package libc6 2.23-0ubuntu11 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Marius Gedminas]

do-release-upgrade of Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04 inside an OpenVZ container fails rather early in the upgrade process with this error.

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: libc6 2.23-0ubuntu11
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-042stab138.1 x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.19
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Aug 19 16:23:07 2019
Dependencies:
 gcc-6-base 6.0.1-0ubuntu1
 libc6 2.23-0ubuntu11
 libgcc1 1:6.0.1-0ubuntu1
Dmesg:

ErrorMessage: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1.6
 apt 1.2.32
SourcePackage: glibc
Title: package libc6 2.23-0ubuntu11 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2019-08-19 (0 days ago)

[Marius Gedminas (mgedmin)]

Additional information:
- the container is a "VPS" provided by a popular local hosting company Interneto Vizija (https://iv.lt)
- they have their own patched 2.6.32-042stab138.1 kernel that I have no capability of upgrading
- the upgrade process shows a fancy ncurses warning that libc6 requires a newer kernel version (3.2 or later), but provides no option to abort the upgrade at that point

Recovering from the failed upgrade appears to be simple:
- change bionic back to xenial in /etc/apt/sources.list
- apt install locales/xenial libc6-dev/xenial libc6-dbg/xenial libc-dev-bin/xenial

[Marius Gedminas (mgedmin)]

I asked the DC support about Ubuntu 18.04 LTS support and apparently it's not supported on their OpenVZ offerings.

I suppose this bug can be closed? Unless you'd prefer to detect the situation and abort the upgrade, to prevent users from shooting their feet off?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.