[Bug 1960727] Re: When apt holds back updates, it fails to inform the user of the reason

[David Hillman]

For over a decade now, at least, users have continually been puzzled by
this silent refusal.  Again, in most contexts, that indicates a failure
of the interface.

Viewed 1.1M times
https://askubuntu.com/questions/601/the-following-packages-have-been-kept-back-why-and-how-do-i-solve-it

Viewed 62k times
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/38837/what-does-the-following-packages-have-been-kept-back-mean

Viewed 87k times
https://superuser.com/questions/1107334/apt-says-packages-have-been-kept-back-what-to-do/1108268

etc.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1960727

Title:
  When apt holds back updates, it fails to inform the user of the reason

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  Opinion

Bug description:
  In the case where apt refuses to install and holds back certain
  packages, only the following output is produced:

  root at system:/home/admin# apt upgrade
  Reading package lists... Done
  Building dependency tree       
  Reading state information... Done
  Calculating upgrade... Done
  The following packages have been kept back:
    [ List of packages ]
  0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 24 not upgraded.

  
  Missing is any explanation about which package is responsible for apt refusing to perform its job, or even what is the reason for that package being uninstallable.

  This bug leads users to believe that official Ubuntu packages are
  routinely misconstructed, corrupt, or otherwise junk.

  Fix: Instead of apt simply responding "No Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Do
  that", correct the output to include the specific package that has a
  missing or unresolved dependency, so the user a) has confidence that
  the process works correctly and b) can proceed with fixing the
  problem.

  
  This bug is longstanding, so I don't think version details are required, but they follow anyway:

  1) Distributor ID: Ubuntu
  Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS
  Release:        20.04
  Codename:       focal

  2) # apt --version
  apt 2.0.6 (amd64)

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