Debian – apt says packages have been kept back, what to do

aptdebiandebian-jessie

The output of apt-get upgrade is:

The following packages have been kept back:
certbot python-acme python-certbot python-certbot-apache python-cryptography python-openssl

What does this mean?
Should I take action?
If so, what?

Best Answer

Quick & EASY Solution:

I have had the same issue, several times. Do NOT do sudo apt-get dist-upgrade first. Very important. ****NOTE: This solution is for Debian based machines but will not work on KDE Neon. To update KDE Neon, you must use sudo pkcon update.****

Why?

It can make your system very unstable, programs can crash and you can lose a lot of functionality in your OS.

You MUST install each package individually, HOWEVER, during that process, other dependencies will also be installed automatically and your issue will be solved in just a few minutes.

I have had no issues with the following solution. It's fairly quick and easy.

First, do this:

apt list --upgradable

  • This will show a list of packages that can be upgraded.

Next, do this:

  • Start at the beginning of the list with the first package and type:

sudo apt-get install package-name-here

  • This will run through the installation process and pull/install dependencies.

After that process completes, do this:

apt list --upgradable

  • This will again show which packages can be upgraded. Your list of packages should now be decreasing. Follow the list of packages and type apt list --upgradable after each package install. This should only take a couple of minutes to complete.

Finally:

sudo apt-get autoclean

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If this solution worked for you, please don't forget to upvote it so that the correct solution is available for others and is at the top of the list of answers.

If for some reason this solution does not work for you, please see user GAD3R's answer below. It is also a good solution.

Thanks.

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