2018-08-11 Packages have been kept back

The dread of weird messages: run `sudo apt update` and `sudo apt upgrade` and find yourself staring at the cryptic message.

The following packages have been kept back:
  bind9-host dnsutils libbind9-160 libirs160 libisc169 libisccc160 libisccfg160 liblwres160
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 8 not upgraded.

I don’t know how I ended up in this situation. I found something related on Ask Ubuntu.

Ask Ubuntu

sudo apt install bind9-host dnsutils libbind9-160 libirs160 libisc169 libisccc160 libisccfg160 liblwres160
sudo apt-mark auto bind9-host dnsutils libbind9-160 libirs160 libisc169 libisccc160 libisccfg160 liblwres160

The first one forces Debian to install the newest versions and resolves dependencies, but it also marks the packages as manually installed. You typically only want this for the tools you use yourself. That’s why the second command marks all the packages I just installed as installed “automatically”. If no other package needs them, they can be auto-removed.

​#Administration ​#Debian

Comments

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Same situation!

The following packages have been kept back:
  evolution-data-server libebackend-1.2-10 libebook-1.2-19 libebook-contacts-1.2-2 libecal-1.2-19 libedata-book-1.2-25 libedataserver-1.2-23 libedataserverui-1.2-2

Why does this keep happening?

sudo apt install evolution-data-server libebackend-1.2-10 libebook-1.2-19 libebook-contacts-1.2-2 libecal-1.2-19 libedata-book-1.2-25 libedataserver-1.2-23 libedataserverui-1.2-2
sudo apt-mark auto evolution-data-server libebackend-1.2-10 libebook-1.2-19 libebook-contacts-1.2-2 libecal-1.2-19 libedata-book-1.2-25 libedataserver-1.2-23 libedataserverui-1.2-2

– Alex Schroeder 2018-10-06 21:16 UTC

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This post was very helpful to me, thank you.

The Ask Ubuntu link contains another option:

`sudo apt-get --with-new-pkgs upgrade`

This worked for me, for most of the “kept back” packages. I then ran `sudo apt-get install <remaining package list>` and my package install is now in good shape.

– Brian A 2020-01-12 16:40 UTC

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Thanks!

– Alex Schroeder 2020-01-12 20:31 UTC