Verified with 1.1ubuntu1.18.04.10 on Bionic: ... root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# eatmydata apt install linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-13-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-14-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-15-generic ... root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# apt-mark auto linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-13-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-14-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-15-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-13-generic set to automatically installed. linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-14-generic set to automatically installed. linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-15-generic set to automatically installed. root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# apt autoremove Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: grub-common grub-gfxpayload-lists grub-pc grub-pc-bin grub2-common libfreetype6 linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-13-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-14-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-15-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-13-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-14-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-15-generic os-prober 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 13 to remove and 7 not upgraded. After this operation, 239 MB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n Abort. root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# vi /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# grep Minimal /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades Unattended-Upgrade::MinimalSteps "false"; root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# unattended-upgrade --dry-run --verbose Initial blacklisted packages: Initial whitelisted packages: Starting unattended upgrades script Allowed origins are: o=Ubuntu,a=bionic, o=Ubuntu,a=bionic-security, o=UbuntuESM,a=bionic Removing unused kernel packages: linux-modules-4.18.0-13-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-15-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-14-generic Keeping 3 auto-removable package(s) because it would also remove the following packages which should be kept in this step: libntfs-3g88 linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-13-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-14-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-15-generic ntfs-3g snapd Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/unattended-upgrade", line 1998, in sys.exit(main(options)) File "/usr/bin/unattended-upgrade", line 1798, in main options.verbose or options.debug, options.dry_run) File "/usr/bin/unattended-upgrade", line 1495, in do_auto_remove if res: UnboundLocalError: local variable 'res' referenced before assignment oot@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# echo "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-proposed restricted main multiverse universe" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/proposed.list root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# apt update -qq 33 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them. root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# apt install unattended-upgrades Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: grub-common grub-gfxpayload-lists grub-pc grub-pc-bin grub2-common libfreetype6 linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-13-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-14-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-15-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-13-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-14-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-15-generic os-prober Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them. Suggested packages: bsd-mailx default-mta | mail-transport-agent needrestart The following packages will be upgraded: unattended-upgrades 1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 32 not upgraded. Need to get 40.4 kB of archives. After this operation, 4096 B of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-proposed/main amd64 unattended-upgrades all 1.1ubuntu1.18.04.10 [40.4 kB] Fetched 40.4 kB in 0s (204 kB/s) N: Ignoring file 'proposed' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/' as it has no filename extension Preconfiguring packages ... (Reading database ... 32894 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../unattended-upgrades_1.1ubuntu1.18.04.10_all.deb ... Unpacking unattended-upgrades (1.1ubuntu1.18.04.10) over (1.1ubuntu1.18.04.9) ... Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-20) ... Processing triggers for systemd (237-3ubuntu10.15) ... Setting up unattended-upgrades (1.1ubuntu1.18.04.10) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ... N: Ignoring file 'proposed' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/' as it has no filename extension root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# unattended-upgrade --dry-run --verbose Initial blacklisted packages: Initial whitelisted packages: Starting unattended upgrades script Allowed origins are: o=Ubuntu,a=bionic, o=Ubuntu,a=bionic-security, o=UbuntuESM,a=bionic Removing unused kernel packages: linux-modules-4.18.0-13-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-15-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-14-generic Keeping 3 auto-removable package(s) because it would also remove the following packages which should be kept in this step: libntfs-3g88 linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-13-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-14-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-15-generic ntfs-3g snapd Packages that were successfully auto-removed: Packages that are kept back: Option --dry-run given, *not* performing real actions Packages that will be upgraded: libntfs-3g88 ntfs-3g snapd Writing dpkg log to /var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades-dpkg.log All upgrades installed root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# unattended-upgrade --verbose Initial blacklisted packages: Initial whitelisted packages: Starting unattended upgrades script Allowed origins are: o=Ubuntu,a=bionic, o=Ubuntu,a=bionic-security, o=UbuntuESM,a=bionic Removing unused kernel packages: linux-modules-4.18.0-15-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-14-generic linux-modules-4.18.0-13-generic Keeping 3 auto-removable package(s) because it would also remove the following packages which should be kept in this step: libntfs-3g88 linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-13-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-14-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.18.0-15-generic ntfs-3g snapd Packages that were successfully auto-removed: Packages that are kept back: Packages that will be upgraded: libntfs-3g88 ntfs-3g snapd Writing dpkg log to /var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades-dpkg.log All upgrades installed root@bb-uu-lp-1795696-verify:~# The unsigned kernels are kept back due to LP: #1821640 .