[SOLVED] Update Wants to Remove Important Packages

[NoWorries]

Last night I encountered this problem, so I changed the site to download packages from but got the same result which is:

Reading state information... Done
151 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
libtxc-dxtn-s2tc:i386
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it.
The following packages will be REMOVED
accountwizard akregator cryfs kaddressbook kde-config-mailtransport kdepim-addons kdepim-runtime kdepim-themeeditors kmail knotes kontact korganizer ktnef libcurl3
libkf5akonadicalendar5abi1 libkf5akonadimime5 libkf5akonadinotes5 libkf5akonadisearch-bin libkf5akonadisearch-plugins libkf5calendarsupport5 libkf5eventviews5 libkf5imap5
libkf5incidenceeditor-bin libkf5incidenceeditor5abi1 libkf5kaddressbookgrantlee5 libkf5kdepimdbusinterfaces5 libkf5mailcommon-plugins libkf5mailcommon5abi3
libkf5mailimporterakonadi5 libkf5mailtransport5abi2 libkf5mailtransportakonadi5 libkf5messagecomposer5abi2 libkf5messagelist5abi1 libkf5messageviewer-plugins
libkf5messageviewer5abi3 libkf5pimcommonakonadi5 libkf5templateparser5abi2 libkf5tnef5 libkolab1 libkpimimportwizard5 mbox-importer pim-data-exporter pim-sieve-editor
The following NEW packages will be installed
fonts-ubuntu libcurl4 libkf5calendarcore5abi1 libkf5libkdepim5abi2 libqpdf21
The following packages have been kept back:
kleopatra libkf5akonadicalendar-data libkf5akonadicontact-data libkf5akonadicontact5abi1 libkf5alarmcalendar-data libkf5calendarutils-bin libkf5calendarutils-data
libkf5libkdepimakonadi5 libkf5mbox5 libkf5mime-data
The following packages will be upgraded:
akonadi-backend-mysql akonadi-server apt apt-transport-https apt-utils bsdutils command-not-found command-not-found-data cups-browsed cups-filters cups-filters-core-drivers
debconf debconf-i18n default-jre default-jre-headless fdisk friendly-recovery gimp-gmic iso-codes java-common kio-ldap kio-smtp libapt-inst2.0 libapt-pkg5.0 libatk-wrapper-java
libatk-wrapper-java-jni libblkid1 libblkid1:i386 libcupsfilters1 libegl-mesa0 libegl1-mesa libfdisk1 libfontembed1 libgbm1 libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx
libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libglapi-mesa libglapi-mesa:i386 libgles2-mesa libglx-mesa0 libglx-mesa0:i386 libinput-bin libinput10 libjack-jackd2-0 libjack-jackd2-0:i386
libkf5akonadiagentbase5 libkf5akonadicore-bin libkf5akonadicore5abi1 libkf5akonadimime-data libkf5akonadinotes-data libkf5akonadiprivate5 libkf5akonadisearch-data
libkf5akonadisearchcore5 libkf5akonadisearchdebug5 libkf5akonadisearchpim5 libkf5akonadisearchxapian5 libkf5akonadiwidgets5 libkf5contacteditor-data libkf5contacteditor5
libkf5contacts-data libkf5contacts5 libkf5grantleetheme-data libkf5grantleetheme-plugins libkf5grantleetheme5 libkf5identitymanagement-data libkf5identitymanagement5abi1
libkf5imap-data libkf5kontactinterface-data libkf5kontactinterface5 libkf5ldap-data libkf5ldap5 libkf5libkdepim-data libkf5libkdepim-plugins libkf5libkleo5abi1
libkf5mailimporter-data libkf5mailimporter5abi1 libkf5mailtransport-data libkf5pimtextedit-data libkf5pimtextedit5abi2 libkf5syndication5 libkf5tnef-data libkpimgapi-data
libkpimgapicalendar5 libkpimgapicontacts5 libkpimgapicore5 libkpimgapitasks5 libkpimkdav-data libkpimkdav5 libmount1 libmount1:i386 libopenconnect5 liborcus-0.13-0 libphonon4
libphonon4qt5-4 libsmartcols1 libssl1.0.0 libssl1.0.0:i386 libtesseract4 libuuid1 libuuid1:i386 libwayland-egl1-mesa libwhoopsie0 libxatracker2 man-db mesa-va-drivers
mesa-vdpau-drivers mlocate mount mpd phonon phonon-backend-vlc phonon4qt5 phonon4qt5-backend-vlc publicsuffix python3-commandnotfound python3-cupshelpers python3-debconf qpdf
rfkill system-config-printer system-config-printer-common system-config-printer-udev ttf-ubuntu-font-family ubuntu-keyring ucf util-linux uuid-runtime whoopsie
130 to upgrade, 5 to newly install, 43 to remove and 10 not to upgrade.
Need to get 43.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 90.3 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.

I should mention that I only get this when I use the "Pre-Released Updated". When I remove this option I get normal behaviour. Looks like the Pre-Released is in a state of flux.

