If you're using Ubuntu 22.04 (or an official flavor), you might want to put off updating for a few days.

[KGIII]

Yes I'm aware. Mint has had their problems, as have many other distros out there. Nothing new. Mint needed to fix their procedures and they did. If I had legitimate concerns about Mint I wouldn't be using it today.

This should get sorted soon enough. I'm hopeful that Google News picked up this thread, but they probably didn't. Folks should be aware of the risk. My little site has some readership, but not enough to matter.

I wish I had a bigger audience, as I'd have written and published a news article. This is, in my opinion, pretty darned 'major' and should be announced by one of the big sites. As much as I like Ubuntu, this should be news.

As @KGIII said....all this will blow over. Relax. Don't panic. turn off update notifications for a couple of days and elect to watch this thread. Find something else to do with those idle fingers.

It's Linux. It happens. We're using a distro largely put together by humans and humans make mistakes.

As @Condobloke says, it's gonna get fixed. It happens.

Also, if you want, you can probably write to Canonical and get your money refunded. So, you've got that going for you!

I do think that it has been quite a while since Ubuntu had a breaking upgrade. I kinda think I recall one from back in 2008 or 2009? I think that one broke the boot cycle, even worse than I think this one is. If I understand this one correctly, you might be able to recover by just running upgrade again in recovery mode.

Considering how much money I have invested, I'll consider it a good return on investment! I kid! I kid!

Heck, even Microsoft has had updates that broke stuff - and folks legit pay for that. LOL

 

[Deleted member 147986]

Heck, even Microsoft has had updates that broke stuff - and folks legit pay for that. LOL

Windows updates break most things every time it's inconvenient. Enjoy using windows.

 

[guiverc]

In the link posted by @guiverc, (brilliant find by the way @guiverc) it shows a list of the apps/items it wanted to REMOVE !....Seriously, would you go ahead and click Apply ?.......even if you were three sheets to the wind (drunk) would you ??!!

I really do hope not.

I've seen numerous reports of this issue, on IRC firstly, askubuntu etc. In those reports it was people seeking help from others, this thread on this site is the first I've seen where people are trying to preemptively help others instead of just themselves.

I've had problems with my primary PC recently with mantic, where I've only been able to use 3 of my 5 screens, thus I resorted to using another box as my online portal, leaving my primary PC free to explore that. I even had that issue appear on a jammy daily ISO test prior to this upgrade; thus I was fearful that issue would impact my system (removal of desktops was not a concern of mine!).

( the Lubuntu jammy daily has flipped between 5.19 & 6.2 kernel, casper version changes etc; some being changes related to -proposed & build options, but it's not been the smoothest; and I'm only using Lubuntu as example (it's not alone) as its what I know best )

I did INTENTIONALLY hit the Y to accept the changes; though from the appearance of packages & me finally answering Y to accept changes, my machine may have sat for a long time (maybe even an hour!). FYI: Another users asking for help on IRC may have helped me to hit "Y" too possibly.

In the end the desktop packages changes didn't really interest me (I knew I could fix that easily! and what occurs to me maybe helpful in helping others) but at the time my only interest was if my 2nd GPU would remain working & I'd get all five screens operational. After re-installing my desktop meta packages (ubuntu-desktop xubuntu-desktop lubuntu-desktop) my system rebooted normally with all my monitors usable

If I wasn't involved with the Ubuntu project as heavily; NO I would NOT have hit the Y I did... at least NOT on my primary PC anyway ! (it's dual boot, mantic & jammy & I already have a [minor] issue currently with mantic so was not intending to lose my jammy system from its peak-operational-performance)

 

[Condobloke]

@Insomniac ...we need a 'sarcasm' button !!

 

[KGIII]

Enjoy using windows.

It's funny you mention that...

I'm at an impass... I need a Windows device (or a tablet/phone which sucks) to manage some of my music hardware.

I haven't used Windows since 2007. The last Windows I used wasn't even 7 - it was Vista SP1 or whatever it was at the time.

But...

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy a Windows computer.

I do not look forward to this, but there's no way to do it in Linux or even Apple's MacOS.

My choice is continue using a phone with a crappy app or get Windows on a device. I'm thinking an eBay refurbished laptop that at least has Win11 on it. But, I've put this off for like two years and just kept using a phone to manage the device.

 

[Condobloke]

@KGIII ...can you make do with a VM ?...will that work with windows ?

 

[KGIII]

@Insomniac ...we need a 'sarcasm' button !!

It's generally considered sarcasm if you use "/s" at the appropriate spot.

It's the effective 'sarcasm tag' as accepted by a wide portion of the 'net.

But, I think we're all on the same page here - jokes and barbs included. It's Ubuntu's chance to be the laughingstock - and rightfully so.

I think this is important...

this thread on this site is the first I've seen where people are trying to preemptively help others instead of just themselves.

That says a great deal about Linux.org.

I truly would have been 'better off' to write this as an article for my site and hopefully capitalize on the traffic.

We're a good crew here.

 

[Condobloke]

My apt update etc looks like this at the moment.....my software sources are set to default

brian@brian-desktop:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
[sudo] password for brian:
Hit:1 https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com stable InRelease
Hit:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease [110 kB]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease [119 kB]
Ign:5 http://packages.linuxmint.com victoria InRelease
Hit:6 http://packages.linuxmint.com victoria Release
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease [109 kB]
Fetched 338 kB in 3s (131 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
4 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
language-pack-gnome-en language-pack-gnome-en-base python3-distupgrade
ubuntu-release-upgrader-core
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 4 not to upgrade.
brian@brian-desktop:~$

 

[Condobloke]

ubuntu-release-upgrader-core

I have not seen that before......

