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DisgruntledGoat
Asked: 2012-12-31 17:23:45 +0800 CST

apt-get upgrade says sudo needs to be upgraded, is this correct?

  • 772

I have a Ubuntu Server running 10.04 - to be precise, Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS according to lsb_release -a.

I just ran sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade and got this output:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  linux-generic linux-image-generic
The following packages will be upgraded:
  sudo
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Need to get 328kB of archives.
After this operation, 12.3kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

It seemed weird to me that only one package would need to be upgraded in a new version. I looked for a changelog on the Ubuntu site and the most recent one is for the version I have, 10.04.4, and makes no mention of sudo at all.

Is all correct here or is there something I should be worried about?

10.04

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    The update to sudo you have there is just a regular update announced in this mail. To verify what versions of sudo are installed and available, check out the power of apt-cache policy (this works for any package), e.g.:

    $ apt-cache policy sudo
sudo:
  Installed: 1.8.3p1-1ubuntu3.3
  Candidate: 1.8.3p1-1ubuntu3.3
  Version table:
 *** 1.8.3p1-1ubuntu3.3 0
        500 http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.8.3p1-1ubuntu3.2 0
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main amd64 Packages
     1.8.3p1-1ubuntu3 0
        500 http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages

    From your question I also assume that you would have expected more updates for a point release. Well, 10.04.4 or a .5 if that would be planned, is not a real "release" like a complete new version of Ubuntu to where you get a whole pile of new updates. Instead, you've already received the updates during the last months and once the release team determines it's time for a new point release, ISOs get updated as a "point release". The update for sudo you got is just an additional update to the 10.04.4 release. It will not be included in any new point release, as .4 is the last one in the 10.04 series.

    Please refer to these links for more information:

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  2. In fact you don't need to worry, although it's a little bit strange that just one package is to be upgraded, but as this package is sudo, maybe upgrading it and then performing sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade again you will be presented to more packages to upgrade.

    If you remain in doubt check Software Sources and /etc/apt/sources.list to see if the repositories that you use are enabled.

    • 0

  3. sudo is a package just like any other and occasionally a newer version needs to be updated. I suggest you:

    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade
    • 0