[SOLVED] apt problem - cannot update upower package to newer version

grunchy · 2025-10-22 22:06:52

my daedalus vm has been upgraded since ascii.

i just checked for obsolete packages with "apt list '~o'" and libupower-glib1 is the only obsolete package installed.

checking further, i see that libupower-glib1 cannot be upgraded to libupower-glib3 as it is depended on by package upower.

according to apt-cache, the version of upower currently installed is old and a newer version is available:

> apt-cache policy upower
upower:
  Installed: 1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3
  Candidate: 1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3
  Version table:
 *** 1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3 100
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.99.20-2 500
        500 http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus/main amd64 Packages

apt refuses to upgrade to the newer version.

what needs to be done to get apt to upgrade the upower package to the current version?

Altoid · 2025-10-23 12:50:59

Hello:

grunchy wrote:

my daedalus vm has been upgraded since ascii.

Same for my Daedalus installation with the exception of it not being a VM.

$ uname -a
Linux devuan 6.1.0-40-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.153-1 (2025-09-20) x86_64 GNU/Linux
$

grunchy wrote:

... checked for obsolete packages ...

For whatever reason, I have quite a few of those packages ...

$ apt list '~o' 
--- snip ---
libssl1.1/now 1.1.1w-0+deb11u1 amd64 [installed,local]
libswresample3/now 7:4.3.6-0+deb11u1 amd64 [installed,local]
######  <--- would have been listed here
libvpx6/now 1.9.0-1+deb11u2 amd64 [installed,local]
libwebp6/now 0.6.1-2.1+deb11u2 amd64 [installed,local]
--- snip ---
$

... but libupower-glib1 is not one of them.

$ apt list '~o' | grep libupower-glib1
--- snip ---
$

That said, I do have libupower-glib3 installed ...

$ apt list | grep installed | grep libupower
--- snip ---
libupower-glib3/stable,now 0.99.20-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
$

$ aptitude why libupower-glib3
i   task-desktop   Depends    xorg                                                              
i A xorg           Depends    xinit                                                             
i A xinit          Recommends xterm | x-session-manager | x-window-manager | x-terminal-emulator
i A xfce4-session  Provides   x-session-manager                                                 
i A xfce4-session  Depends    xfce4-settings                                                    
i A xfce4-settings Depends    libupower-glib3 (>= 0.99.0)                                       
$

... but no upower:

$ apt list | grep installed | grep upower
--- snip ---
libcpupower1/stable-security,now 6.1.153-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libupower-glib3/stable,now 0.99.20-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
linux-cpupower/stable-security,now 6.1.153-1 amd64 [installed]
$

$ apt-cache policy upower
upower:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.99.20-2
  Version table:
     0.99.20-2 500
        500 http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus/main amd64 Packages
$

That upower package is a recommends from the hw-probe package which I do have installed ...

$ apt list | grep installed | grep hw-probe
--- snip ---
hw-probe/stable,stable,now 1.6.5-1 all [installed]
$

$ aptitude why upower
i   hw-probe Recommends upower
$

... but I do not allow recommends in my system.

Unless I am mistaken, your 'Installed' version is the same as your 'Candidate' version:
ie: apt says that is the correct version to have in your system.

Installed: 1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3
Candidate: 1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3

Being a recommends and not a hard dependency, you probably don't need it.
You may want to try purging the upower package and see if the obsolete package gets purged along with it.

Then if you get complaints from the system, just reinstall it and see what gets dragged in along with it.

Please let us know how you fared.

Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (2025-10-23 13:21:39)

grunchy · 2025-10-23 22:14:05

thanks for the feedback @Altoid

yes, libupower-glib3 is the correct version. i can't get apt to update from the obsolete libupower-glib1 to libupower-glib3, something is borked in this vm but not sure what.

the version apt thinks is current is from ascii, at lease according to devuan package search:

upower
1:0.99.4-4+devuan3
   http://archive.devuan.org/merged ascii-proposed-updates/main amd64
1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3                                  ** OLD **
   http://archive.devuan.org/merged ascii/main amd64  ** OLD **
1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.2
   http://archive.devuan.org/merged jessie/main amd64
1.90.10-1
   http://deb.devuan.org/merged ceres/main amd64
1.90.9-1
   http://deb.devuan.org/merged excalibur/main amd64
0.99.20-2                                             ** NEW **
   http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus/main amd64   ** NEW **
0.99.11-2
   http://deb.devuan.org/merged chimaera/main amd64
0.99.10-1
   http://archive.devuan.org/merged beowulf/main amd64

maybe the version "number" is confusing apt due to the presence of the colon?

