update/upgrade problem - ppp package ?

[fatbloke]

Still a lot I don't understand, but it does seem strange that they still include it (presumably as part of the default packages) as standard.

If it's only used for dial up and "certain kinds of broadband connections" that it's not just a selection prompted by a "what kind of internet connection do you use ?" type question somewhere that's clear...

But hey ho! I'm just so pleased that I understood all the advice and suggestions to get this sorted out - even though I don't really follow how it got sorted...

I can't thank you all enough...

[vinnywright]

vinny@vinny-Bonobo-Extreme:~$ apt show ppp
Package: ppp
Version: 2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1
Priority: optional
Section: admin
Origin: Ubuntu
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com>
Original-Maintainer: Chris Boot <bootc@debian.org>
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Installed-Size: 971 kB
Depends: libpam-modules, libpam-runtime, lsb-base, procps, libc6 (>= 2.15), libpam0g (>= 0.99.7.1), libpcap0.8 (>= 0.9.8), libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0)
Breaks: network-manager (<< 0.9.8.8-7~), network-manager-pptp (<< 0.9.8.4-3~), pppdcapiplugin (<< 1:3.25+dfsg1-3.4~)
Homepage: http://ppp.samba.org/
Task: ubuntu-core, ubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-full, xubuntu-core, xubuntu-desktop, lubuntu-desktop-share, lubuntu-gtk-desktop, lubuntu-desktop, lubuntu-qt-desktop, ubuntustudio-desktop-core, ubuntustudio-desktop, ubuntukylin-desktop, ubuntu-mate-core, ubuntu-mate-desktop, ubuntu-budgie-desktop
Supported: 5y
Download-Size: 328 kB
APT-Manual-Installed: yes
APT-Sources: http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
Description: Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) - daemon
The Point-to-Point Protocol provides a standard way to transmit
datagrams over a serial link, as well as a standard way for the machines
at either end of the link to negotiate various optional characteristics
of the link.
.
This package is most commonly used to manage a modem for dial-up or
certain kinds of broadband connections.

N: There is 1 additional record. Please use the '-a' switch to see it

you probably do not even use it .

VINNY

[chimak111]

So while I still don't understand exactly what the ppp daemon does,

Neither do I and that's not limited to ppp but for most other packages on my system

But ppp seems to be something included in a variety of Ubuntu flavors:

Task: ubuntu-core, ubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-full, xubuntu-core, xubuntu-desktop, lubuntu-desktop-share, lubuntu-gtk-desktop, lubuntu-desktop, lubuntu-qt-desktop, ubuntustudio-desktop-core, ubuntustudio-desktop, ubuntukylin-desktop, ubuntu-mate-core, ubuntu-mate-desktop, ubuntu-budgie-desktop

Ref: https://helpmanual.io/packages/apt/ppp/

[chimak111]

I'm presuming that it has upgraded/updated (not sure what the difference is between the two words in this environment).

It maybe overkill to suggest reading https://debian-handbook.info/browse/...t.apt-get.html, but

re. sudo apt update

the aim of the apt update command is to download for each package source the corresponding Packages (or Sources) file.

and re. sudo apt upgrade

This command looks for installed packages which can be upgraded without removing any packages.

and re. sudo apt full-upgrade

With this instruction, apt will complete the upgrade even if it has to remove some obsolete packages or install new dependencies.

Many of us use sudo apt update followed by sudo apt full-upgrade rather than sudo apt update followed by sudo apt upgrade.

An added feature of using sudo apt upgrade or sudo apt full-upgrade is that no debs are retained in /var/cache/apt/archives unless you explicitly make a change to certain defaults (or use apt-get instead of apt).

[fatbloke]

Ok, thankyou all for the pointers etc. It seems that doing chimak111's suggestion of the sudo apt clean command, followed by sudo apt full-upgrade command suggested by vinnywright it gave me this

sudo apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
 ppp
1 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
Need to get 328 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1,024 B disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 ppp amd64 2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1 [328 kB]
Fetched 328 kB in 0s (1,122 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 227774 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ppp_2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking ppp (2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1) over (2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1) ...
Setting up ppp (2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-20) ...
ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
Processing triggers for systemd (237-3ubuntu10.4) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ...

