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I have many Ubuntu server instances, it for the 20.04 version. To keep all updated I always use

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Suddenly just for one instance it did do an upgrade from 20.04 to 20.10. I don't have idea why. Therefore I have now problems with the repositories as mentioned here:

In the comments of the previous post. Exists the following:

some desktop on your server? 
grep Prompt /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

About the question, I had this experience:

That happened for all the instances and was fixed. But again this undesired upgrade just happened just one instance.

And about the grep Prompt /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades command it returns Prompt=normal

  • Why did this undesired upgrade from 20.04 to 20.10 happened?
  • How configure Ubuntu to avoid repeat that scenario?.

I had many Ubuntu servers based with the 18.04 version and I never had this experience about an undesired upgrade to 20.04. Well, in that case the VirtualBox: Ubuntu Server loads GUI for Login never happened because neither Erlang nor RabbitMQ were installed.

Manuel Jordan
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    Does this answer your question? Can I skip over releases when upgrading? . 20.10 is EOL. You have to upgrade to 21.04, then 21.10 and wait for 22.04 LTS. Setting Prompt=normal on LTS is bad idea, use Prompt=lts. – N0rbert Dec 31 '21 at 13:37
  • @N0rbert "20.10 is EOL" I thought if is higher than 20.04 it should be the inverse - I mean 20.04 EOL and 20.10 the current/latest support version - " Prompt=normal " I never edited that - so it is already configured from the beginning - how change that setting? I am assuming release-upgrades is a file and I can use "nano" - Am I correct? – Manuel Jordan Dec 31 '21 at 14:37
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    Why did this undesired upgrade from 20.04 to 20.10 happened? A release-upgrade requires new apt source data. That data is fetched by the do-release-upgrade script. Nothing on your system will trigger that script (go ahead, look for yourself). Either a human admin unwisely installed non-Ubuntu software software that triggered the do-release-upgrade script, or a human admin (perhaps mistakenly) directly-or-indirectly launched the do-release-upgrade script. – user535733 Dec 31 '21 at 15:30
  • Ubuntu 20.04 is a LTS or long-term-support upgrade so is still supported, and Ubuntu tools only release-upgrade when specifically ran, and will only upgrade to a supported release, thus that's not been to 20.10 for since July-2021 so what you're saying makes no sense unless your system was badly misconfigured. What you're describing is not possible (groovy repositories aren't present if you look without force/misconfiguring. – guiverc Dec 31 '21 at 21:05
  • @guiverc I don't have idea why that instance has normal and not lts how the rest of instances. I've never changed that configuration, and so far I didn't know about the existence of this release-upgrades file. Do you have idea if some program internal of Ubuntu could change that setting? – Manuel Jordan Dec 31 '21 at 23:07
  • I'm not aware of any programs within Ubuntu that make changes like that; except where directed by user command. It's usually the result of users with sudo access copy/pasting a command into a terminal without fully understanding the consequences of their action; ie. after a specific goal but pasting a command that does something different to what they intended. – guiverc Jan 01 '22 at 00:01

1 Answers1

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Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is supported until 2025 for free, then for 2030 with paid ESM.

Having Prompt=normal on LTS is bad idea. Currently 20.10 is EOL.

To prevent upgrades from LTS to non-LTS versions you have to edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=lts here by using any text-editor like nano.

For release list see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases and https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle .

N0rbert
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  • If you can add a link where the schedule of each release is available would be great. Thank you – Manuel Jordan Dec 31 '21 at 15:08
  • I confirmed that all the rest of instances have lts - until now I don't have idea why that instance has normal. I've never changed that configuration, and so far I didn't know about the existence of this release-upgrades file. Do you have idea if some program internal of Ubuntu could change that setting? – Manuel Jordan Dec 31 '21 at 17:24