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Abhay Patil
Asked: 2020-09-30 11:27:19 +0800 CST

The following packages have been kept back - safe to force install?

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On doing sudo apt upgrade, I get the following error (or warning, not sure what it is):

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  libnvidia-cfg1-440 libnvidia-compute-440 libnvidia-compute-440:i386 libnvidia-decode-440 libnvidia-decode-440:i386 libnvidia-encode-440 libnvidia-encode-440:i386
  libnvidia-extra-440 libnvidia-fbc1-440 libnvidia-fbc1-440:i386 libnvidia-gl-440 libnvidia-gl-440:i386 libnvidia-ifr1-440 libnvidia-ifr1-440:i386
  nvidia-compute-utils-440 nvidia-driver-440 nvidia-kernel-common-440 nvidia-kernel-source-440 nvidia-utils-440 xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-440
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 20 not upgraded.

I found the solution (run sudo apt install <package-name>). I also found out why it does so. It is because the newer version has unmet dependencies.

But my doubt is, is it safe to do sudo apt install <package-name>, or will the system take care of it in a few days. If so, then how many days would it take to resolve this on its own?

EDIT 1:
My current Nvidia Drivers are 440.

package-management upgrade apt

1 Answers

  1. I solved safely with apt full-upgrade.

    There are normally four reasons why you may see this message:

    • The upgrade procedure needs to add packages: Use --with-new-pkgs upgrade. Without this, apt upgrade won't add or remove new packages.

    • The upgrade procedure needs to remove packages: Double-check your apt configuration, which packages will be removed, analyze the possible consequences, check your backups… and only then: apt full-upgrade. Will add or remove packages as necessary to complete the upgrade.

      apt full-upgrade is only dangerous if you have bad repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list*. It's good to be aware that full-upgrade upgrades all packages, but with the default repositories, that should be fine. Not using full-upgrade could be dangerous, as you might miss security updates.source

      apt full-upgrade can remove as well as add packages, but it is not really dangerous. Any package installation command can cause serious damage if you have problems in your sources.list file! A regular apt upgrade command will install any package from any software source that is enabled; full-upgrade is not unique in this way.source

    • Relevant packages are marked as held back: sudo apt-mark showmanual | grep nvidia (for e.g.), one of the listed packages are the trouble ones listed by apt upgrade? In this case should be analyzed who/why these packages were marked like that.

    • It depends on packages or versions that are not available: This might be a temporary issue or an apt misconfiguration.

    Other notes

    • Unsure about using full-upgrade? Try it with --dry-run. From apt manual:

      -s, --simulate, --just-print, --dry-run, --recon, --no-act: No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur based on the current system state but do not actually change the system.

    • dist-upgrade will not update the whole distribution (like do-release-upgrade). It is a misnomer. full-upgrade is equivalent. Avoid using dist-upgrade.

    • Use apt command, the friendly alternative to apt-get.

    Sometimes sudo ubuntu-drivers install might try to downgrade your NVIDIA drivers. I'm not sure why.

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