Why does 11.04-to-12.10 upgrade on OpenVZ VPS fail with "libc - kernel 2.6.24" error?

Question

I have an OpenVZ VPS, and am trying to upgrade Ubuntu Server from 11.10 to 12.04. But the upgrade aborts half-way with this error:

WARNING: this version of the GNU libc requires kernel version
2.6.24 or later. Please upgrade your kernel before installing glibc.

The installation of a 2.6 kernel _could_ ask you to install a new
libc first, this is NOT a bug, and should *NOT* be reported. 
In that case, please add lenny sources to your /etc/apt/sources.list
and run:   apt-get install -t lenny linux-image-2.6 Then reboot into 
this new kernel, and proceed with your upgrade 

dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.15-0ubuntu10_amd64.deb (--unpack):  subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1 No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already

Could not install the upgrades 

The upgrade has aborted. Your system could be in an unusable
state. A  recovery will run now (dpkg --configure -a). 

Upgrade complete 

The upgrade has completed but there were errors during the upgrade  process. 

To continue please press [ENTER]
=== Command detached from window (Thu Apr 26 10:31:16 2012) ===
=== Command terminated with exit status 1 (Thu Apr 26 10:31:16 2012) ===

Solution

I see the comments show you are running Ubuntu Server on a VPS (aka VDS)? Can you post the output of uname -r?

You are getting the error because your provider is running an old OpenVZ Linux kernel (usually 2.6.18); as the message says, the default libc included with Precise requires 2.6.24 or above.

Please see my answer here for full details, but the gist is that I've set up a PPA with recompiled libc to work on older (at least 2.6.18) kernels, and that should solve your problem. Please try adding ppa:izx/ovz-libc, updating, and then retrying the upgrade. Specifically:

apt-add-repository ppa:izx/ovz-libc
apt-get update
apt-get -f install
do-release-upgrade

should probably do it. Recommend answering NO to all "update config?" questions.

Let me know how it goes -- I know the recompiled libc works perfectly for folks starting off with 12.04 or who have upgraded to it with the help of their host.

Comments

[clicky]

Please could you post more information about what you did to initiate the upgrade? Simply copying and pasting the text from a terminal is not sufficient to constitute a question. You need to explain what you did as well.

[clicky]

The error message above suggests that an earlier version of the kernel s installed. If you still have a working 11.10 system, can you post the output of "uname -a" and "lsb-release -a"?

[Chris]

It's a VPS. I've subsequently reimaged it with 11.04 (the most recent image available to me), and upgraded it to 11.10. When I do the upgrade from 11.10 to 12.04, it fails - but the output of lsb-release -a indicates it's 12.04 - even though it's otherwise dead in the water.

[clicky]

That's very frustrating. I successfully upgraded a 11.10 server to 12.04 (over an ssh connection), as have others I'm sure. I wonder if it's related to the VPS layer.

[dvb]

@Chris please select the answer that helped you or give further details

[ish]

Please remember to accept/upvote the best answer to your question (tick/check mark on the left). This way, the question is marked as "answered" and future readers can refer to it knowing the solution works. Thank you...:)

[thomasrutter]

Why does the title say you are updating to 12.10 but the body say 12.04?

[Chris]

Unfortunately, I've already tried all that. None of it worked. Thank you anyway.

[Chris]

Yes, I had already ensured that 11.10 was completely updated prior to the upgrade to 12.04. Thank you anyway.

[Admin]

Failed to fetch ppa.launchpad.net/izx/ovz-libc/ubuntu/dists/natty/main/… 404 Not Found :(