[Bug 2138772] Re: do-release-upgrade fails with "Your python3 install is corrupted"

[Ulli Horlacher]

/var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log was a helpful hint!
This logfile is neither mentioned with do-release-upgrade --help nor in the man-page.

root at obertux:~# do-release-upgrade

Reading cache

Checking package manager

Can not upgrade

Your python3 install is corrupted. Please fix the '/usr/bin/python3'
symlink.
=== Command detached from window (Wed Jan 21 16:05:14 2026) ===

root at obertux:/var/log/dist-upgrade# ls -l main.log 
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1090 Jan 21 16:05 main.log

root at obertux:/var/log/dist-upgrade# cat main.log 
2026-01-21 16:05:11,916 INFO Using config files '['./DistUpgrade.cfg.jammy', '/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.d/ubuntu-advantage-upgrades.cfg']'
2026-01-21 16:05:11,916 INFO uname information: 'Linux obertux 5.15.0-164-generic #174-Ubuntu SMP Fri Nov 14 20:25:16 UTC 2025 x86_64'
2026-01-21 16:05:12,281 INFO apt version: '2.4.14'
2026-01-21 16:05:12,281 INFO python version: '3.10.12 (main, Jan  8 2026, 06:52:19) [GCC 11.4.0]'
2026-01-21 16:05:12,285 INFO release-upgrader version '24.04.27' started
2026-01-21 16:05:12,289 INFO locale: 'en_US' 'UTF-8'
2026-01-21 16:05:12,371 DEBUG Using 'DistUpgradeViewText' view
2026-01-21 16:05:12,404 DEBUG enable dpkg --force-overwrite
2026-01-21 16:05:12,432 DEBUG creating statefile: '/var/log/dist-upgrade/apt-clone_system_state.tar.gz'
2026-01-21 16:05:14,351 DEBUG lsb-release: 'jammy'
2026-01-21 16:05:14,351 DEBUG _pythonSymlinkCheck run
2026-01-21 16:05:14,352 DEBUG python3 symlink points to: '/bin/python3.10', but expected is 'python3.10' or '/usr/bin/python3.10'
2026-01-21 16:05:14,352 ERROR pythonSymlinkCheck() failed, aborting


But I have:

root at obertux:/usr/bin# ls -l python3*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      10 Jan 21 09:53 python3 -> python3.10
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     960 Jan 25  2023 python3-futurize
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     964 Jan 25  2023 python3-pasteurize
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5937672 Jan  8 07:52 python3.10

root at obertux:~# type -a python3
python3 is /usr/bin/python3

I then changed the python3 symlink:

root at obertux:/usr/bin# ls -l python3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Jan 21 16:07 python3 -> /usr/bin/python3.10

but with same error result.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2138772

Title:
  do-release-upgrade fails with "Your python3 install is corrupted"

Status in ubuntu-release-upgrader package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  
  I tried to upgrade from Ubuntu 22.04.5 to 24.04 with do-release-upgrade but it fails with:

  Can not upgrade

  Your python3 install is corrupted. Please fix the '/usr/bin/python3'
  symlink.
  === Command detached from window (Tue Jan 20 14:06:37 2026) ===

  
  My python3 seems to be ok:

  root at obertux:~# ls -l /usr/bin/python3
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Jan 20 14:43 /usr/bin/python3 -> /etc/alternatives/python3

  root at obertux:~# ls -l /etc/alternatives/python3
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Jan 20 14:43 /etc/alternatives/python3 -> /usr/bin/python3.10

  root at obertux:~# ls -l /usr/bin/python3.10
  -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5937672 Jan  8 07:52 /usr/bin/python3.10

  root at obertux:~# /usr/bin/python3 --version
  Python 3.10.12

  I run "apt reinstall python3.10" but do-release-upgrade still fails.

  I have reported it also at
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-release-
  upgrader/+bug/1825655 but this ticket is 7 years old and belongs to
  Ubuntu 18

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