Updater error

JimW · 2016-12-09 23:00

Updater showed 140 updates. So, I selected to install. After downloading I get the error

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
firmware-linux-nonfree: Depends: firmware-misc-nonfree (= 20160824-1~bpo8+1) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: intel-microcode but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: amd64-microcode but it is not going to be installed

and will go no further with any other updates.
What now???

Dai_trying · 2016-12-10 10:51

I would manually run

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

And if you still receive the error message you could try

sudo dash /usr/share/apps/q4os_system/bin/qapt_fix.sh

(and report here if there are errors output from that command) then run the update/upgrade again, hopefully that should fix it.

Last edited by Dai_trying (2016-12-10 10:53)

bin · 2016-12-10 10:55

Given the number of updates showing this looks a bit like an issue I raised a while back where it looks like it wants to install updates from backports.

Dai_trying · 2016-12-10 11:23

Yes, I've had a similar issue in the past but couldn't find the post, maybe I made an additional post to someone else's thread (Bad boy Dai!)

JimW · 2016-12-10 11:55

Dai_trying wrote:

I would manually run
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
And if you still receive the error message you could try
sudo dash /usr/share/apps/q4os_system/bin/qapt_fix.sh
(and report here if there are errors output from that command) then run the update/upgrade again, hopefully that should fix it.

Ok, after the update I did the dist-upgrade and no changes were made. Updater now shows everything up to date as does your updater. Guess something got off-balance there for a while and the manual update/upgrade fixed it. I'll keep an eye on it and if the problem comes back I'll know what to do! (I hope!!)
Thanks Dai!

Dai_trying · 2016-12-10 12:06

You're welcome JimW.

I'm not sure but I think this might happen if there are unsatisfiable dependencies in an update and it will search backports for the dependency and then report the updates from backports. After updating the apt-database the dependency that could not be found (probably due to not being uploaded to repository before apt was last updated) now gets picked up and the backport updates are no longer reported.

I have no proof of this, and it is pretty much a guess based on it happening a couple of times and easily fixed with an update of the db. It is strange that it is the same package (intel-microcode) that this happens to though...

MC · 2016-12-10 12:10

I've seen this happen a few times before when updating using synaptic. At those times, I notice the heading "New In Repository" is listed in the left pane. Then I just ctrl+r (Reload) and it clears out all the errant listings.

q4osteam · 2016-12-12 10:41

JimW wrote:

Updater showed 140 updates. So, I selected to install.

It looks like a quite serious, and unfortunately not easily reproducible, issue. It could arise in a rare confluence moment of the updater checks and automatic background 'apt-get update' process. If updater hits a check at some critical moment, it could incorrectly evaluate backports packages versions as regular updates. We will focus on that and will keep posting here as more info is available.

@JimW
Which updater do you use, and which did show improper updates ?

JimW · 2016-12-13 14:19

q4osteam wrote:

@JimW
Which updater do you use, and which did show improper updates ?

It first showed on the standard package updater with 140. Since I run 4 desktops I left it open on one for a day or two while trying to figure out what was happening. After closing it Dia's updater showed around 180 (not sure of exact number). Could the two be interfering with each other?

Dai_trying · 2016-12-13 19:11

I wouldn't have thought there could be any interference between the two, I have had them both running on one of my machines since I created mine and there have been no signs of this issue for me. But that's not to say there it's not possible, I just haven't seen it yet...

I did have all backports packages installed to my laptop (which included kernel) during a normal update although I didn't notice what it was doing until it was too late to stop it. I usually use the updated kernel but was running one installation with standard kernel for testing and that's the one that got updated.

I'm not sure how I could reproduce this as there was nothing in particular going on at the time, and that installation was only really being used for web browsing and had very little installed to it. I will do a fresh install and wait to see if it happens again.

JimW · 2016-12-13 23:32

Dai - I really didn't think there was interference between the two, just tossed it out as a faint possibility. Since your earlier suggestion I have had no problems. The manual update/upgrade seems to have fixed it. I will keep an eye out and if it happens again I'll let you know.
Like Q4OSteam I have no clue as to how to reproduce the error.

Thanks Dai and Q4OSteam for all of your help!

And I hope everyone has a Very Q4OS Merry Christmas!!!

q4osteam · 2016-12-14 08:12

JimW wrote:

Since I run 4 desktops I left it open on one for a day or two while trying to figure out what was happening.

Did all 4 desktop show the same behavior ?

Would be helpful for us, if you would post some debug info from some of affected system, if possible, please run in terminal:
$ sudo tar czf dpkg-logs.tgz /var/log/apt/ /var/log/dpkg*
$ reportq4
and post generated debug files 'dpkg-logs.tgz' and 'qreport.tar.gz' to support@q4os.org or attach them here.

JimW · 2016-12-14 14:56

q4osteam wrote:

and post generated debug files 'dpkg-logs.tgz' and 'qreport.tar.gz' to support@q4os.org or attach them here.

Attachment exceeds max file size.

Guess I'll email them to you.

q4osteam · 2016-12-14 16:03

JimW wrote:

Guess I'll email them to you.

Files received, thanks. We will post here some result as soon as it's available.

Did multiple of your Q4OS desktops show the same behavior ?

JimW · 2016-12-15 00:08

q4osteam wrote:

Did multiple of your Q4OS desktops show the same behavior ?

Desktops as in Configuration - "Multiple Desktops" - I never saw any difference in the Updater reports, regardless of which desktop.

q4osteam · 2016-12-15 01:32

JimW wrote:

Desktops as in Configuration - "Multiple Desktops" - I never saw any difference in the Updater reports, regardless of which desktop.

