On Thu 18 Jan 2018 at 15:13:12 (-0600), Richard Owlett wrote: > I've been exploring the idea of downloading several packages. > When I select "apply" it routinely says "1 package will be held back > and not upgraded" in the lower half of a screen titled "Summary (as > superuser)". > > In both the upper and lower half of that screen I can discover what > packages will be downloaded I can click appropriately and be > informed that a list of packages will be downloaded. They are always > what I wanted/expected. So far, so good ;/ > > Today I got curious. > In the lower half of the screen I clicked the button labeled "Show > Details". It listed *ONLY* the expected/intended files. > > In the upper half of the screen I observed that clicking on the ">" > labeled "To be installed" I observed the same files as listed in > response to "Show Details". > > *HOWEVER* when clicking on the ">" labeled "Unchanged" it listed > "linux-image-686-pae". Why? Less than 2 weeks ago I chose to install > the i386 flavor of current point release of Stretch. I was using > "Expert Install" and IIRC that was the default. > > For years I've gotten the "1 package will be held back and not > upgraded" message. That response is obviously release independent. > Previous installs have been from purchased DVD sets. > > This is the *FIRST* time I have attempted to investigate what is > being held back. > > Please educate me ;/
Packages are normally held back when upgrading them would involve removing a package or installing a new one, and that is forbidden by the upgrade method you're using. So, for example, apt-get dist-upgrade was recently needed to upgrade linux-image against Meltdown because a new package was being installed. (Substitute "apt-get dist-upgrade" accordingly.) BTW when installing a kernel image (and related packages), you should select the least specific generic package (like linux-image-686-pae) rather than the versioned one. Because the new kernel was a new package (-4 → -5), it wouldn't be seen as an upgrade except as a dependency of the generic package. Cheers, David.
