Even as a decade-old Ubuntu user this "The following packages have been kept back:" was a UX nightmare for me. It took me several runs of article reading, many unsuccessful "apt-mark showhold", breaking "apt install X" runs and still no clue at all about the background on these errors suddenly reappearing on 22.04 systems. I was this days old when I eventually was able to realize that this is all about "phased upgrades".
The implementation or effect from a UX is really utterly opaque. I'd go as far as to suggest: Refrain from phased upgrades until Ubuntu is able to signal apt users the reasons for packages held back! In my decade-old history, "packages kept back" were 100% always some really, really bad borked stuff, i.e., on dist-upgrades. Always something to take immediate care about to not threat system integrity or automatic updates and hence threatening hence the system security. A reason why it never occurred to me to just ignore those line. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to apt in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1988819 Title: When apt keeps back packages due to phased updates, it should say nothing Status in apt package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: After phased updates have been introduced, it may happen that apt upgrade shows packages as upgradable but ends up not upgrading them. In this case the packages are indicated as being "kept back". Unfortunately, the feedback provided about this to the user is not very informative. The user sees the packages being kept back and thinks something is going wrong on the system. When packages are kept back because of phased updates, apt should say so e.g., it should say that the upgrade is delayed. Incidentally note that aptitude does not respect phased updates. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04 Package: apt 2.4.7 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-47.51-generic 5.15.46 Uname: Linux 5.15.0-47-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82.1 Architecture: amd64 CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown CurrentDesktop: KDE Date: Tue Sep 6 10:05:14 2022 EcryptfsInUse: Yes InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-02-16 (933 days ago) InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017) SourcePackage: apt UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to jammy on 2022-06-03 (94 days ago) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1988819/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
