Ubuntu Server 18.04 > 20.04 upgrade. You have held packages

[LsHallo]

I'm at a total loss. I upgraded from 18.04 to 20.04 lts server without issues. Then when I go to install a new packages I get: 
 

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ sudo apt install ffmpeg
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 ffmpeg : Depends: libavdevice58 (= 7:4.2.4-1ubuntu0.1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Things I've tried:
 

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ sudo apt clean

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
Hit:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
Hit:2 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease                                     
Hit:3 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease                             
Hit:4 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease                                                         
Get:5 https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/ubuntu focal InRelease                                                              
Hit:6 https://deb.nodesource.com/node_14.x focal InRelease
Fetched 3,502 B in 1s (3,265 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ sudo apt dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a

Some more info:
 

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# 

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 16.04.4 LTS _Xenial Xerus_ - Release amd64 (20180228)]/ xenial main restricted

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 16.04.4 LTS _Xenial Xerus_ - Release amd64 (20180228)]/ xenial main restricted

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial universe
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu 
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to 
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in 
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial multiverse
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates multiverse

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial partner

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse
# deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable # disabled on upgrade to bionic disabled on upgrade to focal
# deb-src [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu xenial stable
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security multiverse


# deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib # disabled on upgrade to bionic
# deb http://repo.cubecoders.com/ debian/
# deb-src http://repo.cubecoders.com/ debian/
# deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ bionic main
# deb-src https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ bionic main
# deb-src https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ bionic main
# deb https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators:/Wine:/Debian/xUbuntu_19.04 ./
# deb-src https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators:/Wine:/Debian/xUbuntu_19.04 ./
# deb-src [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable

 

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ uname -a
Linux LINUX-SRV 5.4.0-48-generic #52-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 10 10:58:49 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

 

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ dpkg -l | grep ^..r 

Tutorials i've followed:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/118749/package-system-is-broken-how-to-fix-it

https://itectec.com/ubuntu/ubuntu-how-to-fix-broken-packages-in-this-specific-situation/

https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian

https://zoringroup.com/forum/5/15529/

https://www.fosslinux.com/16419/how-to-fix-ubuntu-not-updating-issue-due-to-the-broken-packages.htm

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48431372/removing-broken-packages-in-ubuntu

https://www.maketecheasier.com/fix-broken-packages-ubuntu/

https://askubuntu.com/questions/772653/how-to-list-broken-packages-in-console

 

Nothing worked at all. I'm at a total loss and 200km away from my server at least until the year ends. Scared to reboot it in this state.

[throttlemeister]

How did you do the upgrade? As you should, using do-release-upgrade or other (manual) means?

 

Have you tried: apt install --fix-broken?

 

Have you tried installing the dependancy pacakge manually?

[LsHallo]

Yes I did do-release-upgrade

Yes apt install --fix-broken has also run multiple times.

 

When I try to install the dependency, that dependency also fails and creates a long chain of dependencies that I have to install for every package since it can't do it automatically.

It would also mark all dependencies as manually installed which is not optimal when it comes to removing unused software.

 

My biggest problem atm is, that no broken packages are listed so I have no point to attack and try different things. It's just plain: "You have held packages"

dpkg doesn't list any, so I don't know what to try.

[maplepants]

I found a thread on askubuntu with this same issue. You can find the actual held packages with dpkg --get-selections | grep hold

From there you can should be able to sudo apt install <package> each one of them. Some users claim to have also had success with sudo apt auto-remove, so that's worth a shot too.

 

If it doesn't work, let us know what the result of dpkg --get-selections | grep hold was since that might be a good jumping off point.

[LsHallo]

Here is the output of the command:

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ dpkg --get-selections | grep hold
lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ sudo dpkg --get-selections | grep hold

Nothing much to go off of.

 

lshallo@LINUX-SRV:~$ sudo apt autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.