def _check_apt_updates(self):
output = str(subprocess.check_output(["<STR_LIT>", "<STR_LIT:list>", "<STR_LIT>"]))<EOL>output = output.split(LINE_SEPARATOR)<EOL>return len(output[<NUM_LIT:1>:-<NUM_LIT:1>])<EOL>
This method will use the 'checkupdates' command line utility
to determine how many updates are waiting to be installed via
'apt list --upgradeable'.