Ubuntu – Packages Kept Back During apt-get Upgrade: Reasons and Fixes

aptUbuntuupgrade

I'm running Lubuntu 14.04.3 LTS amd64 version. I did apt-get update and apt-get upgrade which showed few packages have been kept back. These are mainly kernel related packages namely, linux-generic-lts-vivid, linux-headers-generic-lts-vivid, linux-image-generic-lts-vivid.

All I did was freshly install Lubuntu 14.04.3 version and do apt-get update && apt-get upgrade and these kept back packages are showing up.

My sources.list has trusty, trusty-updates, trusty-backports, trusty-security.

So,

When I have trusty LTS version of Ubuntu, why is Vivid showing up in the kept back packages list?
Is it safe to ignore those updates? Are there security issues ignoring those updates?
If I can ignore those updates, Is there a way that I can hide that list whenever I run apt-get upgrade?

Best Answer

What you're seeing is a backported Kernel. It is as linux-generic-lts-vivid - which is the Linux kernel from Vivid built for Trusty. It's installed on your system, so you have a newer kernel than the original one that showed in Trusty; so either you installed a newer Hardware Enablement Stack, or you installed from a later Trusty ISO (the Trusty 14.04.3 ISO, for example, has the updated kernel that it installs).

There are likely security updates to the Kernel, so you should not ignore these updates. If you do apt-cache policy linux-generic-lts-vivid you will be able to see what repository the updates originated in - it's either a bug fix (in trusty-updates) or a Security update (in trusty-security). If it's in the Security repo, you should update.

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade will install these kernel updates.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Is it safe to manually perform ‘apt-get update’ ‘s operation

This sounds like it may work, but personally, I'd just use apt-offline.

From the manpage:

apt-offline brings offline package management functionality to Debian based system. It can be used to download packages and its dependencies to be installed later on (or required to update) a disconnected machine. Packages can be downloaded from a different connected machine.

Excerpt from Debian Administration:

Using apt-offline:

You generate a signature on your Debian box at home and carry the signature file on a removable medium
Now you take the USB Stick (with the apt-offline.txt signature file) to the office machine which could be running any linux version or even Windows.
There, you could run apt-offline giving it the signature file.
apt-offline would generate you an archive file or a folder with all the data. That data can be copied on a removable media. The removable media can be attached back to the disconnected Debian box at home and installed. (e.g. "apt-offline install /tmp/apt-offline.zip")

apt – Rollback All apt-get Packages to Maximum Available Under sources.list

You don't tell how you tried pinning and how it failed, but the solution is pinning indeed. If you've already removed all sources you aren't interested in, create /etc/apt/preferences.d/back.pref with the following contents:

Package: *
Pin: release o=*
Pin-Priority: 1001

After this, apt-get dist-upgrade will up/downgrade all packages to your current sources.

If it doesn't work out, check the output of apt-cache policy and apt-cache policy OFFENDING-PACKAGE for hints.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Is it safe to manually perform ‘apt-get update’ ‘s operation

apt – Rollback All apt-get Packages to Maximum Available Under sources.list

Related Question