Blocked updates in Kubuntu
Now it’s more than two months since my transition from Fedora to Kubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). I am enjoying trouble free running on my desktop as well as EEEPc 1000HE since then.
The one thing I am following regularly is, keeping the system uptodate using the default package manager, KPackageKit. Everything was going fine till yesterday when it started showing me 4 blocked updates. I was wondering if the updates are blocked, why are they being shown in the first place.
There was no way to remove them from the list and the KPackageKit just stuck there.
After searching for a while, it was clear that this is a issue with KPackageKit which cannot update the packages which has some other dependencies and straightaway marks them as blocked.
The only solution to get rid of these blocked updates is to do the command line upgrade by doing:
$ sudo apt-get update
followed by
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
HTH
You can find them in your Sympatic Package manager…I can’t remember if I downloaded Symaptic or not (it will be in your add/remove)…I know it is standard with Ubuntu…But either way…I found Sympatic manager…at the top of Symaptic it has an option to slelct all updates…
I did, and it included those blocked ones!…I think they are blocked as they were more for Ubuntu, but either way It loaded it and there were no problems!…Hope that helps!
PS…
I also dounloaded Ubuntu’s Download manager as it is way more easy to use and works just as well in Kubuntu…And has all the same add/remove programs!
thanks so much, i fixed it on Kubuntu 9.04.
when I asked the IT guys at work which distro they would recommend for me, they suggested Kubuntu even though their own family and friends are on Mandriva and PCLinuxOS because of community help like this. They said that since Ive always fiddled with Windows, I could stay oblivious to the OS and be very happy or be more hands on and Google for help. Your blog was on teh first page results for the 4 blocked updates problem.
One year later and Ive learned how to install all those things taht dont come with a general install, fix audio problems and such through Google, forums and blogs.
I have gone from simply reinstalling when I get in a panic, to finding the problem online and copy pasting the right commeand inthe terminal to actually understanding the whys and hows a little better.
With a desktop dual boot and a netbook running Linux at home now, I feel confident enough to install a dual boot on my parents computer this summer.
Thats thanks to the help on the forums and folks like you.
Its very appreciated.
You suggested:
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
But this will start a distribution upgrade if one is available (e.g. from Kubuntu 9.04 to Kubuntu 9.10 when it’s released)
What you should use is
sudo apt-get upgrade
which will just upgrade currently installed packages, not the whole distribution.
HTH
@diana
Thanks for taking time to post a comment.
But the man page for apt-get doesn’t suggest what you are saying. dist-upgrade handles changing dependencies with new version of some package. This is mainly useful when a new kernel is available. KPackageManager fails miserably in such cases.