Two packages 'kept back' after latest apt update on 22.04

[Chris Green]

On Sat, Jul 30, 2022 at 10:52:07AM +1000, Karl Auer wrote:
> On Fri, 2022-07-29 at 17:03 +0200, Oliver Grawert wrote:
> > this is the new (since 21.10 IIRC) "phasing" feature [1] of the
> > ubuntu archive
> > 
> 
> I've been seeing that message for a lot longer than that. This question
> was posed twelve years ago:
> 
> https://askubuntu.com/questions/601/the-following-packages-have-been-kept-back-why-and-how-do-i-solve-it 
> 
> 
> I'm not 100% sure I know all the ins and outs, so take the following
> with a large grain of salt! And if anyone with more knowledge that I
> wants to try a better explanation, please do.
> 
> If I understand correctly, the message means that installing a new
> package (or upgrading an existing one) will make changes that affect
> more than just that package. For example:
> 
> packageA needs packageX.1
> packageB also needs packageX.1
> 
> At this point, packageA, packageB and packageX.1 are all installed and
> life is good.
> 
> Now you want to upgrade packageA, but the upgrade requires packageX.2.
> Replacing packageX.1 might affect packageB, so apt-get doesn't do that
> - and tells you that packageB and packageX.2 have been held back.
> 
> Often happens with new kernels. The solution is usually to explicitly
> install the packages (apt install ...), possibly requesting a dry run
> first (use the -s option) if you have any doubts.
> 
> It's interesting that in the OP's case explicitly installing those
> packages didn't work - what does "didn't sort things out" mean? What
> did the install command say about those packages?
> 
I think the 'phasing' explanation is correct in this case and is only
happening since 22.04.  

as you say a 'held back' message is usually an indication of difficult
dependencies that can be fixed by 'apt full-upgrade' (0r 'apt_get
dist-upgrade') but that doesn't work in this case.  If you explicitly
try an 'apt install' of the packages in question you get a dependency
error.

As the 'in between' poster said it's a new policy/idea and will be
resolved as updates arrive.

-- 
Chris Green