How to block Ubuntu from upgrading to a newer version?

Question

So, I have Ubuntu 14.04.2 and when I type the command "sudo apt-get upgrade", it upgrades my Ubuntu to 14.04.3.

I don't want 14.04.3 because it has problems for me such as the infamous login loop and the Ubuntu Software Center saying "Software can't be installed or removed because the authentication service is not available" (But that's not the question that I'm looking for the answer). I had none of these problems with 14.04.2 and I had to reinstall it everytime I accidentally upgraded it to 14.04.3.

I need to use the "sudo apt-get upgrade" command to upgrade complete the installation of Mesa-11.1.2 and other stuff but I don't want to upgrade my system to 14.04.3.

So, again, my question is, how do I block Ubuntu 14.04.2 from upgrading to 14.04.3 so that I can use the command "sudo apt-get upgrade" without upgrading to 14.04.3?

Thanks in advance!

Possible duplicate of Software can't be installed or removed because the authentication service is not available — mchid, Feb 15 '16 at 09:00
Mesa and kernel will not be upgraded, if you do not do it manually. You will get version number 14.04.3, but it will not the same as you do a fresh install of 14.04.3. — Pilot6, Feb 15 '16 at 09:21
@mchid But I just installed Mesa-11.1.2 from the .tar.gz file downloaded from ftp://ftp.freedesktop.org/pub/mesa/ so what do you mean by 11.1.2 is not available for 14.04? And my question is not a duplicate of http://askubuntu.com/questions/549896/software-cant-be-installed-or-removed-because-the-authentication-service-is-not because that's not the point of my question. — Is this name taken, Feb 15 '16 at 11:11
An upgraded 14.04 is 14.04.3 (soon 14.04.4). You seem to have misunderstood the meaning of the last digit. The problems you have encountered are probably related to something else. — Gunnar Hjalmarsson, Feb 16 '16 at 03:21

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 16 '16 at 03:02

1

You could try doing it piece-meal by specifying after upgrade what program you want to upgrade:

sudo apt-get upgrade yourprogram

answered Feb 16 '16 at 03:02

musdhtkn

11

score -1 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Ubuntu will automatically upgrade to a newer version once it becomes available (e.g. 14.04.2 -> 14.04.3) by 3 alternative ways.

by upgrading normally (as anyone would do) through Update Manager
by running sudo apt-get dist-upgrade or sudo do-release-upgrade on a Terminal window
by running sudo apt-get upgrade, as you described above

In order to stop Ubuntu from upgrading to a newer release accidentally, you can do it in 3 ways:

Whenever Update Manager prompts you to upgrade to a newer release, install ONLY the updates.
Avoid running any commands such as: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade or sudo do-release-upgrade / sudo do-release-upgrade -d.* (Note: The -d switch is for upgrading to an Ubuntu release which is under development.)
If you want to run sudo apt-get upgrade in order to upgrade a package, you should better consider using sudo apt-get install your-package . (This will not conflict with older/existing/installed versions of the package. I have tested it and it works very well.)

For example, if you want to upgrade Firefox 55 to Firefox 57 (Quantum), you should run the following command in a Terminal window: sudo apt-get install firefox .

Leaving 14.04.3 aside, you can upgrade directly to 14.04.5, which is the latest point release of Trusty Tahr. It may ran slow on my PC (do not think that is is generally slow, my PC is slow), but it served me well for the 2-3 months that I was using it. It never had an issue. Just download it from http://releases.ubuntu.com/trusty/, burn it on a DVD and during installation, select Upgrade Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS to Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS.

How to block Ubuntu from upgrading to a newer version?

2 Answers2