Packages were kept back

Sometimes you'll run 'apt-get upgrade' in Debian or Ubuntu and you'll get a message stating that "the following packages have been kept back" which is annoying but here is a way to get around it.


The reason the packages were kept back is because they violate the below constraint. "dist-upgrade" is the correct method.

From the apt-get man page regarding: "`upgrade` under no circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package will be left at their current version."

"dist-upgrade intelligently handles changing dependencies with new versions of packages; apt-get has a "smart" conflict resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary. So, dist-upgrade command may remove some packages."


Solution 1 : as root  apt-get dist-upgrade


Solution 2 : apt-get install [packages that are keep back]