lsb_release -a returns nothing, want to upgrade, but can't

Question

    No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu GNU/Linux testing/unstable
Release:    testing/unstable
Codename:   n/a

I have had this version for a few years now and would like to upgrade it to 22.04 lts.

    sudo do-release-upgrade -d
    Checking for a new Ubuntu release
    Upgrades to the development release are only 
    available from the latest supported release.

deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/adoptopenjdk-archive-keyring.gpg] https://adoptopenjdk.jfrog.io/adoptopenjdk/deb hirsute main

What can I do?

Big question: What did you do to bring your system to this state - because it's not the default. Maybe you should just do a fresh reinstall. — Artur Meinild, Jul 13 '23 at 13:52
Everything is working fine, I don't want to spend lots of time on this. — mrSuperEvening, Jul 13 '23 at 14:06
"Ubuntu GNU/Linux testing/unstable" means not an official supported Ubuntu. Is it old? Because the last time I saw this was ... at least 10 years ago. "Upgrade to 22.04"... is only possible if you current system is 20.04. All other release prior to 22.04 are dead. And 22.04 would have shown a Codename. I also think you probably need to reinstall but do wait for others to chime in ;) — Rinzwind, Jul 13 '23 at 14:23
From an old question of yours, you were running 21.04 in March, 2022. Perhaps some version numbers (kernel and / or packages) could help us date your current situation. Which kernel are you running? uname -a . I agree with the other comments that you should reinstall. — Doug Smythies, Jul 13 '23 at 14:35
deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/adoptopenjdk-archive-keyring.gpg] https://adoptopenjdk.jfrog.io/adoptopenjdk/deb hirsute main — mrSuperEvening, Jul 14 '23 at 08:42
@mrSuperEvening please include output of cat /etc/os-release in your question. Thanks. — Artur Meinild, Aug 01 '23 at 09:59
Your comment indicates you are running Ubuntu hirsute (21.04) which went EOL over 2 years ago. — Organic Marble, Aug 01 '23 at 12:30
Ok it seems you somehow have overwritten the file /cat/os-release with something else. — Artur Meinild, Aug 01 '23 at 12:57
Everything is working fine, I don't want to spend lots of time on this - A fresh install is very fast. Once you install all your programs, you should be good to go. Alternatively, you can use the USB installer to upgrade your existing version of Ubuntu — Archisman Panigrahi, Aug 01 '23 at 18:37

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 03 '23 at 07:43

This answer will help you restore your botched /etc/os-release file (which is actually a symlink to /usr/lib/os-release).

From your kernel version, and your previous questions, it's evident that your system is actually running Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute Hippo). This release is now end-of-life, and you should upgrade to a supported release ASAP.

For unknown reasons, you have overwritten your /etc/os-release file with invalid contents - let's fix that.

Open the file in an editor (like nano) with root privileges:

sudo nano /etc/os-release

Replace the entire contents of the file with this:

NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="21.04 (Hirsute Hippo)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 21.04"
VERSION_ID="21.04"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=hirsute
UBUNTU_CODENAME=hirsute

Save and exit.

Now when you run lsb_release -a it should show:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 21.04
Release:        21.04
Codename:       hirsute

To upgrade your current installation now, please see this Q&A.

lsb_release -a returns nothing, want to upgrade, but can't

1 Answers1