Ubuntu – apt-get dist-upgrade doesn’t fix ‘The following packages have been kept back’

dist-upgradeupdates

I'm on ubuntu 12.04.Running sudo apt-get dist-upgrade is not upgrading some packages. I can't upgrade them with graphical Update Manager too.

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  libavdevice53 libavformat53 libpostproc52 libswscale2
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.

LSB Version:    core-2.0-ia32:core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-ia32:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-ia32:core-3.1-noarch:core-3.2-ia32:core-3.2-noarch:core-4.0-ia32:core-4.0-noarch
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
Release:    12.04
Codename:   precise

Best Answer

That means they've been kept back for a more difficult reason than new dependencies or needing the removal of other packages. Try apt-get install libavdevice53, which will try a bit harder to upgrade that package. You may find that it wants to remove something you don't want removed.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Why use apt-get upgrade instead of apt-get dist-upgrade

I typically upgrade my machines with:

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

Below is an excerpt from man apt-get. Using upgrade keeps to the rule: under no circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed retrieved and installed. If that's important to you, use apt-get upgrade. If you want things to "just work", you probably want apt-get dist-upgrade to ensure dependencies are resolved.

To expand on why you'd want upgrade instead of dist-upgrade, if you are a systems administrator, you need predictability. You might be using advanced features like apt pinning or pulling from a collection of PPAs (perhaps you have an in-house PPA), with various automations in place to inspect your system and available upgrades instead of always eagerly upgrading all available packages. You would get very frustrated when apt performs unscripted behavior, particularly if this leads to downtime of a production service.

upgrade
    upgrade is used to install the newest versions of all packages
    currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
    /etc/apt/sources.list. Packages currently installed with new
    versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no
    circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages
    not already installed retrieved and installed. New versions of
    currently installed packages that cannot be upgraded without
    changing the install status of another package will be left at
    their current version. An update must be performed first so that
    apt-get knows that new versions of packages are available.

dist-upgrade
    dist-upgrade in addition to performing the function of upgrade,
    also intelligently handles changing dependencies with new versions
    of packages; apt-get has a "smart" conflict resolution system, and
    it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the
    expense of less important ones if necessary. So, dist-upgrade
    command may remove some packages. The /etc/apt/sources.list file
    contains a list of locations from which to retrieve desired package
    files. See also apt_preferences(5) for a mechanism for overriding
    the general settings for individual packages.

Ubuntu – How to reinstall a apt-get dist-upgrade

For broken packages

sudo dpkg --configure -a

and

sudo apt-get install -f

Reinstall package

sudo apt-get install --reinstall <package name>

Note

If the problem of a broken package still exist the solution is to edit the dpkg status file manually.

sudo nano /var/lib/dpkg/status

Locate the corrupt package, and remove the whole block of information about it and save the file.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Why use apt-get upgrade instead of apt-get dist-upgrade

Ubuntu – How to reinstall a apt-get dist-upgrade

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