Beware of Latest Updates

[NoWorries]

Normally I use the command line to do updates and system upgrades.

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

I have just found that I get the following:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
  acroread gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:i386 gtk2-engines:i386 gtk2-engines-murrine:i386 gtk2-engines-oxygen:i386 gtk2-engines-pixbuf:i386 ia32-libs
  ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 ibus-gtk:i386 libaa1:i386 libaudio2:i386 libcairo-gobject2:i386 libcairo2:i386 libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 libcanberra-gtk0:i386
  libdbusmenu-qt2:i386 libgail-common:i386 libgail18:i386 libgd2-xpm:i386 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libglu1-mesa:i386 libgphoto2-2:i386
  libgtk2.0-0:i386 libpango1.0-0:i386 libqt4-declarative:i386 libqt4-designer:i386 libqt4-opengl:i386 libqt4-qt3support:i386 libqt4-scripttools:i386 libqt4-svg:i386
  libqtgui4:i386 libqtwebkit4:i386 librsvg2-2:i386 librsvg2-common:i386 libsane:i386 libsdl-image1.2:i386 libsdl-mixer1.2:i386 libsdl-net1.2:i386 libsdl-ttf2.0-0:i386
  libsdl1.2debian:i386 libvisual-0.4-plugins:i386 libx11-6:i386 libx11-xcb1:i386 libxaw7:i386 libxcomposite1:i386 libxcursor1:i386 libxdamage1:i386 libxext6:i386
  libxfixes3:i386 libxft2:i386 libxi6:i386 libxinerama1:i386 libxmu6:i386 libxp6:i386 libxpm4:i386 libxrandr2:i386 libxrender1:i386 libxss1:i386 libxt6:i386
  libxtst6:i386 libxv1:i386 libxxf86vm1:i386 nspluginviewer:i386 nspluginwrapper skype skype-bin:i386 sni-qt:i386 xaw3dg:i386
The following packages will be upgraded:
  appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 apport apport-kde language-selector-common libcmis-0.3-3 libdbus-glib-1-2 libdbus-glib-1-2:i386 libhomerun0 libpulse-mainloop-glib0
  libpulse-mainloop-glib0:i386 libpulse0 libpulse0:i386 libpulsedsp libpulsedsp:i386 libpurple-bin libpurple0 libx11-6 libx11-xcb1 plasma-widget-homerun pulseaudio
  pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils python3-apport python3-problem-report
26 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 69 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 5,208 kB of archives.
After this operation, 290 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

I decided to try this on a desktop that I was willing to sacrifice and the end result is that it no longer boots.

SO I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT UPDATE UNTIL THIS PROBLEM IS RESOLVED.

[claydoh]

It is working fine for me, just ran dist-upgrade about 2 minutes ago. Probably a missing dependency hadn't finished uploading/propagating to the servers. As per my sticky at the top of this section, when this occurs it is usually cleared up very shortly. One should never see a huge number of removals when doing a dist-upgrade, even a small number is something to question.

However I wonder how the mostly ia32 compatibility libraries' removal effects booting. Even what was installed isn't really boot-killing, except for possibly the homerun library or libdbus. I would guess those would just cause the homerun device to not be recognized and loaded properly, perhaps?

[NoWorries]

I have found the packages that cause the removal of the i386 packages. They are:

libx11-6 libx11-xcb1

When I try to upgrade these, a list of i386 packages to remove are presented.

Do you have these libx11 packages on your system?

[claydoh]

Yes, I do. My version is at 2:1.5.0-1, and was last updated in June. Do you by chance have the xorg-edgers or some other xorg ppa enabled?

[NoWorries]

No I do not have xorg-edgers ppa. My software sources are in the attached graphic. My versions for libx11-xcb1 and libx11-6 are also 2:1.5.0-1. The Upgradeable Available Version is 2:1.5.0-1ubuntu1.

As I was writing the above, it occurred to me that I have the "Pre-released updates" enabled. By disabling this, all is well and no i386 packages are listed. Looks like I fell foul of two pre-released updates that are not koshur.

