I recently upgraded from Xenial to Fossa, and the entire process appeared to go swimmingly. I have no .list files that reference Xenial on my system, and Fossa appears to be working as intended.
Today, I found that I had an upgradable package, ubuntu-advantage-tools, but it won't install because it depends on distro-info that's not going to be installed. In trying to find out why, it seems that distro-info depends on distro-info-data which ... is not going to be installed. The reason for this is that the distro-info-data package I have is already the newest version, presumably a result of my recent OS upgrade. And this makes sense, as my OS is working correctly in all respects: obviously the distro-info-data package I have (version 0.46+18.04.sav0) is satisfactory, and the x.yy numeric versioning value is higher than the indicated dependency for distro-info (0.39) and the most recent published version from April (0.43).
[Wed Jul 14-12:42:17]-[exit:100]-$> sudo apt install ubuntu-advantage-tools
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
ubuntu-advantage-tools : Depends: distro-info but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
[Wed Jul 14-12:42:29]-[exit:100]-$> sudo apt install distro-info
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
distro-info : Depends: distro-info-data (>= 0.39ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
[Wed Jul 14-12:42:40]-[exit:100]-$> sudo apt install distro-info-data
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
distro-info-data is already the newest version (0.46+18.04.sav0).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
So, the question is this: why is the dependency-evaluation process not recognizing distro-info-data (0.46+18.04.sav0) as satisfying the declared dependency for distro-info of distro-info-data (>= 0.39ubuntu1) despite the fact that it clearly actually does?
Also, what can I do to fix this that will permit future non-manual upgrades to be installed without issues while avoiding what amounts to total re-installation of my OS (which is essentially what was indicated when I investigated the replacement of my most recent distro-info-data (0.46+18.04.sav0) with distro-info-data (0.43ubuntu1.5_all))?
Additional reference:
[Wed Jul 14-13:37:33]-[exit:0]-$> sudo apt show distro-info
Package: distro-info
Version: 0.23ubuntu1
Priority: optional
Section: devel
Origin: Ubuntu
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <[email protected]>
Original-Maintainer: Benjamin Drung <[email protected]>
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Installed-Size: 69.6 kB
Depends: distro-info-data (>= 0.39ubuntu1), libc6 (>= 2.7)
Suggests: shunit2 (>= 2.1.6)
Breaks: ubuntu-dev-tools (<< 0.133~)
Replaces: ubuntu-dev-tools (<< 0.127~)
Download-Size: 17.1 kB
APT-Sources: http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
Description: provides information about the distributions' releases
Information about all releases of Debian and Ubuntu. The distro-info script
will give you the codename for e.g. the latest stable release of your
distribution. To get information about a specific distribution there are the
debian-distro-info and the ubuntu-distro-info scripts.
[Wed Jul 14-13:39:22]-[exit:0]-$> sudo apt show distro-info-data
Package: distro-info-data
Version: 0.46+18.04.sav0
Status: install ok installed
Priority: important
Section: devel
Maintainer: Benjamin Drung <[email protected]>
Installed-Size: 18.4 kB
Breaks: distro-info (<< 1.0~)
Download-Size: unknown
APT-Manual-Installed: yes
APT-Sources: /var/lib/dpkg/status
Description: information about the distributions' releases (data files)
Information about all releases of Debian and Ubuntu. The distro-info script
will give you the codename for e.g. the latest stable release of your
distribution. To get information about a specific distribution there are the
debian-distro-info and the ubuntu-distro-info scripts.
.
This package contains the data files.
N: There are 2 additional records. Please use the '-a' switch to see them.
