Ubuntu server holding back on me

[Tom H]

On Thu, Sep 21, 2017 at 4:02 PM, Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've just started using Ubuntu Server on a couple of extra machines.
> I'm a bit puzzled about the situation I see there with respect to
> updates.
>
> When I log in remotely, I see
>
> ...
> 7 packages can be updated.
> 7 updates are security updates.
> ...
>
> But when I try to get the indicated updates, I see:
>
> root at gog:~# apt-get update
> ...
> root at gog:~# apt-get upgrade
> ...
> The following packages have been kept back:
>   linux-generic linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
> 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
>
> And indeed the kernel is at 4.4.0-62, while my non-server installs are at
> 4.4.0-96. Is the holdback related to the "InRelease" status?
>
> Is there any reason I should not get an upgraded kernel, and if so, how do I
> do that.

Yes. "apt-get upgrade" will not install new packages (or delete
already-installed packages).

You need to use "apt-get dist-upgrade" or "apt-get upgrade
--with-new-pkgs" or "apt-get upgrade" with the
"APT::Get::Upgrade-Allow-New" option set to "true".

[Note: "aptitude safe-upgrade" allows the installation of new packages
because the "Aptitude::Safe-Resolver::No-New-Installs" option is set
to "false" by default.]