The update information is outdated

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1

Hi everyone,
last December I installed Ubuntu 24.04 LTS default selection (Gnome desktop Environment) in a Lenovo V15 G4 IRU notebook.

Weeks ago I started to notice a red triangle in the Ubuntu top panel. Clicking on it, Ubuntu informs me that “the update information is outdated. This may be caused by network problems or by a repository that is no longer available. Please update manually by selecting ‘Show updates’ from the indicator menu, and watching for any failing repositories”.

I tried to follow the instructions clicking on ‘Show updates’, but a warning window appears with the message “Sorry, Ubuntu 24.04 has experienced an internal error. Send problem report to the developers?”. Then, in order to proceed, authentication is required. After that, nothing happens: the following day, everything starts anew.

I found in Internet an old article, How To Fix “The Update Information Is Outdated” In Ubuntu Linux which suggests that this is an old issue. What can I do to fix it? Do you have updated information or suggestions?

2

Open a terminal.

Run the following command.
sudo apt update

When prompted, enter your password.

If the output contains ANY errors, then copy-and-paste the entire output here so we can see all of it. (Not part of it. ALL of it.)

If the output contains NO errors, then run the next command.
sudo apt upgrade

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3

Today, after logging in Ubuntu, I was immediately prompted by Software Updater, first time since many weeks. I installed what was to be installed until I received the message that ‘The software on this computer is up to date’. I do not know if this means that for the moment the issue is gone with some magic.

I ran sudo apt update anyway and the output did not contain any error. I paste and copy it here because it is short:

$ sudo apt update
[sudo] password for embcen: 
Hit:1 http://it.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble InRelease
Hit:2 http://it.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates InRelease                                              
Hit:3 http://it.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports InRelease                                            
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease                                               
Hit:5 https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu noble-apps-security InRelease    
Hit:6 https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu noble-apps-updates InRelease
Hit:7 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu noble-infra-security InRelease
Hit:8 https://esm.ubuntu.com/infra/ubuntu noble-infra-updates InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
1 package can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see it.

Then I ran sudo apt upgrade, below is the result:

$ sudo apt upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libllvm17t64 python3-netifaces
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following upgrades have been deferred due to phasing:
  ubuntu-drivers-common
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

Am I supposed to consider solved the problem or it may reappear every now and then?

4

See here:

https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/explanation/software/about-apt-upgrade-and-phased-updates/

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5

Everything looks fine.

I also received a notification about that phased update today.

For more about phased updates, see here.

For future reference, it is recommended to run sudo apt full-upgrade rather than apt upgrade because apt upgrade will not install any additional packages required by packages being upgraded, which might mean packages get held back. (thanks @popey for that tip).

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6

The GUI apps are nice but hide useful information. It’s why people advise the terminal as the output is verbose and shows what’s going on.

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7

Now that you have successfully run
sudo apt update
the update information is not outdated any more.

Your output strongly suggests that you system has been quietly updating regularly as intended, and that nothing is wrong.

Do you still have the red triangle?

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8

The red triangle is gone. It is been three hours since I switched on the computer and so far I did not notice it. However it is quite strange that it appeared for weeks and now, without doing anything, is literally vanished and I could make the update.

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