Ah yes, we have misunderstood you use 4 desktop computers Thank you for all reports.

bin · 2016-12-15 14:50

Typically this issue can be made to appear installing from backports via CLI as below - you'll notice it say 197 not upgraded at the end.

robin@mopsy ~ $ sudo apt-get -t jessie-backports install rawtherapee
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a libiptcdata0 rawtherapee-data
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a libiptcdata0 rawtherapee rawtherapee-data
0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 197 not upgraded.

Dai_trying · 2016-12-16 10:07

I had this issue this morning on one of my systems, I was told there were 97 updates so decided to investigate before updating. I ignored my updater and went to command line where apt-get -s dist-upgrade showed the backport packages would be installed, I then ran apt-get update and afterwards was informed by both my updater and apt-get -s dist-upgrade there was just one update and it was a security update.

dpkg & reportq4 attached (removed as already downloaded)

Last edited by Dai_trying (2016-12-16 11:04)

q4osteam · 2016-12-16 15:34

@Dai_trying
Thanks for that very helpful post, we have downloaded debug files and going to check them.

q4osteam · 2016-12-18 09:57

We guess, we have discovered a key mechanism of this issue. If 'apt-get update' is accidentally interrupted, for example during reboot, the default backports pinning value 100 is sometimes increased to 500, so backports packages versions get the priority over the regular packages versions. This could be checked by this command:

$ apt-cache policy | grep -iv "Translation-" | grep -e "\-backports/main" -e "\-backports/contrib" -e "\-backports/non-free" | grep -i "Packages" | grep -i "debian"

This command should show, in normal situation, backports pinning value '100'.

It's very difficult to reproduce the issue. In some rare cases, it could be reproduced by manually interrupting 'apt-get update' be 'ctrl+c' key press. The 'apt-cache policy' command above can be afterwards used to verify backports pinning.

We are still not able to figure out the exact cause of the pinning disruption. We can preliminary conclude, this should be a Debian, not Q4OS specific, bug. We will continue to research this issue and keep posting here.

We have already released a fix/workaround for Q4OS Updater Manager, it simply performs 'apt-get update' prior to upgrade, if detects backports pinning 500.

If anybody would have any related findings, please keep posting here, your help is highly appreciated.

Dai_trying · 2016-12-19 00:31

While coding a fix for this into my apt-updater I think I have found the cause of this, or rather I can reproduce the error.
While off-line run sudo apt-get update and it will tell you it has failed in the usual manner, then check available updates and the updates from backports repo will show (and install if you instruct apt to upgrade).
I have only tested this on one machine but it produces the same results whether I update apt from my updater or the command line (after exiting apt-updater).

Hope this helps

EDIT:
Also tested another machine running Q4OS same result
Also tested same machine running Debian Jessie (mate) and same result

Definitely reproducible.

Last edited by Dai_trying (2016-12-19 00:45)

MC · 2016-12-19 01:56

I tested Dia's off-line method and can concur...it listed about 116 "upgrades". Went back on-line; update and d-u, all is well...back to normal.

(I'm guessing...when this occurs during normal on-line use, it's probably caused by an interruption somewhere on the web at that moment.)

JimW · 2016-12-19 02:01

It is very possible that is what happened to mine. I have a flakey DSL that often drops off for no reason. (same thing with two different modem/routers). It often drops offline when I switch websites! So, it is possible that my DSL dropped and an update attempted while it was not connected.

q4osteam · 2016-12-19 08:12

Dai_trying wrote:

While coding a fix for this into my apt-updater I think I have found the cause of this, or rather I can reproduce the error.
While off-line run sudo apt-get update and it will tell you it has failed in the usual manner, then check available updates and the updates from backports repo will show (and install if you instruct apt to upgrade).
I have only tested this on one machine but it produces the same results whether I update apt from my updater or the command line (after exiting apt-updater).
Hope this helps

You have hit a target, thanks for that, excellent work We are convinced, this is the right reason and now will be finally able to fix it definitely.

Unattended upgrades should be immune to this issue, it will refuse upgrades from backports, if an 'apt-get update' occurs off-line. This is due to missing keyring, as it can't be refreshed by off-line 'apt-get update'.

q4osteam · 2016-12-26 09:57

The issue is now fixed in Q4OS Update Manager 1.6-a2.

Q4OS Forum

#1 2016-12-09 23:00

Updater error

#2 2016-12-10 10:51

Re: Updater error

#3 2016-12-10 10:55

Re: Updater error

#4 2016-12-10 11:23

Re: Updater error

#5 2016-12-10 11:55

Re: Updater error

#6 2016-12-10 12:06

Re: Updater error

#7 2016-12-10 12:10

Re: Updater error

#8 2016-12-12 10:41

Re: Updater error

#9 2016-12-13 14:19

Re: Updater error

#10 2016-12-13 19:11

Re: Updater error

#11 2016-12-13 23:32

Re: Updater error

#12 2016-12-14 08:12

Re: Updater error

#13 2016-12-14 14:56

Re: Updater error

#14 2016-12-14 16:03

Re: Updater error

#15 2016-12-15 00:08

Re: Updater error

#16 2016-12-15 01:32

Re: Updater error

#17 2016-12-15 14:50

Re: Updater error

#18 2016-12-16 10:07

Re: Updater error

#19 2016-12-16 15:34

Re: Updater error

#20 2016-12-18 09:57

Re: Updater error

#21 2016-12-19 00:31

Re: Updater error

#22 2016-12-19 01:56

Re: Updater error

#23 2016-12-19 02:01

Re: Updater error

#24 2016-12-19 08:12

Re: Updater error

#25 2016-12-26 09:57

Re: Updater error

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