Ubuntu Phased Updates

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Q: Ubuntu phased updates

Recently, during the normal software upgrade process (i.e., apt upgrade or apt dist-upgrade) I started getting messages like this:

[...]
The following packages have been kept back:
  [...]
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and [...] not upgraded.

What are my options?

A: Phased Updates are a safety feature

  • Some users get the upgraded packages first, and have the ability to report broken package, instead of everybody getting a broken package at once and millions of users scratching their heads.

It’s there for your protection. Don’t try to outsmart it.

  • Kept-back packages due to Phased Updates will automatically resolve themselves, download, and install over a week or so.

Most users should DO NOTHING. It’s not broken. Don’t try to force upgrades. Just be patient and let the system work.

Diagnosis — how to tell if Phased Updates is the culprit:

  • It’s easy. Run apt-cache policy <packagename> on one of your held back packages. Look for the ‘phased’ percentage. It’s only present if the package is currently phasing.
$ apt-cache policy gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0
gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0:
  Installed: 1.20.3-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1.20.3-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 1.20.3-0ubuntu1 500 (phased 40%) <----------------- There it is!
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.20.1-1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages

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