 

[KGIII]

@KGIII ...can you make do with a VM ?...will that work with windows ?

Maybe, but it needs a USB passhtrough. I've never had good luck with USB and VMs.

Plus, it'd just be a VM to babysit.

For a couple of years now, I've just used the mobile app - but it sure sucks.

4 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

You're 100% good to go. (Edited to add: I think. You can wait to be cautious, or not.)

Earlier, I didn't know if this extended to Ubuntu derivatives, but so far they look like they're safe and good to go. I'd still be cautious, but it'll blow over soon.

 

[BigBadBeef]

Gentlemen, I think you should all calm yourselves a bit. Linux developers are not above making mistakes, and if you charge into a gui updater or into a terminal as soon as an update is released, then you're doing it wrong with debian and you might as well go for rolling release distros.

The last time I updated was 3 weeks ago. It was the first time this year and will probably be the last.

 

[wizardfromoz]

In all fairness, David

You know that Mint is the one that got hacked, had a compromised ISO on their site, and gave up all the private data (including hashed passwords) for their forum?

That was 7 and a half years ago, and as well as tightening up their security measures as a consequence, Mint were the first to implement as a standard 256-bit hash sum algorithms, which then dragged the rest of the industry kicking and screaming along.

Just my two cents

Wizard

 

[KGIII]

Just my two cents

I probably could have worded it better, but the point of bringing that up was because they'd mentioned Mint and yet even Mint has had catastrophic failures. I'm pretty sure any distro that lasts long enough will have something negative happen.

And, importantly, it's going to happen again.

The only thing we can really do is remain diligent - or throw caution to the wind and rely on our skills to fix things, I suppose... All sorts of updates break things (though not necessarily to this degree). It doesn't always impact that many people, but it will happen again.

 

[PuppyHome]

Just updated my Mint laptop.

137 upgrades (been a while lol) 0 to be removed. So Mint's all good.

 

[KGIII]

Just updated my Mint laptop.

137 upgrades (been a while lol) 0 to be removed. So Mint's all good.

Yup. It looks like it was just an Ubuntu thing. I can't trigger it with a Lubuntu install so I think they may have fixed it - but that's on the 'pro' update line. I dunno if that was why or not.

It turns out this is a duplicate bug (others had reported it already) and that there are some fixes being released already and the fix for Mantic is already out there. So, if you're an Ubuntu user you can wait a little while longer just to be sure. You can follow the link to the duplicate and check the status on your own, as well.

 

[Condobloke]

There just isn't anything quite like a backup when things go to...ummm...pot

 

[KGIII]

There just isn't anything quite like a backup when things go to...ummm...pot

Yup. This is the kind of thing that Timeshift would render just a mild hassle. In fact, this is the type of thing Timeshift was meant for, though I guess folks are also using it to preserve their /home directory these days.

Oddly, I only do Timeshift on Mint when it makes me do so, such as during the upgrade process to a new major version. I really don't care (assuming it doesn't happen frequently) if I have to repair the OS. In my Linux history, I've hosed the OS so many times that putting it back together again isn't all that painful.

These days, I haven't had that happen (unexpectedly) in a long time. When it happens, I just preserve /home and redo the OS. I did so recently, but I expected to have to do so. My lack of a stable connection and massive customizations meant that my Linux Mint wasn't gonna update to the new version smoothly.

Sure enough, it did not.

So, I just did a nice clean install and imported my /home files as necessary. It needed it by that point. The original installation was a couple of years old and it had some issues booting properly. Now it's nice and speedy again and without the hundreds of applications I'd installed in the other instance - often to test something for somebody else or for an article.

It was as refreshing as a bit of spring cleaning can be!

 

[guiverc]

Just updated my Mint laptop.

137 upgrades (been a while lol) 0 to be removed. So Mint's all good.

I performed upgrades on a number of Ubuntu systems I consider equivalent to my primary Ubuntu box (which was impacted), but those systems were not impacted at all. One box with issues, out of five.

By equivalent I mean my intention is to have them ready as stand in boxes; meaning they have the ~same packages (thus ready to step in if/when required) though won't be identical, as apps I don't consider my core apps may or may not be added.

The issue is only impacting a small number of Ubuntu machines, is actually easy to resolve (if impacted), but really annoying & SCARY for anyone that turns their machine on the next day (if update was prior session) & discovers they get only a 'black screen' (possibly with ~unintelligible kernel messages).

 

[xlbooyahlx]

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Strange, as I have none waiting on me?!?
I've been running all updates as they come in.
I'm Timeshifted as well as disk imaged for backups.
But no problens here..

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
[sudo] password for john:
Ign:1 http://packages.linuxmint.com victoria InRelease
Hit:2 http://packages.linuxmint.com victoria Release
Hit:4 https://repo.nordvpn.com//deb/nordvpn/debian stable InRelease
Hit:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease
Hit:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Hit:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease
Hit:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease
Hit:9 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/damentz/liquorix/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Hit:10 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/danielrichter2007/grub-customizer/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Hit:11 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Sorry about using Quotes, as it won't allow me to post code, what's that all about!?!

 

[KGIII]

test

Hmm... Seems to work here.

Next to the preview button, to the left, there's a three verticle dot menu. In there, there's an option to disable BBCode. But, if you'd done that, you probably also wouldn't have been able to quote.

That's the only reason I could think for it not working.