Being a recommends and not a hard dependency, you probably don't need it.

for kde, upower is a 'depends' and not a 'recommends' so it cannot be removed:

> aptitude why libupower-glib1
i   task-kde-desktop   Depends kde-standard
i A kde-standard       Depends kde-plasma-desktop (>= 5:142)
i A kde-plasma-desktop Depends upower
i A upower             Depends libupower-glib1 (>= 0.9.2)

apt will remove the entire desktop when purging upower:

> apt -s purge upower
NOTE: This is only a simulation!
      apt needs root privileges for real execution.
      Keep also in mind that locking is deactivated,
      so don't depend on the relevance to the real current situation!
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  espeak-ng-data ethtool festival festival-freebsoft-utils festlex-cmu festlex-poslex festvox-kallpc16k gir1.2-atspi-2.0
  gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0 gir1.2-wnck-3.0 kdeaccessibility kmag kmousetool kmouth kontrast libatk-adaptor libbrlapi0.8
  libdbus-glib-1-2 libdotconf0 libespeak-ng1 libestools2.5 libpcaudio0 libqt5opengl5 libreoffice-help-common
  libreoffice-help-en-us libreoffice-kf5 libreoffice-plasma libreoffice-qt5 libsonic0 libspeechd2 libstartup-notification0
  libupower-glib1 libwnck-3-0 libwnck-3-common libx86-1 node-clipboard node-normalize.css node-prismjs orca perl-tk
  pm-utils print-manager python3-brlapi python3-louis python3-pyatspi python3-speechd python3-xdg qtgstreamer-plugins-qt5
  sound-icons speech-dispatcher speech-dispatcher-audio-plugins speech-dispatcher-espeak-ng speech-dispatcher-festival
  vbetool xbrlapi xkbset
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  kde-plasma-desktop* kde-standard* task-kde-desktop* upower*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 4 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Purg task-kde-desktop [3.73devuan1]
Purg kde-standard [5:142]
Purg kde-plasma-desktop [5:142]
Purg upower [1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3]

i'll keep digging. the apt-get man page has nothing about debugging it's behavior, so i guess that is not possible :-(

Altoid · 2025-10-23 22:49:34

Hello:

grunchy wrote:

thanks ...

You're welcome

grunchy wrote:

... can't get apt to update from the obsolete libupower-glib1 ...

I see ...
And if you try to purge it, it nukes the whole shebang.
A sticky wicket ...

Just an idea:
Since apt will not (for whatever reason) update libupower-glib1, you may want to try some other way to do it.

First check that your etc/apt/sources.list file does not have anything but daedalus repositories.
ie: sometimes shit does happen. 8^°

Then see if you can get around apt upgrade not doing the job by resorting to apt install:
eg:

apt install -s libupower-glib3   # <- simulation mode

It may well replace the old version. (?)

Please let us know how you fared.
Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (2025-10-23 22:50:16)

RedGreen925 · 2025-10-23 23:33:34

i can't get apt to update from the obsolete libupower-glib1 to libupower-glib3, something is borked in this vm but not sure what. maybe the version "number" is confusing apt due to the presence of the colon?

That is called an epoch in debian packaging terms it is used when there is a mis match in the package numbers. In addition your package you want to replace has a devuan in the name which means it has been edited by the maintainers to ensure it works on the system. Trying to replace it because you think you know better what packaging is needed than the people who put together the system is a bad idea. I have not seen one mention of why this replacement is needed by you other than it is outdated, on a system that is working properly with it installed at that version.

for kde, upower is a 'depends' and not a 'recommends' so it cannot be removed:
apt will remove the entire desktop when purging upower:

It most certainly can be removed/purged without losing the KDE desktop.

root@9600k:~# apt -s purge upower

The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  libupower-glib3
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove it.

