Run as root

[pooky2483]

Refer to this page. Look about halfway down at the do-release-upgrade discussion. There is a specific sequence that must be done, and in my opinion do-release -upgrade should be specifically called out with sudo.

It's entirely possible that this may be a big part of your "is it Xenial or is it Bionic" dilemma.

Looks like I missed this part out
However, in order to use this command, the system must first be fully upgraded. To do that, you should first run sudo apt-get upgrade, followed by sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. When those two complete, you can then run sudo do-release-upgrade and wait for the magic to complete.

I guess I could try CTRL-SHIFT-Z to undo things

If it's any consolation, I did do a sudo apt-get update and fix any broken packages

[pooky2483]

Just a quick question to help me sort out my problem, how the heck do I delete files in system folders (root), namely the sources.list folder, they're all 'Xenial'
I have tried in Dolphin but no luck and I'd prefer not to be told to use terminal to do this part ad I want to be sure of what I'm deleting

[jglen490]

Before you do that, could you enter this in a konsole

inxi -Sxxxx

Then copy the output and paste it back here inside a CODE box (the # button in the Quick Reply dialog).

[pooky2483]

System:    Host: pooky2483-m5a78usb3-kubuntu-1804 Kernel: 4.15.0-88-generic x86_64         
         bits: 64 gcc: 7.4.0                                                             
         Desktop: Gnome 3.28.4 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu4) info: gnome-shell dm: sddm,sddm    
         Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS

I'm beginning to hate Ubuntu just as much as Window$ as it's like starting all over again with every LTS we have to bugfix and install hardware all over again.
Why can't 'they' just roll out a new LTS as if it were a system update instead of having to go through all this every time

[jglen490]

So the good news is you are actually on 18.04.4, which means you be able to just fix the text of your sources in your list, which can be done in Muon. Then it would be a matter of a couple of apt commands to like fix everything.

The alternative might be a fresh install of Bionic.

But someone else might have a better idea.

[chimak111]

Desktop: Gnome 3.28.4 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu4) info: gnome-shell dm: sddm,sddm

So it's not a pure Kubuntu?

There are people who mix all sorts of desktop environments (DE) without any problem, but I prefer to stay with just the one DE on a particular system.

Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.12.9 tk: Qt 5.9.5 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS (Bionic Beaver)

And, again, some users upgrade from one LTS to another without problems. Others encounter problems. As I understand, the chance of a successful upgrade depends on how close your system, just before the upgrade, is to a vanilla system: highly customized systems with, for example, multiple DEs or ppas, may not upgrade smoothly.

[pooky2483]

I am unable to install ANYTHING.

In terminal, I type

sudo apt-get update

sudp apt-get install muon

Then I get, at the end,
The following packages have unmet dependencies.
muon : Depends: software-properties-kde but it is not going to be installed
N: Ignoring file '20auto-upgrades.merge-error' in directory '/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/' as it has an invalid filename extension
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

My question is, how do I delete files in etc/ ?

[pooky2483]

Desktop: Gnome 3.28.4 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu4) info: gnome-shell dm: sddm,sddm

So it's not a pure Kubuntu?

There are people who mix all sorts of desktop environments (DE) without any problem, but I prefer to stay with just the one DE on a particular system.

Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.12.9 tk: Qt 5.9.5 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS (Bionic Beaver)

And, again, some users upgrade from one LTS to another without problems. Others encounter problems. As I understand, the chance of a successful upgrade depends on how close your system, just before the upgrade, is to a vanilla system: highly customized systems with, for example, multiple DEs or ppas, may not upgrade smoothly.

That's what I wanted, Plasma as I hate Gnome with a passion. I don't know why it installed Gnome instead of Plasma!!!

[pooky2483]

Just letting everyone who has been helping me here, I appreciate the help you've given me but I am having such a hard time trying to fix my broken system while not having a clue how to delete/edit system files as so much has changed since 16.04, I am going to do a fresh install of 18.04.

[chimak111]

All the best and please take small steps with customization!

Try to stay with defaults as far as possible.

Keep detailed notes if possible.

[jglen490]

Good advice there from chimak111. This is just me and my opinion, but I only use LTS Kubuntu. And when I install the next LTS it's always a clean install. I keep one or two very well known and (apparently) reliable PPAs, and in the years that I've used Kubuntu I can count on one hand the number of "outside" .deb files I've installed.

Oh yeah, and I do backups of my data (i.e., /home partition(s)) - always, and on a pretty tight schedule. I do not backup my OS (i.e., / partition), but I do keep the most recent LTS version on a thumb drive. I'll reinstall first before I try to discover and recover some wayward particle there. It saves a huge amount of time, and I've rarely had to do that.

If I "adventure" in the Linux universe, it's on my old playground laptop, not my desktop unit.

[chimak111]

And one more opinion ...

I saw

#sudo apt-get update

in your first post.
The "#" at the start of the line indicates you were running as root.

Running as root combined with sudo isn't meaningful.

In fact, running as root is something I've never needed to do. Using sudo or sudo -H or SUDO_EDITOR=kate sudoedit <file> as my normal user is what I do.

[jglen490]

Yep! sudo is your bestest friend, ever.