I'm on 11.10. I check for updates a few times a day using sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade. Today, I noticed this: Code: The following packages have been [b]kept back[/b]: linux-generic-pae linux-headers-generic-pae linux-image-generic-pae The following packages will be upgraded: linux-libc-dev 1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded. Need to get 820 kB of archives. After this operation, 8,192 B of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates/main linux-libc-dev i386 3.0.0-14.23 [820 kB] Fetched 820 kB in 17s (48.1 kB/s) (Reading database ... 188037 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to replace linux-libc-dev 3.0.0-13.22 (using .../linux-libc-dev_3.0.0-14.23_i386.deb) ... Unpacking replacement linux-libc-dev ... Setting up linux-libc-dev (3.0.0-14.23) ... Dell:~$ I logged onto askubuntu.com to see what is to be done when stuff is kept back. Running sudo apt-get dist-upgrade as suggested here worked for the OP. Another suggestion was to wait for a couple of days in case the reason was at Ubuntu's end. I have not used sudo apt-get dist-upgrade ever before and was inclined to wait a few days. I don't know why, but I opened Software Manager, something I don't usually do. And there were the packages (~48 MB) waiting to be installed. I was prompted to restart to complete the process which I did and now all is well.
vasa1, I always execute ... dist-upgrade. The difference is: Contrary to a normal upgrade also new packages will be installed and old packages, which have become useless because of new dependencies, will be replaced. I think it's the standard behavior for most software managers like Synaptic or Muon.
Do you routinely do sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade instead of sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade? Alternatively, can I just check the Update Manager whenever I feel bored instead of sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade? Are you recommending that checking for updates via a software manager is the more appropriate way to go, especially for a newbie? Don't hesitate to give a lengthy explanation or at least to point me to a link that makes the distinctions clear!
Yes, I do. As mentioned, all software managers perform a dist-upgrade, IMHO. It doesn't matter what you prefer. I'm using the following alias contained in my .bash_aliases file: alias U="sudo apt-get update ; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" Makes life a lot easier A good site is https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AptGet/Howto Specifically for your question read http://www.ghacks.net/2010/03/11/what-is-it-with-the-dist-upgrade-option-of-apt-get/
From a reading of both links, I'm tempted to conclude that the advantage of dist-upgrade is that it does a better job of dealing with dependencies although this quote from the first link is puzzling: "it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary."
I have so far always done it the default way, don't consider myself smart enough for the smart upgrade. OK this is very old so probably overhauled:- vasa1, I like your posts, they get beginners like me thinking and (double) checking stuff I didn't know or bother with before.
Well, I also find this statement a bit funny so I won't comment it. Let me try to explain the difference in other words/with some examples instead: apt-get upgrade never installs new packages, only upgrades already installed packages. Examples: 1. The update of the skin of your favourite media player needs a quite new font. Since apt-get upgrade never installs new packages, the new font won't be installed and, consequently, the skin won't be updated because of missing dependencies. 2. Referring to your first post: A kernel update has the version number in the package name. These packages are therefore new packages never installed before. An apt-get upgrade will consequently hold them back. apt-get dist-upgrade is different: It will update all packages and will - if necessary - install new packages if there are new package dependencies. Its name is a bit misleading as an dist-upgrade does not perform an upgrade to a new Ubuntu release as many people seem to think. In order to do that there is the command do-release-upgrade.
