I get the above message, and it stays that way for hours
and doesn't do anything. I am using Ubuntu Linux.
I obviously can't play if I can't get an update.
What do I do? Is there any other way to get this updated
and start playing?

William

Do you have a firewall of any sort? Try shutting it off.

I would desperately like to know what causes this; I've seen people ask about this problem occasionally, only to suddenly have it work inexplicably later.

What sort of networking setup do you have? Broadband router? Default Ubuntu iptables? NAT?

This sometimes happens to my dedicated VO box. Rebooting solves the problem for me.
Edit: It didn't fix the problem this time. Services is dead now.
-:sigma.SB

The few times I've had it happen is due to it waiting for a timeout trying to resolve the hostname, anytime my DNS servers bork or are having issues that happens.

So maybe instead of updating via hostname, the updater could use an IP address?

Also, some debug information would be cool... that way when it does freeze up, you'll be able to determine at what function(s) the process is hanging at.

If it said "Negotiating update" it isn't a DNS issue; at that point it's already talking to the update server.

Updating via IP isn't an option, or we'd be screwed if we ever needed to move our update server (this has happened). We'd need to make people download new installers with the right IP hardcoded in them all the time.

Or you could write a small like 12 kilobyte patcher program that patches the updater to the current IP, and have people download that instead...? Or do I not know what I'm talking about.

Well the reason that wouldn't work is because if Guild migrated to a new IP, the old IP for old (outdated) clients would not be able to retrieve the patch for the new IP... hence you would have somewhat of a paradox that makes hardcoding the IP address flawed. The solution is (as what is used) to utilize the name service... with an without its consistency.

But, some debug messages would be nice... :)