[Wed Jul 14-13:48:18]-[exit:0]-$> apt-cache policy distro-info-data distro-info
distro-info-data:
Installed: 0.46+18.04.sav0
Candidate: 0.46+18.04.sav0
Version table:
*** 0.46+18.04.sav0 100
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
0.43ubuntu1.5 500
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main i386 Packages
500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 Packages
500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main i386 Packages
0.43ubuntu1 500
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages
distro-info:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 0.23ubuntu1
Version table:
0.23ubuntu1 500
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
[Wed Jul 14-14:15:46]-[exit:1]-$> dpkg -l | grep sav
ii distro-info-data 0.46+18.04.sav0 all information about the distributions' releases (data files)
ii glslang-tools 8.13.3763-0ubuntu1~18.04.sav0 amd64 OpenGL and OpenGL ES shader front end and validator -- tools
ii gnome-screensaver 3.6.1-11ubuntu4 amd64 Screensaver and screen lock formerly used in GNOME
ii logsave 1.45.5-2ubuntu1 amd64 save the output of a command in a log file
ii meson 0.55.1-1~18.04.sav0 all high-productivity build system
ii ninja-build 1.10.2-0ubuntu1~18.04.sav0 amd64 small build system closest in spirit to Make
ii python3-distro-info 1.0+18.04sav0 all information about distributions' releases (Python 3 module)
ii spirv-tools 2020.4-1~18.04.sav0 amd64 API and commands for processing SPIR-V modules
ii tzdata 2021a-0ubuntu0.20.04 all time zone and daylight-saving time data
ii x11proto-scrnsaver-dev 2019.2-1ubuntu1 all transitional dummy package
ii xscreensaver 5.42+dfsg1-1ubuntu1 amd64 Screensaver daemon and frontend for X11
ii xscreensaver-data 5.42+dfsg1-1ubuntu1 amd64 Screen saver modules for screensaver frontends
ii xscreensaver-data-extra 5.42+dfsg1-1ubuntu1 amd64 Extra screen saver modules for screensaver frontends
ii xscreensaver-gl 5.42+dfsg1-1ubuntu1 amd64 GL(Mesa) screen saver modules for screensaver frontends
ii xscreensaver-gl-extra 5.42+dfsg1-1ubuntu1 amd64 Extra GL(Mesa) screen saver modules for screensaver frontends
[Wed Jul 14-14:17:48]-[exit:0]-$> aptitude search ~o
i amdvlk - AMD Open Source Driver for Vulkan
i darling - Darling
i darling-dkms - Kernel module for Darling
i discord - Chat for Communities and Friends
i A gstreamer1.0-fluendo-mp3 - Fluendo mp3 decoder GStreamer 1.0 plugin
i A libnih1 - NIH Utility Library
i A libprocps6 - library for accessing process information from /proc
i A libssl1.0.0 - Secure Sockets Layer toolkit - shared libraries
i nomachine - Fast and secure remote access system
i A perl-modules-5.26 - Core Perl modules
i python-iniparse - access and modify configuration data in INI files (Python 2)
i python3.8.1-dev-dosk - python3.8.1-dev
i sc-controller - User-mode driver and GTK3 based GUI for Steam Controller
i tokentool - TokenTool
i A ureadahead - Read required files in advance
Note: removal of the existing distro-info-data=0.46+18.04.sav0 package is identified by Synaptic Package Manager as having the certain cascading results:
[Wed Jul 14-14:17:54]-[exit:0]-$> grep -r "deb\ " /etc/apt/ --include=*.list
/etc/apt/sources.list:# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS _Bionic Beaver_ - Release amd64 (20190805)]/ bionic main restricted
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
/etc/apt/sources.list:# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list:# deb https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators:/Wine:/Debian/xUbuntu_18.04/ ./
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/wine-obs.list:# deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators:/Wine:/Debian/xUbuntu_18.04 ./
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list:deb https://linux.teamviewer.com/deb stable main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list:# deb https://linux.teamviewer.com/deb preview main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list:# deb https://linux.teamviewer.com/deb development main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/lutris-team-ubuntu-lutris-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lutris-team/lutris/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-prod.list:deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/20.04/prod focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/amdvlk.list:# deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://repo.radeon.com/amdvlk/apt/debian/ bionic main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/pcsx2-team-ubuntu-pcsx2-daily-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pcsx2-team/pcsx2-daily/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/appimagelauncher-team-ubuntu-stable-focal.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/appimagelauncher-team/stable/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/dlech-ubuntu-keepass2-plugins-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/dlech/keepass2-plugins/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list:deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/solaar-unifying-ubuntu-stable-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/solaar-unifying/stable/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/libratbag-piper-ubuntu-piper-libratbag-git-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/libratbag-piper/piper-libratbag-git/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:kozec.list:# deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/kozec/xUbuntu_18.04/ /
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/dlech-ubuntu-keepass2-plugins-beta-focal.list:# deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/dlech/keepass2-plugins-beta/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/arx-ubuntu-release-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/arx/release/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/jtaylor-ubuntu-keepass-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jtaylor/keepass/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/team-xbmc-ubuntu-ppa-focal.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list:deb https://deb.nodesource.com/node_15.x focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/linuxuprising-ubuntu-guake-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/linuxuprising/guake/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/otto-kesselgulasch-ubuntu-gimp-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/otto-kesselgulasch/gimp/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/diesch-ubuntu-stable-focal.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/diesch/stable/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/dlech-ubuntu-keepass2-plugins-beta-bionic.list:# deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/dlech/keepass2-plugins-beta/ubuntu bionic main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/savoury1-ubuntu-build-tools-bionic.list:# deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/savoury1/build-tools/ubuntu bionic main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/takkat-nebuk-ubuntu-takkat-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/takkat-nebuk/takkat/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/xrdesktop-ubuntu-xrdesktop-focal.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/xrdesktop/xrdesktop/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/kisak-ubuntu-kisak-mesa-bionic.list:deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu focal main
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/gregory-hainaut-ubuntu-pcsx2_official_ppa-focal.list:# deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gregory-hainaut/pcsx2.official.ppa/ubuntu focal main
