nice if there could be a notification (alarm bell), or an exclamation mark with the software update icon.
I am not familiar with the exact logic of this, but my freedomboxes regulary reboots with me having asked for it. In this case I expect it can wait for the next reboot, and I tend to find it preferrable not to bother the user with this.
FreedomBox configures /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/60unattended-upgrades to reboot automatically at 02:00 when needed:
// Automatically reboot WITHOUT CONFIRMATION if
// the file /var/run/reboot-required is found after the upgrade
Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot “true”;
// If automatic reboot is enabled and needed, reboot at the specific
// time instead of immediately
Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot-Time “02:00”;
Well, that sounds like a contradiction to me. The log which I can read says it won’t reboot automatically, but the config which is invisible to me (?) says it will. Which one is it?
About ‘not disturbing the user’, it’s only the admin getting this info (who’s job it is to know about these things?).
If the auto-reboot at 2 AM is meant to handle this, why does the system even show me the reboot-required message at all? If I’m not supposed to be bothered, the message shouldn’t exist. If it exists, it should be useful—and currently, it’s just confusing I think.
Did you see this info in plinth (web page) or somewhere else (and where then)?
That log message is produced by the needrestart package:
FreedomBox installs needrestart to handle restarting services when upgrading packages. I don’t think there’s an easy way for us to stop it from printing this message in the log.
Better to rephrase to ‘it’s only the admin who will be getting this info’.
If it’s a standard message from a standard package, it probably isn’t a good idea to modify it anyway. But it’s still useful to know that this is the source of the confusion.
A solution could be to explain the message in the manual. I’d definitely appreciate a section that clarifies all the common messages—still get a bit nervous when I see “illegal snapshot” 
I know it’s a lot of work to set up and maintain, and I doubt ‘regular people’ even check the update logs …