Given that the "upgrades" icon on my taskbar has also disappeared, I'm presuming that it has upgraded/updated (not sure what the difference is between the two words in this environment).

Then following Vinny's suggestion to run the dkpg/grep command, it tells me this

dpkg -l | grep ppp
ii  ppp                                             2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1                          amd64        Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) - daemon

So while I still don't understand exactly what the ppp daemon does, it seems I now have the updated/upgraded version running.

A massive thanks for all your hints/tips and guidance

[chimak111]

Does running sudo apt clean help? This is because of E: Prior errors apply to /var/cache/apt/archives/ppp_2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb

[vinnywright]

you are still on 18.04-Bionic.

just to clarify "apt-get dist-upgrade" dose not take you to the next release (IE: 18.04 to18.10) , it dose the same thing as "apt full-upgrade , that is allow the removal of a old package version to a new one , see "man apt-get" for the info.

I would run the "apt full-upgrade" again to see that all is well + you can run

dpkg -l | grep ppp

vinny@vinny-bonox8:~$ dpkg -l | grep ppp
ii  ppp                                             2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1                          amd64        Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) - daemon

to see that "ppp" is in fact up to this version .

if on rerunning apt full-upgrade you get errors , post them .

VINNY

[GreyGeek]

Check your sources.list using
cat /etc/apt/sources.list | less

I don't know what 18.10's acronym is but if you see it listed then remove those lines and rebuild the cache.
As a general rule a fresh install ALWAYS works better then a version upgrade. 18.10 has a short support life, why the need to switch?

[fatbloke]

Ok, so inxi -S gives me this...

System:    Host: johnspc Kernel: 4.15.0-38-generic x86_64 bits: 64
          Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.12.6 Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS

sudo apt update gives me this...

sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:2 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease                             
Hit:3 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease                     
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease       
Hit:5 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease    
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
1 package can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see it.

And sudo apt full-upgrade gives me this...

sudo apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
 ppp
1 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
Need to get 0 B/328 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1,024 B disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
E: Invalid archive member header �5�nkZ(hd �se�n�<������k�i�^>\�
E: Prior errors apply to /var/cache/apt/archives/ppp_2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb
debconf: apt-extracttemplates failed: No such file or directory
(Reading database ... 227774 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ppp_2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libxkbcommon0:amd64 (0.8.0-1ubuntu0.1) over (0.8.0-1ubuntu0.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libxkbcommon0:amd64 (0.8.0-1ubuntu0.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
W: APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back (0 vs 6).
  Affected packages: ppp:amd64

I've done "dist upgrades" before, but that's been when the system has told me that a new version is available. I "think" I managed to tell the system to do an upgrade to 18.10 but it doesn't look (judging from the info from inxi) that it has done that.

Could it be that there's some sort of conflict going on or am I thinking miles wide of the game ?

[jglen490]

And to determine which Kubuntu release you are on, again in konsole enter

inxi -S

EDIT: You may not have inxi, a very handy utility, so install it

sudo apt install inxi

[chimak111]

In such cases, using the terminal maybe more helpful.

Open konsole and run sudo apt update and follow that with sudo apt full-upgrade. Post the entire output here for people to read.

[fatbloke]

I'm no expert. Just someone who uses, likes and values Kubuntu - no engineering skills or understanding (don't even know if this is in the right place - if not, sorry my bad)...

Anyway, system shows that there's an update/upgrade. Whether I select the taskbar icon and try to update that way (that just hangs with an open updating window and seems to do nothing - other than telling me I can't close it as it still has stuff to do).

If I try via the menu and open the Muon Package manager (and however I manage to get the package that's upgradeable to show up in the listing), I can tell it to do the update and it either hangs or does nothing.

The package is ppp (2.4.7-2+2ubuntu1.1) which shows as upgradable but then shows "no change" in the second column on the Muon window - I can meddle with showing it via status, I can meddle with it by getting it to list and a selected upgrade etc, then it doesn't matter what I do, it just won't upgrade the package - it just reverts the package listing as upgradeable and no change.

I "think" I may have got the system upgraded to 18.10 but I don't know as I did change the software sources to "normal" updates from LTS updates and I did install this as 18.04LTS

Can anyone suggest where I go from here please as I'm at a complete loss ?