Cannot Upgrade to 20.04

Support & Help Requests
#1

Hi, I have tried to upgrade to 20.04 with:
do-release-upgrade (No new release found.), and
sudo do-release-upgrade -c -d (New release '20.04' available. Run 'do-release-upgrade' to upgrade to it.) which frustrated me!

sudo do-release-upgrade -d seemed more likely, but after running it errored out as well (Could not determine the upgrade
An unresolvable problem occurred while calculating the upgrade.
This was caused by:

  • Upgrading to a pre-release version of Ubuntu
    This is most likely a transient problem,
    please try again later. )

The contents of the main.log file seemed to suggest that Ubuntu Mate packages were broken, but I do not know where to go from here. Any help or pointers would be appreciated (as a new user it won't let me post more than two links so I can only include the end of the log file. Even deleting all http references did not help):

2020-05-01 12:00:18,209 DEBUG running doUpdate() (showErrors=True)
2020-05-01 12:00:32,263 DEBUG openCache()
2020-05-01 12:00:32,555 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 64618
2020-05-01 12:00:32,555 DEBUG need_server_mode(): run in 'desktop' mode, (because of key deps for 'ubuntu-mate-core')
2020-05-01 12:00:33,210 ERROR Package net.downloadhelper.coapp has no priority set
2020-05-01 12:00:33,387 DEBUG Running KeepInstalledSection rules
2020-05-01 12:00:33,739 DEBUG Kernel uname: '5.3.0-51-generic'
2020-05-01 12:00:33,748 DEBUG nvidiaUpdate()
2020-05-01 12:00:34,250 INFO no old nvidia driver installed, installing no new
2020-05-01 12:00:34,250 DEBUG quirks: running PostDistUpgradeCache
2020-05-01 12:00:34,250 DEBUG running Quirks.PostDistUpgradeCache
2020-05-01 12:00:34,372 DEBUG Comparing 5.3.0-46 with
2020-05-01 12:00:34,372 DEBUG Comparing 5.3.0-51 with 5.3.0-46
2020-05-01 12:00:34,372 DEBUG Comparing 5.4.0-28 with 5.3.0-51
2020-05-01 12:00:34,430 INFO installing python-is-python2 because python-minimal was installed
2020-05-01 12:00:34,430 DEBUG Installing 'python-is-python2' (python-minimal was installed on the system)
2020-05-01 12:00:34,453 DEBUG none of the '['ubuntu-desktop', 'kubuntu-desktop', 'xubuntu-core', 'xubuntu-desktop', 'ubuntustudio-desktop', 'mythbuntu-desktop', 'kubuntu-netbook', 'lubuntu-desktop', 'ubuntu-gnome-desktop', 'ubuntu-mate-core', 'ubuntu-mate-desktop', 'ubuntukylin-desktop', 'ubuntu-budgie-desktop']' meta-pkgs installed
2020-05-01 12:00:34,454 DEBUG guessing 'ubuntu-mate-core' as missing meta-pkg
2020-05-01 12:00:34,568 ERROR failed to mark 'ubuntu-mate-core' for install (E:Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.)
2020-05-01 12:00:34,809 ERROR Dist-upgrade failed: 'Broken packages after upgrade: ubuntu-mate-core'
2020-05-01 12:00:34,810 DEBUG abort called
2020-05-01 12:00:34,813 DEBUG openCache()
2020-05-01 12:00:36,462 DEBUG /openCache(), new cache size 90769

#2

Hello.

Did you

sudo apt update

before the installation?

Also, did you check your system for these broken packages?

sudo apt-get check

#3

If you have packages on hold, do sudo apt-mark showhold > ~/heldpackages.log :memo: to know what you were holding onto, before doing sudo apt-mark unhold * :warning:.

:memo: heldpackages.log can be called whatever you want, put wherever you want (so ~/Desktop might be a better location for people with short-term memory issues, for instance). Just using the above as an example path to redirect the output into a text file. So long you can open it with pluma or read it in terminal with cat you're good.

:warning: Regular expressions are dangerous. But in this case they aren't that bad, especially because held packages will cause update issues. Caution use of regex globbing in apt-related commands.

#4

Thanks for the suggestions. That has just scared me further. I think I may have to do a full install since the results were:

neil@neil-System-Product-Name:~$ sudo apt-mark unhold *
E: Unable to locate package 4h6vcj
E: Unable to locate package Android
E: Unable to locate package android-studio
E: Unable to locate package Calibre Library
E: Unable to locate package Darkmod.log
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'Darkmod.log'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'Darkmod.log'
E: Unable to locate package deadbeef-1.8.1
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'deadbeef-1.8.1'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'deadbeef-1.8.1'
E: Unable to locate package Desktop
E: Unable to locate package Documents
E: Unable to locate package Downloads
E: Unable to locate package DriverBuild
E: Unable to locate package dvd.dvds
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'dvd.dvds'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'dvd.dvds'
E: Unable to locate package dwhelper
E: Unable to locate package Edraw
E: Unable to locate package fstab-backup
E: Unable to locate package gPodder
E: Unable to locate package heldpackages.log
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'heldpackages.log'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'heldpackages.log'
E: Unable to locate package index
E: Unable to locate package index.0
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'index.0'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'index.0'
E: Unable to locate package jd2
E: Unable to locate package Masterplan
E: Unable to locate package Music
E: Unable to locate package PDF
E: Unable to locate package Pictures
E: Unable to locate package Public
E: Unable to locate package rtl
E: Unable to locate package RTL8188EU
E: Can't select installed nor candidate version from package 'snap' as it has neither of them
E: Unable to locate package Steam
E: Unable to locate package Templates
E: Unable to locate package VASSAL-3.2.17
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'VASSAL-3.2.17'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'VASSAL-3.2.17'
E: Unable to locate package Videos
E: Unable to locate package websites
E: Unable to locate package WINE
E: Unable to locate package Wine stuff
E: No packages found

