Unable to upgrade from Ubuntu 16 to 18

Question

I want to update Ubuntu from 16 to 18. However, I have a few packages held back that I need not to be upgraded.

I tried running the following commands, but I get the error that the above packages that I need to not be upgraded are kept back:

# apt-get update
# apt-get upgrade -y
# apt-get dist-upgrade    
The following packages have been kept back:
  mailerq mailerq-5.13 mailerq-5.8
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
do-release-upgrade
Checking for a new Ubuntu release
Please install all available updates for your release before upgrading

By Ubuntu 16 (no such release) do you mean Ubuntu Core 16? It's uses the snap application programs as Ubuntu Core 18 does (as they both use snap packages only) so such an error should not exist. Are you sure you're using 16 and not 16.04 (which is a different product!) — guiverc, Oct 29 '21 at 09:04
Does this answer your question? Can't upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 to newer release 16.04 ended community support back in April. Since that deadline, there is no supported upgrade path unless you are on ESM. I suggest a clean install of the desired supported release. — Nmath, Oct 29 '21 at 09:22
Does this answer your question? How to install software or upgrade from an old unsupported release? — karel, Oct 29 '21 at 09:38
Does this answer your question? How to prevent updating of a specific package? — karel, Nov 02 '21 at 06:58

Will · Answer 1 · 2021-10-29T16:55:21.183

I would advise a fresh install. Back everything up, and start from scratch. Even if you’re following an upgrade path, things can go wrong so you would still need good backups.

As you’re still using a 5 year old distribution (ie I assume you don’t like installing an os any more frequently than necessary), I’d suggest installing 20.04 LTS which will have full support and updates until April 2025 (4 years remaining). Even 18.04.6 LTS will only have full support for less than 2 remaining years, so you’ll have a further upgrade to do before very long. It makes sense to go for the more recent release now and benefit from the longer support.

Unable to upgrade from Ubuntu 16 to 18

do-release-upgrade

1 Answers1