So I have re-learned what to do if I see something like this again. Thanks Claydoh for pointing me in the right direction.

[vw72]

I wonder if you had done an sudo apt-get upgrade instead of dist-upgrade if you would have had the problem? Upgrade tells it to get the lasted packages for the current version whereas dist-upgrade says get the latest packages for the lastest version (current version = 12.10 and lastest version = 13.04, sinc you have the pre-release enabled).

I think what was happening is apt-get was trying to do what you told it to -- install the latest packages, but that was creating a conflict so to resolve it it had to remove the offending packages. Think of HAL on 2001. With conflicting instructions, something had to be removed/killed. With that in mind, you should probably use the apt-get upgrade. It might not get you all the updates, but will leave you with a stable system.

[claydoh]

Doing an 'apt-get upgrade' as opposed to 'dist-upgrade' might not be wise in a pre-release, as the simple 'upgrade' does not install any new packages that are required. If an existing package has an update that requires a new thing, that existing package might not get updated.

So 2 things to note from this

• The official "-proposed" repo is for testing some fix or thing before making it into the regular repos, so it may be wise to NOT use it unless you know it contains a fix you need and are willing to be a tester. (I do not quite get why this repo is populated in a pre-release, but it probably is part of Ubuntu's goal to have an installable, runnable daily iso image)
• If apt wants to remove more than one package or so, it is wise to investigate why.

Happy Testing!!!!!

[vw72]

Doing an 'apt-get upgrade' as opposed to 'dist-upgrade' might not be wise in a pre-release, as the simple 'upgrade' does not install any new packages that are required. If an existing package has an update that requires a new thing, that existing package might not get updated.

So 2 things to note from this

• The official "-proposed" repo is for testing some fix or thing before making it into the regular repos, so it may be wise to NOT use it unless you know it contains a fix you need and are willing to be a tester. (I do not quite get why this repo is populated in a pre-release, but it probably is part of Ubuntu's goal to have an installable, runnable daily iso image)
• If apt wants to remove more than one package or so, it is wise to investigate why.

Happy Testing!!!!!

I think, though, that if you have installed 13.04 (or whatever unreleased version), that once installed, you are supposed to treat it like a normal distribution for testing purposes which would mean upgrade instead of dist-upgrade. If upgrade can't install something it will tell you in a much more pleasant way than dist-upgrade's "I'm going to uninstall halfyour system!"

I guess I look at it as taking the safer route first (with upgrade) and if the message indicates something wasn't upgraded, investigate as to why, versus dist-upgrade and investigate why it wants to uninstall everything. I do agree in not using -proposed with a testing version.

[claydoh]

The normal way in *buntu is dist-upgrade. That is what Muon/Software Center/Synaptic do by default. We are too early in the cycle to treat it that way, the betas and rc perhaps, but before feature freeze, there will be constant updates and dependency changes.

[NoWorries]

I will certainly stick with dist-upgrade and when I feel adventurous, I will select the pre-release option in Muon. If the command line dist-upgrade shows packages that I do not want deleted, I will then remove the Muon's pre-release option. For the moment, the libx11-6 and libx11-xcb1 packages still cause a problem, so I will "play it safe" for the moment

BTW, I have resurrected the Desktop that I "Sacrificed" and all is well. I re-installed the system in about and hour with over 300 updates. I had a "quiet smile to myself this morning" when I found that someone at our Church had selected updates for a Windows XP system used for presentations and it was going through reboot cycles. The Techo in charge quickly went home and got his Laptop and that was used for the service. Fortunately, I have been allowed to use my Kubuntu Laptop for such occasions and with 13.04 it works great!!!!!

[bsniadajewski]

In Muon you can easily see what is to be removed or updated, no command line needed
In Muon, first click Check for Updates, wait for it to finish.
Then click Full Upgrade and check the list.

When happy click Apply Changes.
(Providing I translated it correctly)

And if something doesn't look right (say, half or so of KDE), just click Unmark all, close out of Muon, and wait a day or so. Any dependency problems should be resolved by then.