neil@neil-System-Product-Name:~$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 gb.archive.ubuntu ubuntu eoan InRelease
Hit:2 gb.archive.ubuntu ubuntu eoan-updates InRelease
Hit:3 gb.archive.ubuntu ubuntu eoan-security InRelease
Ign:4 ppa.launchpad amigadave ppa ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:5 ppa.launchpad mkusb ppa ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:6 gb.archive.ubuntu ubuntu eoan-proposed InRelease
Hit:7 gb.archive.ubuntu ubuntu eoan-backports InRelease
Hit:8 ppa.launchpad musicbrainz-developers stable ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:9 ppa.launchpad nilarimogard webupd8 ubuntu bionic InRelease
Get:10 https: brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave bionic InRelease [3,170 B]
Hit:11 ppa.launchpad oibaf graphics-drivers ubuntu bionic InRelease
Ign:12 ppa.launchpad t-tujikawa ppa ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:13 ppa.launchpad ubuntuhandbook1 dvdstyler ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:14 ppa.launchpad webupd8team java ubuntu bionic InRelease
Ign:15 ppa.launchpad webupd8team nemo ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:16 ppa.launchpad wfg 0ad ubuntu bionic InRelease
Err:17 ppa.launchpad amigadave ppa ubuntu bionic Release
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]
Err:18 ppa.launchpad t-tujikawa ppa ubuntu bionic Release
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]
Err:19 ppa.launchpad webupd8team nemo ubuntu bionic Release
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]
Err:10 brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave bionic InRelease
The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY A8580BDC82D3DC6C
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository ' ppa.launchpad amigadave ppa ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'ppa.launchpad t-tujikawa ppa ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'ppa.launchpad. webupd8team nemo ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave bionic InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY A8580BDC82D3DC6C
E: The repository 'brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave bionic InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

#5

That is some very strange output. I think that's because bash looks through everything, and I did a foolish thing by not telling you to put the asterisk in quote marks. But it doesn't look like you aree holding onto anything.

If you hadn't completely destroyed your system yet try sudo apt-mark showhold '*' instead :asterisk: . The quotes tell bash to pass the regex to apt rather than itself.

:asterisk: In fact, it isn't necessary to have the asterisk as it would show all held packages by default, but apt-mark can show packages of a specific expression range or name without the need to use grep which is why it's useful to know this anyway.

About the errors and warns, that's because... well, exactly as it says. You can fix this by disabling those repositories, and optionally, removing the repository software beforehand so there isn't anything third-party which could hang the update up. If you want to hold onto that software very much and believe there is still support from their respective maintainers, edit the .list files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d as superuser to repositories for the same software, by the same maintainer which apt can ping and get a hold of :information_source:.

:information_source: You can also make changes in software-properties-gtk rather than directly editing .list files in sources.list.d if you are more comfortable with that. You will be prompted for your user password to pass commands through root as superuser if you do not open with sudo.

Do note — After you update, all third-party repositories will be disabled anyway so you have to turn them back on after having updated them to show apt they exist prior to update. Once you are ready to upgrade (as in, you've made necessary preparations to do so) and not had become eligible to upgrade yet then perform either the following;

Via GUI: sudo update-manager -c -d
Via TTY: sudo do-release-upgrade -d

Either of both will tell the system you want to be on "Development releases" which for some dumb reasosn may be necessary, as 20.04 LTS isn't a devel build but the system may need to be tricked into upgrading to a dev release. It's a dumb hack I needed to do to go from 19.10 to 20.04.

#6

Hello DoktorAve

I prefer to do fresh installs, there's nothing wrong with doing a fresh install. :slightly_smiling_face:

#7

If the OP has a root and home partition, then.....

Install Ubuntu (Mate) using "Something else" method :grinning:

#8

Thanks for continuing to look at this. I will take them in order tomorrow and see if I can get it working. As to the question about third party software - when I saw the above output I uninstalled all of it, so I'm hoping it will not be an issue.

Thankyou,
Neil

#9

Tried to disable all repositories, and run the update but still no joy. I think I will now try "the other method" as suggested. Thanks for your help:

Could not determine the upgrade

An unresolvable problem occurred while calculating the upgrade.

This was caused by:

  • Upgrading to a pre-release version of Ubuntu
    This is most likely a transient problem,
    please try again later.
    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'.

Having spent some time on Google etc. I think this is my problem (extract from main.log), which I believe is beyond my knowledge to fix:
DEBUG none of the '['ubuntu-desktop', 'kubuntu-desktop', 'xubuntu-core', 'xubuntu-desktop', 'ubuntustudio-desktop', 'mythbuntu-desktop', 'kubuntu-netbook', 'lubuntu-desktop', 'ubuntu-gnome-desktop', 'ubuntu-mate-core', 'ubuntu-mate-desktop', 'ubuntukylin-desktop', 'ubuntu-budgie-desktop']' meta-pkgs installed
2020-05-06 09:52:26,535 DEBUG guessing 'ubuntu-mate-core' as missing meta-pkg

#10

In software & updates, you need to set notify for long term support, validate and close the form. Then execute this single line command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y && update-manager -cd

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