Upgrade to 25.04 aborts - "no release file"

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Ubuntu Support Template

Ubuntu Version: 24.10

Desktop Environment (if applicable): GNOME

Problem Description:
Repeated attempts to upgrade 24.10 to 25.04 fail. Error message says repository does not have a release file:
W:Repositories should provide a clear-signed InRelease file, but none found at https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu/dists/plucky-apps-security/InRelease.
The error message goes on to list other directories where it cannot find a release file, but this much seems to describe the issue.
It seems to me that esm.ubuntu.com does not have the directories in which the upgrade tool is looking, but beyond that I’m stymied.
Background: there were similar problems updating prior to the failed upgrade attempts but it seemed to me that essential updated were installed anyway.

Relevant System Information:
None that seem relevant to me.

Screenshots or Error Messages:
See above.

What I’ve Tried:
Only what’s described above.

2

pfsodtke - Hello

ESM is an offering for Long Term Support (LTS) releases only.
see: https://ubuntu.com/esm
both 24.10 and 25.04 are interim releases and do not support the expanded support.

Further, 24.10 has been archived to old releases; the repo no longer exists as you once knew it. In order to release-upgrade 24.10 one has to go through the old-releases hoop.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades

If you still desire to release-upgrade to 25.04 please post back your current sources file.

cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

see here what we think might be possible (bad bad ESM).
But hey, it’s Ubuntu - with time and effort and a liveUSB →

-it’s always fixable-

2 Likes
3

Welcome to Ubuntu Discourse :slight_smile:

Please open a terminal and show us the output from the following commands:

sudo pro status
inxi -S
inxi -r

If inxi is not installed, then first sudo apt install inxi

When posting back in a reply, highlight the output and wrap with code tags by clicking on the </> icon in the composer.

Thanks

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Just to build upon bashing-om here, you can more easily disable the ESM repository bits you’ve enabled by doing this:

sudo pro disable esm-infra esm-apps

… then keep in mind the process of updating and upgrading from 24.10 via the old-releases approach.

This way, you won’t get the problem with the ESM bits being attempted either. (Since ESM is only in LTSes, between 24.10 and 25.10 inclusive you will NOT be able to enable or use ESM because it’s not available)

2 Likes
5

Thank you! Thanks also to others who replied. The web page you suggested (EOLUpgrades) was quite helpful. It turns out all I had to do was change the entries in /etc/apt/sources.list so that all the URLs started with old-releases (instead of the part before the first dot). I guessed (correctly as it turns out) that the remaining steps were not needed. I simply tried again from the Software Updater GUI (I’m still not quite comfortable using a terminal unless I have to) and it worked.

I think the problem is now solved because a further upgrade to 25.10 went tickety-boo and checking for updates does not return an error message.

I’m still not sure how the original problem began, but I know I made it worse by repeatedly putting off asking for help. Moral of the story: stop procrastinating. Me: um, sure, I’ll do that next week.

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pfsodtke - \O/

Giod job :smiley:

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