[SOLVED] [or perhaps avoided] Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

[cdupree]

I've tried to upgrade my desktop and my netbook, both running Kubuntu 11.04, twice on the netbook and four times on the desktop. It's failed every time, sometimes claiming that I'm not connected to the net at the same time that I'm streaming music and browsing with no problems.

What can I do to generate more detailed info on this situation so that someone might be able to suggest a fix?

I'm working on a Gateway LT28 netbook and a Dell studioXPS desktop, both purchased in the last year, the former dual-core with only 1GB memory and the latter quad-core 64-bit with 8GB memory. I can be more specific if it's useful but it seems unlikely to be hardware-based on my end.

Little help?

[cdupree]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

I'm attaching a screenshot of the error message in case that might suggest something.

I also tried wiping Kubuntu 11.10 off my netbook and reinstalling 11.04 which was working fine, and that also fails. Is there a server problem that anyone knows of?

[claydoh]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

the servers are probably getting quite hammered right now, but you can try different ones to see. I don't know how that relates to the error message you have, though.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Could be a server problem, but from the error message, looks more like an apt problem.

This might best be diagnosed from a conole.

Close out the error message, and try running:

sudo apt-get install -f

See what error messages it gives. Might be fixable.

[cdupree]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Here's what I get in response to sudo apt-get install -f:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1557 not upgraded.

Is that useful?

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Looks like it should be ready to go.

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

It is best if you are not running any other programs like browsers while you are doing this.

[cdupree]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Thanks for your interest! I shut down all user-initiated programs and did the two apt-get commands you recommended. The first seemed to run fine, the second produced a huge list of packages followed by this:

1554 upgraded, 420 newly installed, 39 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,798 MB of archives.
After this operation, 287 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
E: Could not perform immediate configuration on 'libstdc++6-4.4-dev'. Please see man 5 apt.conf under APT::Immediate-Configure for details. (2)

What next?

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Try:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall libstdc++6-4.4-dev

and see what it gives you. Might give a more useful error message.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Other thing to try is what the error message suggests:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

[cdupree]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Aha, sounds reasonable! Lemme try...

sudo apt-get install --reinstall libstdc++6-4.4-dev
[sudo] password for cdupree:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
cpp-4.4 g++-4.4 gcc-4.4 gcc-4.4-base libgmp10
Suggested packages:
gcc-4.4-locales g++-4.4-multilib gcc-4.4-doc libstdc++6-4.4-dbg gcc-4.4-multilib libmudflap0-4.4-dev libgcc1-dbg
libgomp1-dbg libmudflap0-dbg libstdc++6-4.4-doc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libgmp10
The following packages will be upgraded:
cpp-4.4 g++-4.4 gcc-4.4 gcc-4.4-base libstdc++6-4.4-dev
5 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1552 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/14.2 MB of archives.
After this operation, 528 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 376807 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace g++-4.4 4.4.5-15ubuntu1 (using .../g++-4.4_4.4.6-11ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement g++-4.4 ...
Preparing to replace libstdc++6-4.4-dev 4.4.5-15ubuntu1 (using .../libstdc++6-4.4-dev_4.4.6-11ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libstdc++6-4.4-dev ...
Preparing to replace gcc-4.4 4.4.5-15ubuntu1 (using .../gcc-4.4_4.4.6-11ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement gcc-4.4 ...
Preparing to replace cpp-4.4 4.4.5-15ubuntu1 (using .../cpp-4.4_4.4.6-11ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement cpp-4.4 ...
Preparing to replace gcc-4.4-base 4.4.5-15ubuntu1 (using .../gcc-4.4-base_4.4.6-11ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement gcc-4.4-base ...
Selecting previously deselected package libgmp10.
Unpacking libgmp10 (from .../libgmp10_2%3a5.0.1+dfsg-7ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up gcc-4.4-base (4.4.6-11ubuntu2) ...
Setting up libgmp10 (2:5.0.1+dfsg-7ubuntu2) ...
Setting up cpp-4.4 (4.4.6-11ubuntu2) ...
Setting up gcc-4.4 (4.4.6-11ubuntu2) ...
Setting up g++-4.4 (4.4.6-11ubuntu2) ...
Setting up libstdc++6-4.4-dev (4.4.6-11ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
cdupree@JMGurgeh:~$

Cool, looks like it worked! Let's try...

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
[...Enormous list of packages to be added, changed, or removed...]
1549 upgraded, 419 newly installed, 39 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,784 MB of archives.
After this operation, 287 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
E: Could not perform immediate configuration on 'libstdc++6-4.5-dev'. Please see man 5 apt.conf under APT::Immediate-Configure for details. (2)

[cdupree]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Shoulda said also, I've tried the recommended sudo dpkg --configure -a, but I get no output or change.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

I think the real problem is that there are so many packages being upgraded that the resolving algorithm is getting confused.

So you could do this again, with

sudo apt-get install --reinstall libstdc++6-4.5-dev

but I am wondering if you could just remove both 6-4.4 and 6-4.5, as 6-4.6 is going to be installed. The safer way is probably do just to the above, and you might even have to do it with 6-4.6, though that should go through automatically. You can later remove the 4.4 and 4.5 stuff if you want to. Main objective right now is to get the miserable thing to go though at all.

Once it quits giving you these errors (should not be more than one more time) then go ahead with the dist-upgrade again.

Edit: I should have caught this -- check that packages it says it will remove when you do the dist-upgrade. If c 6-4.4 and 4.5 are among them, then you can go ahead and remove the -dev packages as they aren't needed. I suspect that's why its choking on the dev packages when trying to upgrade.

[cdupree]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

I removed earlier versions (I had a 6-4.3 as well as .4 and .5), and the upgrade is now in progress. (I'm posting this from another computer.) Looks like I'm now unblocked, many thanks!

[cdupree]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

My desktop has now been updated; removing those old libstdc++ files unblocked the process as you predicted. Many thanks!

However, I still can't update my netbook. I tried it again last night, and it hung trying to download libreoffice-emailmerge. I left it running all night and it didn't budge. As a result I get an error message as soon as I log in and before any windows come up, but it's not there long enough to read it. Any suggestions on this one?

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Upgrade fails on desktop and netbook

Probably your network connection disconnected, who knows why.

One thing you can do is, download the packages and then do the upgrade is separate steps. That way, you can still use the computer while it's downloading, and you don't have to worry about network glitches causing other problems

In a terminal or konsole:

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

This tells apt to just download all the packages it needs, but not do the upgrade.
Once it's all there, then you can run:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

and network problems won't interfere.

If it hung during the download, there's no harm done. Just restart the process. It'll get over the error messages.