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bitsmack
Asked: 2020-05-19 12:29:43 +0800 CST

Diverging package lists between APT and KDE Discover

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When I boot into Kubuntu 20.04, the Discover application launches and shows me a list of available updates. But when I go to the terminal and do an apt-get update followed by apt-get upgrade these software packages don't appear.

This is a new, stock installation. I haven't even installed git or vim! :)

They all look to be development-related: build-essential, binutils, fakeroot, gcc, etc.

discover None of these packages are installed, at least according to apt:

$ apt-cache policy binutils
binutils:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2.34-6ubuntu1
  Version table:
     2.34-6ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages

Why are the lists different? I don't want conflicting installations between APT and Discover...

package-management kubuntu apt 20.04 discover-software-center

1 Answers

  1. There are a couple of aspects to your question.

    The disparity between what Discover and the terminal show re. updates:

    It's possible that Discover showed you more updates than the terminal: my answer here may be relevant. But I don't use Discover much at all and so the actual reason for the disparity maybe something else.

    Edit: Today, 20200520,

    • on Kubuntu 20.04, I'm offered the same four packages by Discover and by sudo apt full-upgrade (via the terminal): gir1.2-secret-1 liblirc-client0 libsecret-1-0 libsecret-common.
    • on KDE neon, I'm offered the same thirteen packages.

    I'll keep checking future updates to see if there's any divergence.

    The development-related packages:

    Nothing specific to Kubuntu here! For whatever reason, these packages are being pushed out to other *buntu flavors as well. Here's output from Lubuntu 20.04:

    The following NEW packages will be installed:
  binutils binutils-common binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu build-essential dpkg-dev fakeroot g++ g++-9
  gcc gcc-9 libalgorithm-diff-perl libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl libalgorithm-merge-perl libasan5
  libatomic1 libbinutils libc-dev-bin libc6-dev libcc1-0 libcrypt-dev libctf-nobfd0 libctf0
  libdpkg-perl libfakeroot libfile-fcntllock-perl libgcc-9-dev libitm1 liblsan0 libquadmath0
  libstdc++-9-dev libtsan0 libubsan1 linux-headers-5.4.0-31 linux-headers-5.4.0-31-generic
  linux-image-5.4.0-31-generic linux-libc-dev linux-modules-5.4.0-31-generic
  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-31-generic make manpages-dev

    Note the "NEW" in

    The following NEW packages will be installed:

    So, we're getting those packages not by way of updating existing packages.

    To conclude, you can use either route to keep your system updated and to install new software but I still prefer, and recommend, the terminal.

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