upgrade to 18.04 LTS fail with "Hold prevents MarkGarbage of " errors

[DC]

Aborting
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libclass-c3-xs-perl:amd64 < 0.14-1build2 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of python3-netifaces:amd64 < 0.10.4-0.1build4 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libpackage-stash-xs-perl:amd64 < 0.28-3build2 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libdevel-lexalias-perl:amd64 < 0.05-1build5 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libsub-identify-perl:amd64 < 0.12-2build3 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libclass-xsaccessor-perl:amd64 < 1.19-2build7 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libparams-util-perl:amd64 < 1.07-3build3 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libposix-strptime-perl:amd64 < 0.13-1build3 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libclass-c3-xs-perl:amd64 < 0.14-1build2 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of python3-netifaces:amd64 < 0.10.4-0.1build4 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libpackage-stash-xs-perl:amd64 < 0.28-3build2 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libdevel-lexalias-perl:amd64 < 0.05-1build5 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libsub-identify-perl:amd64 < 0.12-2build3 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libclass-xsaccessor-perl:amd64 < 1.19-2build7 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libparams-util-perl:amd64 < 1.07-3build3 @hi K >
  Hold prevents MarkGarbage of libposix-strptime-perl:amd64 < 0.13-1build3 @hi K >

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: ['Debian'] 9
Package: ubuntu-release-upgrader-core 1:17.10.11 [origin: Ubuntu]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-40.45-generic 4.13.16
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-40-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.8
Architecture: amd64
CrashDB: ubuntu
Date: Sun May 6 12:45:36 2018
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-02-18 (441 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" - Release amd64 (20161012.2)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: ubuntu-release-upgrader
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to artful on 2018-05-06 (0 days ago)

[dino99 (9d9)]

Dont be surprised to get such an issue:

- mixing Debian & Ubuntu: does not follow the same rules
- third parties packages: use ppa-purge to downgrade to genuine versions
- deactivate other ppas
- clean the system via gtkorphan & bleachbit (as root, carefully select options)
- run: sudo dpkg --configure -a
- reboot

Then dist-upgrading script should be happier.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks for your report.

Disregard dino99 comment, it is misleading and can lead to potentially dangerous actions. The problem is due to packages that you hold (on purpose?) so the release upgrader refuses to upgrade them to a newer version.

Among them are:
gconf2
gconf-service
gir1.2-gnomekeyring-1.0
gir1.2-rb-3.0
libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl
libclass-c3-xs-perl
libclass-xsaccessor-perl
libclone-perl
libdevel-caller-perl
libdevel-lexalias-perl
libfile-fcntllock-perl
libgconf-2-4
libgnome-keyring0
libio-pty-perl
liblist-moreutils-perl
liblocale-gettext-perl
libnet-dbus-perl
libnih1
libnih-dbus1
libpackage-stash-xs-perl
libpadwalker-perl
libparams-util-perl
libperlio-gzip-perl
libposix-strptime-perl
librhythmbox-core10
libsocket6-perl
libsub-identify-perl
libtext-iconv-perl
libunicode-linebreak-perl
libvte9
libxml-parser-perl
python3-cairo
python3-dbus
python3-netifaces
rhythmbox
rhythmbox-plugins

Unhold them and try an upgrade again. I'm closing this report because it is not a problem with Ubuntu but do not hesitate to file any bug you may find.