Is there a solution to this problem that I am experiencing?

[chimak111]

See if https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2386050 is related?

[acheron]

Is there a solution to this problem that I am experiencing?

Don't run a system with -proposed enabled.

This issue should be fixed now, but the above still applies. Things are often in -proposed and not -release, precisely because they break things.

[NoWorries]

When I checked my system libcurl3 was installed with whoopsie.

I have tried a number of options with the most severe being to remove libcurl3 as well as whoopsie and kde-config-whoopsie. All the changes that I tried, including the last did not change the list of packages to remove.

[acheron]

Well curl got a library version bump from libcurl3 to libcurl4, and hence much will need to be rebuilt against that, and will be broken in -proposed until it all shakes down. If you run with -proposed enabled you can expect this, and will have to wait.

[NoWorries]

Thanks for the clarification. I will wait, and in the meantime I will restore my installed packages to what they were before I tried playing around to try and fix the problem.

[NoWorries]

As it is rather chilly here in the UK for an Aussie who is to return to Australia in mid-March, I decided to try an approach that would install many of the very useful packages in the proposed list.

What I have done is use Muon with the Status list selected. I then quickly scrolled down the list to find the Upgradeable packages and selected Install. If a package found by this process did not involve the re-movement of other packages, I would select the package. The end result is now:

The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
libtxc-dxtn-s2tc:i386
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it.
The following packages will be REMOVED
accountwizard akregator kaddressbook kde-config-mailtransport kdepim-addons kdepim-runtime kdepim-themeeditors kmail knotes
kontact korganizer ktnef libkf5akonadicalendar5abi1 libkf5akonadimime5 libkf5akonadinotes5 libkf5akonadisearch-bin
libkf5akonadisearch-plugins libkf5calendarsupport5 libkf5eventviews5 libkf5imap5 libkf5incidenceeditor-bin
libkf5incidenceeditor5abi1 libkf5kaddressbookgrantlee5 libkf5kdepimdbusinterfaces5 libkf5mailcommon-plugins
libkf5mailcommon5abi3 libkf5mailimporterakonadi5 libkf5mailtransport5abi2 libkf5mailtransportakonadi5
libkf5messagecomposer5abi2 libkf5messagelist5abi1 libkf5messageviewer-plugins libkf5messageviewer5abi3
libkf5pimcommonakonadi5 libkf5templateparser5abi2 libkf5tnef5 libkolab1 libkpimimportwizard5 mbox-importer pim-data-exporter
pim-sieve-editor
The following packages have been kept back:
kleopatra libkf5akonadicalendar-data libkf5akonadicontact-data libkf5akonadicontact5abi1 libkf5alarmcalendar-data
libkf5calendarutils-bin libkf5calendarutils-data libkf5libkdepimakonadi5 libkf5mbox5 libkf5mime-data
The following packages will be upgraded:
akonadi-backend-mysql akonadi-server bsdutils libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libkf5akonadiagentbase5
libkf5akonadicore-bin libkf5akonadicore5abi1 libkf5akonadimime-data libkf5akonadinotes-data libkf5akonadiprivate5
libkf5akonadisearch-data libkf5akonadisearchcore5 libkf5akonadisearchdebug5 libkf5akonadisearchpim5
libkf5akonadisearchxapian5 libkf5akonadiwidgets5 libkf5contacteditor-data libkf5contacteditor5 libkf5contacts-data
libkf5contacts5 libkf5grantleetheme-plugins libkf5imap-data libkf5ldap-data libkf5ldap5 libkf5libkdepim-plugins
libkf5libkleo5abi1 libkf5mailtransport-data libkf5tnef-data
29 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 41 to remove and 10 not to upgrade.
Need to get 3,505 kB of archives.
After this operation, 89.0 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.

So from this list you can see the packages that are affected by this problem.

[acheron]

New KDEPim 17.12.2 has not finished building yet, so it will be broken now.

http://gpul.grupos.udc.es/ka-iron-ha...try_builds.pdf

[NoWorries]

New KDEPim 17.12.2 has not finished building yet, so it will be broken now.

http://gpul.grupos.udc.es/ka-iron-ha...try_builds.pdf

I just did an update with Pre-released and Unsupported updates selected and it all went through as it should with no packages removed.

I know that I take risks, but I find that it is worthwhile provided I watch for those infrequent occasions when important packages are removed

Many thanks to you and those working with you in solving this problem so quickly.

[NoWorries]

Looks like more work is in progress as Kontact and KOrganizer no longer work for me - sorry to say. I do not use Kmail, so I cannot comment on its status.

[NoWorries]

Another day has passed and I am pleased to say that after the latest updates I now have Kontact and KOrganizer working very well. To get the latest updates, I had to accept the removal of abut 10 packages related to Kontact.

The version of Kontact is now 5.7.2 whereas on 17.10 the version is 5.5.3, so there is quite a jump in the version number!

So I am now very pleased with the progress being made - Well Done.