Stale os-release file after possible upgrade from 20.04.2 to 20.04.3
| Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dell Ubuntu Project |
Fix Released
|
Critical
|
Yuan-Chen Cheng | ||
| OEM Priority Project |
Fix Released
|
Critical
|
Yuan-Chen Cheng | ||
| base-files (Ubuntu) |
Invalid
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Bug Description
Refer: https:/
I recently bought a Dell laptop with Ubuntu pre-installed in it. Looks like it came with Ubuntu 20.04.2 and OEM Linux Kernel in it. After my initial login (on October 1, 2021), the 'Software Updater' GUI prompted me for updates, which I went ahead with.
However at the end of it, I noticed that I was still at 20.04.2 with Linux Kernel at 5.10.0-1045-oem.
lsb_release -a
---------------
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (fossa-bulbasaur X55.1)
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
uname -a
---------
Linux dev-linux 5.10.0-1045-oem #47-Ubuntu SMP Wed Aug 18 10:41:03 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Then I manually tried sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade / dist-upgrade from the terminal, but nothing got upgraded. When I invoked the GUI 'Software Updater' again, it showed me that my system was already up-to-date. However, as 20.04.3 was released end of Aug 2021, I was expecting that I should be at that release after my initial updates.
Since that didn't happen, I asked a question regarding this in askubuntu followed by launchpad https:/
However, based on some inputs from other users, we were able to narrow down the problem to /usr/lib/os-release file not having the right contents in it. Every other file including /usr/lib/
Even the lsb_release -a command always displays the output of /usr/lib/os-release file only.
$ cat /usr/lib/os-release
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04.2 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (fossa-bulbasaur X55.1)"
VERSION_ID="20.04"
HOME_URL="https:/
SUPPORT_URL="https:/
BUG_REPORT_URL="https:/
PRIVACY_
VERSION_
UBUNTU_
$ cat /usr/lib/
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04.3 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS"
VERSION_ID="20.04"
HOME_URL="https:/
SUPPORT_URL="https:/
BUG_REPORT_URL="https:/
PRIVACY_
VERSION_
UBUNTU_
$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS \n \l
$ cat /etc/issue.net
Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS
If you look at the timestamp of these files, strangely os-release had a newer timestamp of Oct 1 compared to other files.
$ ls -l /usr/lib/os-release
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 406 Oct 1 20:31 /usr/lib/os-release
$ ls -l /usr/lib/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 382 Aug 4 07:53 /usr/lib/
$ ls -l /etc/issue
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26 Aug 4 07:53 /etc/issue
$ ls -l /etc/issue.net
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19 Aug 4 07:53 /etc/issue.net
Please note that, other software package updates, and linux kernel updates are happening automatically without any issues so far for me. Few days back even got a new kernel update.
$ uname -a
Linux vivek-dev-linux 5.10.0-1049-oem #51-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 27 11:01:10 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Workarounds Attempted
-------
1. Commented out all non-ubuntu external sources from /etc/apt/*.list. Then performed an apt clean + update + upgrade. But still nothing happened and the same issue remained.
2. Tried performing apt-install --reinstall base-files. But still nothing changed:
$ sudo apt install --reinstall base-files
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
Need to get 60.6 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://
Fetched 60.6 kB in 1s (55.7 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 191154 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../base-
Warning: Stopping motd-news.service, but it can still be activated by:
motd-news.timer
Unpacking base-files (11ubuntu5.4) over (11ubuntu5.4) ...
Setting up base-files (11ubuntu5.4) ...
motd-news.service is a disabled or a static unit, not starting it.
Processing triggers for cracklib-runtime (2.9.6-3.2) ...
Processing triggers for plymouth-
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for install-info (6.7.0.dfsg.2-5) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.136ubuntu6.6) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/dm-2
I: (/dev/mapper/
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this.
3. Tried removing /usr/lib/os-release and /etc/os-release files and performed sudo apt install --reinstall base-files. This time got an exception with the following backtrace, and /usr/lib/os-release file was never recreated back and the symbolic link file /etc/os-release was in a broken state.
GUI pop up to report the bug to ubuntu showed up, and I clicked Send.
I had to bring back the deleted file from a backup location to remediate the system.
$ sudo apt install --reinstall base-files
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 60.6 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://
Fetched 60.6 kB in 1s (111 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 191276 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../base-
Warning: Stopping motd-news.service, but it can still be activated by:
motd-news.timer
Unpacking base-files (11ubuntu5.4) over (11ubuntu5.4) ...
Setting up base-files (11ubuntu5.4) ...
motd-news.service is a disabled or a static unit, not starting it.
Processing triggers for cracklib-runtime (2.9.6-3.2) ...
Processing triggers for plymouth-
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/
main()
File "/usr/bin/
distinfo = lsb_release.
File "/usr/lib/
distinfo = guess_debian_
File "/usr/lib/
get_
File "/usr/lib/
RELEASES_
File "/usr/lib/
RELEASES_
ValueError: could not convert string to float: '6.06 LTS'
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for install-info (6.7.0.dfsg.2-5) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.136ubuntu6.6) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/dm-2
I: (/dev/mapper/
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this.
| Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote | #1 |
| Changed in base-files (Ubuntu): | |
| status: | New → Invalid |
| linuxmonk (linuxmonk21) wrote | #2 |
| linuxmonk (linuxmonk21) wrote | #3 |
| Changed in oem-priority: | |
| importance: | Undecided → Critical |
| Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox) wrote | #4 |
| Changed in dell: | |
| importance: | Undecided → Critical |
| linuxmonk (linuxmonk21) wrote | #5 |
| Changed in oem-priority: | |
| assignee: | nobody → Kai-Chuan Hsieh (kchsieh) |
| Changed in oem-priority: | |
| assignee: | Kai-Chuan Hsieh (kchsieh) → Yuan-Chen Cheng (ycheng-twn) |
| Changed in dell: | |
| assignee: | nobody → Yuan-Chen Cheng (ycheng-twn) |
| Changed in oem-priority: | |
| status: | New → Confirmed |
| Changed in dell: | |
| status: | New → Confirmed |
| Changed in oem-priority: | |
| status: | Confirmed → In Progress |
| Changed in dell: | |
| status: | Confirmed → Fix Committed |
| Changed in oem-priority: | |
| status: | In Progress → Fix Released |
| Changed in dell: | |
| status: | Fix Committed → Fix Released |
$ cat /usr/lib/os-release
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04.2 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (fossa-bulbasaur X55.1)"
VERSION_ID="20.04"
HOME_URL="https:/
SUPPORT_URL="https:/
BUG_REPORT_URL="https:/
PRIVACY_
VERSION_
UBUNTU_
You have an OEM-specific package installed that diverts /usr/lib/os-release and replaces the contents. The fact that this file has not changed when base-files changed is not a bug in base-files.