Software Updater is not working properly

Question

Throughout all this process connection to the Internet was working properly.

Every time I turned on my computer an error message popped saying "System program problem detected". I'm certain it is about this issue. Also noted: the OS is Ubuntu 18.04.

First, it did not update anything while using the clicking method (through GUI). Software Updater appeared, showed the updates and then I clicked "Install Now" but began the process and when arriving some of the first steps, it disappears.

For this problem I tried updating and upgrading manually using the terminal (sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade). This solved part of the problem as most of the packages got to be updated.

Nonetheless, the problem persists as Ubuntu base (security updates) and Unused kernel updates to be removed keep appearing with the same problem happening after hitting the "Install Now" button. I tried again with the terminal and the problem prevails along with the "System program problem detected" message.

Failed solutions:

a) I thought that Internet connection was the origin of the problem but I uninstalled Wicd and reinstalled it. b) I tried: sudo rm -rvf /var/lib/apt/lists/* and then sudo apt-get update, as this answer to another post says.

What can I do? Thanks.

Output for sudo apt-get update:

Hit:1 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:2 http://archive.canonical.com bionic InRelease
Get:3 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease [88,7 kB]                         
Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease [83,2 kB]                          
Get:5 http://es.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports InRelease [74,6 kB]                   
Fetched 247 kB in 1s (337 kB/s)                                                                  
Reading package lists... Done

Output for sudo apt-get upgrade:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0 gir1.2-webkit2-4.0 libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 linux-generic linux-headers-generic
  linux-image-generic
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.

Solution

Firstly, update the following:

sudo apt autoremove && sudo apt autoclean -y

then open nano by sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list and check for any mismatches of default ubuntu update repo's:

Note -

16.04 - Xenial

18.04 - Bionic

deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted universe multiverse

If its easier then, delete the lines by pressing 'CTRL + K' in nano. and copy-paste them with the ones provided above to you.

Press 'CTRL + X', to exit. Prompts to save - Press 'Y' to save.

Type cat /etc/apt/sources.list to double-check if they are correct.

Then do a sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y Hopefully should have fixed your issues after this.

Comments

[guiverc]

I would suggest copy/pasting the errors (or whole output) for your sudo apt-get update or upgrade to your question, so we can see the error which is the best clue for fixing your issue. Currently your 'problem' is undefined except to you as only you can see it.

[HyHyHyena]

I am reading the sources.list file and I am thinking that the problem may come from that I upgraded the OS version from 16.04 to 18.04. I come to this conclusion because I find lines about "xenial", which I am certain refers to the 16.04 version. Should I copy-paste it?

[Shaze]

Yes your right, if its xenial then its 16.04 version's repo's. Change them to bionic and see if it works? or simply copy paste them into your sources.list which i mentioned above. Good luck!

[HyHyHyena]

It totally worked! I am very grateful for I shall not be afraid of security issues!

[Shaze]

I'm glad it all worked fine for you ;)

[mook765]

The first command results in E: Unable to locate package autoclean. Your command sudo apt install autoclean is wrong, I think you meant sudo apt autoclean.

[Kulfy]

I strongly discourage deleting the file sudo rm -rf /etc/apt/souces.list and adding all the repo's mentioned above. Rather I'll suggest opening Software and Updates app, selecting the updates you want to receive or changing server in order to refresh the list. This would be easy and OP can add repository he really needs instead of all.

[Shaze]

Yes, that would be another way of doing it. But surely not easier - you can either delete the lines & copy-paste them or delete the file although file permissions would need to be the same as before bearing in mind. coming from Gnome(hate) club, prefer using CLI as its way quicker than using cursor to click multiple times. But with @HyHyHyena's case all he had to do was replace the word 'Xenial' to 'Bionic'. Thus, he managed to fix his problem. I will edit my post from delete to replace the lines as that would be the right way of doing it.

[ChanganAuto]

No, it certainly didn't.

[ChanganAuto]

This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review