Can't upgrade from 18.04LTS

[blackadderkate]

I'm tearing my hair out here!

I've removed all my 3rd-party applications, removed the PPA sources using "Software Sources", updated all my "locked" applications, and I'm STILL getting the following error:

Could not determine the upgrade

An unresolvable problem occurred while calculating the upgrade.

If none of this applies, then please report this bug using the
command 'ubuntu-bug ubuntu-release-upgrader-core' in a terminal. If
you want to investigate this yourself the log files in
'/var/log/dist-upgrade' will contain details about the upgrade.
Specifically, look at 'main.log' and 'apt.log'.

main.log shows:
"ERROR Dist-upgrade failed: 'E:Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.'"

I found the following bug report and it looks identical to my issue, but it's marked as fixed: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...r/+bug/1898372

Any ideas, or should I just file the bug report as recommended?

[claydoh]

How are you initiating the upgrade?

We would need to see more lines of the log file(s) to see what specifically is causing the held package situation.
the apt.log should show this. What is blocking you probably is not the same package(s) involved in that bug report.

fwiw, the upgrade tool will disable PPAs for you.
And instead of just deleting applications and removing PPAs manually, using ppa-purge to downgrade all applications etc to stock, as well as any supporting dependencies found in those PPAs would be a better method.
But normally, except for PPAs involving drivers, you should not have to undo anything added.

[blackadderkate]

Thanks for getting back to me...

I have tried various ways to upgrade:

• in krunner: pkexec do-release-upgrade -m desktop -f DistUpgradeViewKDE in krunner
• in konsole: sudo do-release-upgrade -m desktop
• in konsole: sudo do-release-upgrade
• in konsole:su
  do-release-upgrade -m desktop
• Logged into tty2 as root: do-release-upgrade -m desktop

The PPAs and 3rd party apps I uninstalled were things like Google Earth, Skype etc. - I thought I might have more luck if I pared everything back to a more "vanilla" installation, but no such luck...

I can't add the apt logfile as an attachment - I assume that's because I haven't reached the required number of posts yet. It's a 203kb file, so probably not a good idea to post it using CODE tags!

Any ideas on what I should be looking for in the log? It's so verbose that I can't see the wood for the trees (if that makes sense)!

[claydoh]

search for 'error' and 'held package' maybe 'broken'. Most of the info will probably be at the end of the file.
If there are many, then just use a pastebin to copypasta the log, and post the link to it. You might need one more post to be able to add links, can't recall the number for that.

[blackadderkate]

Hi.

[FONT=monospace][COLOR=#5454ff][B]/var/log/dist-upgrade[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]$ grep -in error apt.log [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]456[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]      Installing node-v[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] as Depends of node-jsprim [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]457[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]        MarkInstall node-v[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]:amd64 < none -> 1.10.0-1 @un uN Ib > FU=0 [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]458[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]        Installing node-core-util-is as Depends of node-v[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]597[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]  MarkInstall libgpg-[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]0:amd64 < 1.27-6 -> 1.37-1 @ii umU IPb > FU=0 [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]598[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]  new important dependency: libgpg-[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]-l10n:amd64 [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]599[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]  Installing libgpg-[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]-l10n as Recommends of libgpg-[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]0 [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]600[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]    MarkInstall libgpg-[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]-l10n:amd64 < none -> 1.37-1 @un uN > FU=0 [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]1145[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]  Installing node-json-parse-better-[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]s as Depends of npm [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#18b218]1146[/COLOR][COLOR=#18b2b2]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]    MarkInstall node-json-parse-better-[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]error[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]s:amd64 < none -> 1.0.2-2 @un uN > FU=0[/COLOR]
[/FONT]

Just packages with error in the title!

[FONT=monospace][COLOR=#54ff54][B]kate[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#5454ff][B]/var/log/dist-upgrade[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]$ grep -in held apt.log     [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ff54][B]kate[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#5454ff][B]/var/log/dist-upgrade[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]$ [/COLOR]
[/FONT]

[FONT=monospace][COLOR=#54ff54][B]kate[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#5454ff][B]/var/log/dist-upgrade[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]$ grep -in broken apt.log[/COLOR][/FONT]

see pastebin https://pastebin.com/wrnhEKgu

There are quite a lot of those - but if I understand the upgrade process correctly this is normal...

