diff --git a/rigo/rigo_app.py b/rigo/rigo_app.py
index 168cb6c06..7be55e636 100644
--- a/rigo/rigo_app.py
+++ b/rigo/rigo_app.py
@@ -195,6 +195,14 @@ class RigoServiceController(GObject.Object):
             if our_signals:
                 sig_match = our_signals.pop(0)
                 sig_match.remove()
+            else:
+                # somebody already consumed this signal
+                if const_debug_enabled():
+                    const_debug_write(
+                        __name__,
+                        "_repositories_updated_signal: "
+                        "already consumed")
+                return
 
         self._scale_down() # do we really need this? not really i think
         self._release_local_resources()
@@ -203,7 +211,9 @@ class RigoServiceController(GObject.Object):
 
         self.emit("repositories-updated")
         if const_debug_enabled():
-            const_debug_write(__name__, "RigoServiceController: unlock-ui")
+            const_debug_write(
+                __name__,
+                "_repositories_updated_signal: repositories-updated")
 
     def _output_signal(self, text, header, footer, back, importance, level,
                count_c, count_t, percent):
@@ -348,7 +358,6 @@ class RigoServiceController(GObject.Object):
         in exclusive mode. Scale up privileges, and ask for
         root password if not done yet.
         """
-        # FIXME, complete, need to be nice and not block, etc
         # FIXME, ask for password.
         acquired_sem = Semaphore(0)
 
@@ -428,7 +437,8 @@ class RigoServiceController(GObject.Object):
         self._update_repositories_unlocked(
             repositories, force)
 
-    def _update_repositories_unlocked(self, repositories, force):
+    def _update_repositories_unlocked(self, repositories, force,
+                                      execute_method=True):
         """
         Internal method handling the actual Repositories Update
         execution.
@@ -457,13 +467,23 @@ class RigoServiceController(GObject.Object):
         # 1 -- ACTIVITY CRIT :: ON
         self._activity_rwsem.writer_acquire()
 
-        # connect our signal
-        sig_match = self._entropy_bus.connect_to_signal(
-            self._REPOSITORIES_UPDATED_SIGNAL,
-            self._repositories_updated_signal,
-            dbus_interface=self.DBUS_INTERFACE)
+        signal_sem = Semaphore(1)
+
+        def _repositories_updated_signal(result, message):
+            if not signal_sem.acquire(False):
+                # already called, no need to call again
+                return
+            # this is done in order to have it called
+            # only once by two different code paths
+            self._repositories_updated_signal(result, message)
 
         with self._registered_signals_mutex:
+            # connect our signal
+            sig_match = self._entropy_bus.connect_to_signal(
+                self._REPOSITORIES_UPDATED_SIGNAL,
+                _repositories_updated_signal,
+                dbus_interface=self.DBUS_INTERFACE)
+
             # and register it as a signal generated by us
             obj = self._registered_signals.setdefault(
                 self._REPOSITORIES_UPDATED_SIGNAL, [])
@@ -477,10 +497,43 @@ class RigoServiceController(GObject.Object):
 
         self._terminal.reset()
         self._release_local_resources()
-        iface = dbus.Interface(
-            self._entropy_bus,
-            dbus_interface=self.DBUS_INTERFACE)
-        iface.update_repositories(repositories, force)
+
+        if execute_method:
+            dbus.Interface(
+                self._entropy_bus,
+                dbus_interface=self.DBUS_INTERFACE
+                ).update_repositories(repositories, force)
+        else:
+            # check if we need to cope with races
+            self._update_repositories_signal_check(
+                sig_match, signal_sem)
+
+    def _update_repositories_signal_check(self, sig_match, signal_sem):
+        """
+        Called via _update_repositories_unlocked() in order to handle
+        the possible race between RigoDaemon signal and the fact that
+        we just lost it.
+        """
+        activity = self.activity()
+        if activity == ActivityStates.UPDATING_REPOSITORIES:
+            return
+
+        # lost the signal or not, we're going to force
+        # the callback.
+        if not signal_sem.acquire(False):
+            # already called, no need to call again
+            const_debug_write(
+                __name__,
+                "_update_repositories_signal_check: abort")
+            return
+
+        const_debug_write(
+            __name__,
+            "_update_repositories_signal_check: accepting")
+        # Run in the main loop, to avoid calling a signal
+        # callback in random threads.
+        GLib.idle_add(self._repositories_updated_signal,
+                      0, "")
 
     def update_repositories(self, repositories, force):
         """
@@ -570,7 +623,6 @@ class WorkViewController(GObject.Object):
         self._box.pack_start(box, True, True, 0)
 
         self._service.set_terminal(self._terminal)
-        self._service.set_work_controller(self)
 
         self.deactivate_progress_bar()
         self.deactivate_app_box()
@@ -2123,6 +2175,7 @@ class Rigo(Gtk.Application):
 
         self._work_view_c = WorkViewController(
             self._service, self._work_view)
+        self._service.set_work_controller(self._work_view_c)
 
     def is_ui_locked(self):
         """
@@ -2317,8 +2370,11 @@ class Rigo(Gtk.Application):
         acquired = not self._entropy.wait_resources(
             max_lock_count=1,
             shared=True)
+        is_exclusive = False
         if not acquired:
             # check whether RigoDaemon is running in excluive mode
+            # and ignore non-atomicity here (failing with error
+            # is acceptable)
             if not self._service.is_exclusive():
                 self._show_ok_dialog(
                     None,
@@ -2327,6 +2383,7 @@ class Rigo(Gtk.Application):
                 entropy.tools.kill_threads()
                 Gtk.main_quit()
                 return
+            is_exclusive = True
             # otherwise we can go ahead and handle our state later
 
         # check RigoDaemon, don't worry about races between Rigo Clients
@@ -2335,11 +2392,21 @@ class Rigo(Gtk.Application):
         # based rwsem).
         activity = self._service.activity()
         if activity != ActivityStates.AVAILABLE:
+            msg = ""
+            show_dialog = True
+
             if activity == ActivityStates.NOT_AVAILABLE:
                 msg = _("Background Service is currently not available")
+
             elif activity == ActivityStates.UPDATING_REPOSITORIES:
-                # FIXME, jump to WORK_VIEW and show the progress.
-                msg = _("Background Service is updating repositories")
+                show_dialog = False
+                task = ParallelTask(
+                    self._service._update_repositories_unlocked,
+                    [], False, execute_method=False)
+                task.daemon = True
+                task.name = "UpdateRepositoriesUnlocked"
+                task.start()
+
             elif activity == ActivityStates.INSTALLING_APPLICATION:
                 # FIXME, jump to WORK_VIEW and show the progress.
                 msg = _("Background Service is installing Applications")
@@ -2351,6 +2418,18 @@ class Rigo(Gtk.Application):
             else:
                 msg = _("Background Service is incompatible with Rigo")
 
+            if show_dialog:
+                self._show_ok_dialog(
+                    None,
+                    escape_markup(_("Rigo")),
+                    escape_markup(msg))
+                entropy.tools.kill_threads()
+                Gtk.main_quit()
+                return
+
+        elif is_exclusive:
+            msg = _("Background Service is currently unavailable")
+            # no lock acquired, cannot continue the initialization
             self._show_ok_dialog(
                 None,
                 escape_markup(_("Rigo")),