REMOVING:
  upower*

Summary:
  Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Removing: 1, Not Upgrading: 0
Purg upower [1.90.9-5]

root@9600k:~# apt policy plasma-desktop plasma-workspace kde-plasma-desktop kde-standard task-kde-desktop
plasma-desktop:
  Installed: 4:6.3.6-1
  Candidate: 4:6.3.6-1
  Version table:
 *** 4:6.3.6-1 990
        990 http://gnlug.org/pub/devuan/merged excalibur/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
plasma-workspace:
  Installed: 4:6.3.6-2
  Candidate: 4:6.3.6-2
  Version table:
 *** 4:6.3.6-2 990
        990 http://gnlug.org/pub/devuan/merged excalibur/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
kde-plasma-desktop:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 5:162
  Version table:
     5:162 990
        990 http://gnlug.org/pub/devuan/merged excalibur/main amd64 Packages
kde-standard:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 5:162
  Version table:
     5:162 990
        990 http://gnlug.org/pub/devuan/merged excalibur/main amd64 Packages
task-kde-desktop:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 3.81devuan1
  Version table:
     3.81devuan1 990
        990 http://gnlug.org/pub/devuan/merged excalibur/main amd64 Packages

What is going to be removed by your command is the meta packages which bring in the complete set of packages for those tasks. If it was removing all of them packages you would see hundreds of them being removed not the grand total of four it will remove with your simulation. In short your desktop would still be intact without them but without the upower being used. It is time to accept the people who put this system together know what they are doing with the version of the software they install on it to get and keep it running.

fsmithred · 2025-10-24 00:07:50

We no longer fork upower. The version you have installed is for ascii. One or more of the following should work.

apt install upower/daedalus

If that doesn't work, download the deb package and install it with dpkg.

apt download upower    #if you get the ascii version with this, then you need to remove ascii from sources.list or sources.list.d/

#you could also do this to download the right version:
apt download upower/daedalus

dpkg --force-downgrade -i upower_0.99.20-2_amd64.deb

We all know it's not really a downgrade, but apt thinks the one with the epoch is newer.

grunchy · 2025-10-24 01:04:28

thanks @fsmithred, your recommendation worked! providing the release name to apt-install did the trick.

i guess apt got confused by the package numbering. the old ascii package was modified by devuan, so had a different (greater?) version string than the new, un-modified daedalus package.

and, yes, apt DID consider it a downgrade.

thanks @RedGreen925 for explaining what the 'epoch' colon is for. to elaborate on my intent here, i want to upgrade this vm to excalibur and the debian release notes suggests removing obsolete packages (section 4.9). did not expect to find any obsolete packages; was surprised to see that there was one. trying to remove it led me down this rabbit hole.

just for completeness, here is the install log. it shows that apt swaps out the obsolete libupower-glib1 for the current libupower-glib3 and downgrades upower to the current (newer) version:

> sudo apt install upower/daedalus   
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Selected version '0.99.20-2' (Devuan:5.0/stable [amd64]) for 'upower'
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  ethtool libdbus-glib-1-2 libupower-glib1 libx86-1 pm-utils vbetool
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libupower-glib3
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libupower-glib3
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  upower
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1 downgraded, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 118 kB of archives.
After this operation, 82.9 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus/main amd64 libupower-glib3 amd64 0.99.20-2 [36.4 kB]
Get:2 http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus/main amd64 upower amd64 0.99.20-2 [81.2 kB]
Fetched 118 kB in 1s (146 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package libupower-glib3:amd64.
(Reading database ... 193098 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libupower-glib3_0.99.20-2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libupower-glib3:amd64 (0.99.20-2) ...
dpkg: warning: downgrading upower from 1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3 to 0.99.20-2
Preparing to unpack .../upower_0.99.20-2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking upower (0.99.20-2) over (1:0.9.23-2+devuan1.3) ...
Setting up libupower-glib3:amd64 (0.99.20-2) ...
Setting up upower (0.99.20-2) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/UPower/UPower.conf ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.14.10-1~deb12u1devuan1) ...
Processing triggers for eudev (3.2.12-4+deb12u1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.36-9+deb12u13) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...

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#1 2025-10-22 22:06:52

[SOLVED] apt problem - cannot update upower package to newer version

#2 2025-10-23 12:50:59

Re: [SOLVED] apt problem - cannot update upower package to newer version

#3 2025-10-23 22:14:05

Re: [SOLVED] apt problem - cannot update upower package to newer version

#4 2025-10-23 22:49:34

Re: [SOLVED] apt problem - cannot update upower package to newer version

#5 2025-10-23 23:33:34

Re: [SOLVED] apt problem - cannot update upower package to newer version

#6 2025-10-24 00:07:50

Re: [SOLVED] apt problem - cannot update upower package to newer version

#7 2025-10-24 01:04:28

Re: [SOLVED] apt problem - cannot update upower package to newer version

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