[blackadderkate]

Hmm, according to Google it might be because I upgraded NPM for firefox extension development purposes.
I'm uninstalling it now...

EDIT: nope. Didn't work.

[blackadderkate]

I found this in main.log:

[FONT=monospace][COLOR=#54ff54][B]kate[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#5454ff][B]/var/log/dist-upgrade[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]$ cat main.log | grep -i failed [/COLOR]
2021-05-16 18:55:21,480 INFO [COLOR=#ff5454][B]failed[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] to remove python-minimal [/COLOR]
2021-05-16 18:55:21,681 INFO [COLOR=#ff5454][B]failed[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] to remove libpython-stdlib [/COLOR]
2021-05-16 18:55:21,876 INFO [COLOR=#ff5454][B]failed[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] to remove python-minimal [/COLOR]
2021-05-16 18:55:21,880 INFO [COLOR=#ff5454][B]failed[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] to remove libpython-stdlib [/COLOR]
2021-05-16 18:55:23,656 ERROR Dist-upgrade [COLOR=#ff5454][B]failed[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]: 'E:Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by[/COLOR] held packages.'
[/FONT]

I'm giving up for the time being - I've spent way too much time on this and I'm getting frustrated. :-(
I have reported a bug report using ubuntu-bug...

I am contemplating buying another hard disk, installing from scratch and migrating my data using a USB drive caddy...

[blackadderkate]

I have finally managed to upgrade, although with a bit of difficulty...

On Thursday I received an email from Ubuntu asking me to try upgrading using "a new version of the release upgrader available in -proposed".

When I tried it, I got the following error message:

authenticate 'focal.tar.gz' against 'focal.tar.gz.gpg'
Authentication failed
Authenticating the upgrade failed.
There may be a problem with the network or with the server.

I eventually managed to find a web-browsable version of the proposed repository, so I downloaded the latest version of the upgrader, extracted it and ran it - and it worked!

Looking at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...tag=lp-1928397 it seems I'm not the only one who has had issues - which makes me feel a bit better... It wasn't me being stupid!

Now to get my installation tweaked back to how I like it!

p.s. Thanks @claydoh for the help...

[TwoFistedJustice]

I did the upgrade on my system. It hasn't worked out so well for me. After about a month I started to have issues with Python breaking. And once that happens, it's pretty much game over. This has evidently been an issue with other distros as well as illustrated here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1341...cies-python3-9

I am now preparing to wipe my system and install fresh 20.04

I lost more time trying to fix python that it would have taken me to install anew.

[GreyGeek]

As a general rule I've learned to never "upgrade" from one distro version to a higher one, next in line or not. A CLEAN install trumps all upgrades.

[jglen490]

And a clean install wastes far less time than trying to fix all but the simplest of errors, IMHO.

[GreyGeek]

....
I am now preparing to wipe my system and install fresh 20.04

I lost more time trying to fix python that it would have taken me to install anew.

Mother Nature is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and then the lesson. Not many pass.

The real object lesson here is to ALWAYS MAKE REGULAR BACKUPS!
It would have taken only a minute to restore from a backup either manually in a Konsole or by a GUI app.
IF your manual fu isn't strong then TimeShift is your tool.
Use the rsync setting for EXT4 file systems and the BTRFS setting if you are using that filesystem.

When to make backups? Every night before you shut down at a minimum. IF you see that "sudo apt update" gives you a message about 115 packages waiting for installation then that is a good time to make a quick backup. IF the update doesn't go well then it will only take you a minute or two to roll back. An extra backup never hurts. Oh, and be sure that your backups are on a drive that is NOT the same as the one your system is running on.

How many backups to keep? Backup schemes vary as much as opinions. Decide how many you need to keep and make a religion of it or you will be punished for your sins of omission, i.e., omitting the backup routine.