Hi. Today I ran into the dreaded "You are attempting to remove the meta-package 'proxmox-ve'!" error when trying to update a proxmox host from 7.0-11 to latest (7.2).
Here's the history of this system: It was originally installed from a Proxmox VE 6.3 or 6.4 ISO (from https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads). It is configured to use the free no-subscription repo. I upgraded it to Proxmox VE 7.0 last year via the normal upgrade procedure (I forget exactly what that entailed, it was last year). Then for the last 8 months or so it went without updates. Today I tried to update from 7.0 to 7.2 and ran into the error "You are attempting to remove the meta-package 'proxmox-ve'!" (full output in code blocks below). I normally do all updates via the web GUI.
apt dist-upgrade and apt full-upgrade both fail because they're trying to remove the proxmox-ve package.
While troubleshooting, I tried apt upgrade, and that worked to install most of the package updates, but not quite all of them, so now I'm stuck in a partially upgraded state. At least the system still runs and boots. apt upgrade now yields this:
Here's more output that might be helpful in figuring out what is wrong:
I've searched for possible solutions (1, 2, 3, 4, ...) but it seems that most people with this error message were lacking a needed Ceph repository, and I don't think that is the problem here. I have never installed Ceph on this hardware, and it isn't one of the packages that apt wants to remove anyway. Despite this, I tried adding the Ceph Octopus repo then running apt update and apt full-upgrade but it didn't resolve the issue. Here's what I get with Ceph Octopus repo enabled:
I then deleted the ceph.list file and added the Ceph Pacific repo and tried apt update and apt full-upgrade again. Still fails.
Here's the history of this system: It was originally installed from a Proxmox VE 6.3 or 6.4 ISO (from https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads). It is configured to use the free no-subscription repo. I upgraded it to Proxmox VE 7.0 last year via the normal upgrade procedure (I forget exactly what that entailed, it was last year). Then for the last 8 months or so it went without updates. Today I tried to update from 7.0 to 7.2 and ran into the error "You are attempting to remove the meta-package 'proxmox-ve'!" (full output in code blocks below). I normally do all updates via the web GUI.
apt dist-upgrade and apt full-upgrade both fail because they're trying to remove the proxmox-ve package.
While troubleshooting, I tried apt upgrade, and that worked to install most of the package updates, but not quite all of them, so now I'm stuck in a partially upgraded state. At least the system still runs and boots. apt upgrade now yields this:
Code:
root@vmserver2:~# apt upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
libpve-access-control libpve-common-perl libpve-rs-perl
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.Here's more output that might be helpful in figuring out what is wrong:
Code:
root@vmserver2:~# apt update
Hit:1 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian bullseye InRelease
Hit:2 http://security.debian.org bullseye-security InRelease
Hit:3 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates InRelease
Hit:4 http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bullseye InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
9 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
root@vmserver2:~# apt list --upgradeable
Listing... Done
libpve-access-control/stable 7.2-2 all [upgradable from: 7.0-4]
libpve-common-perl/stable 7.2-2 all [upgradable from: 7.0-9]
libpve-guest-common-perl/stable 4.1-2 all [upgradable from: 4.0-2]
libpve-rs-perl/stable 0.6.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 0.2.3]
libpve-storage-perl/stable 7.2-5 all [upgradable from: 7.0-11]
pve-container/stable 4.2-1 all [upgradable from: 4.0-10]
pve-manager/stable 7.2-5 amd64 [upgradable from: 7.0-11]
pve-qemu-kvm/stable 6.2.0-10 amd64 [upgradable from: 6.0.0-4]
qemu-server/stable 7.2-3 amd64 [upgradable from: 7.0-14]
root@vmserver2:~# apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
proxmox-ve pve-container pve-ha-manager pve-manager qemu-server
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libproxmox-rs-perl
The following packages will be upgraded:
libpve-access-control libpve-common-perl libpve-rs-perl
3 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 5 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1471 kB of archives.
After this operation, 9768 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
W: (pve-apt-hook) !! WARNING !!
W: (pve-apt-hook) You are attempting to remove the meta-package 'proxmox-ve'!
W: (pve-apt-hook)
W: (pve-apt-hook) If you really want to permanently remove 'proxmox-ve' from your system, run the following command
W: (pve-apt-hook) touch '/please-remove-proxmox-ve'
W: (pve-apt-hook) run apt purge proxmox-ve to remove the meta-package
W: (pve-apt-hook) and repeat your apt invocation.
W: (pve-apt-hook)
W: (pve-apt-hook) If you are unsure why 'proxmox-ve' would be removed, please verify
W: (pve-apt-hook) - your APT repository settings
W: (pve-apt-hook) - that you are using 'apt full-upgrade' to upgrade your system
E: Sub-process /usr/share/proxmox-ve/pve-apt-hook returned an error code (1)
E: Failure running script /usr/share/proxmox-ve/pve-apt-hook
root@vmserver2:~# pveversion -v
proxmox-ve: 7.2-1 (running kernel: 5.15.35-3-pve)
pve-manager: 7.0-11 (running version: 7.0-11/63d82f4e)
pve-kernel-5.15: 7.2-5
pve-kernel-helper: 7.2-5
pve-kernel-5.11: 7.0-10
pve-kernel-5.4: 6.4-5
pve-kernel-5.15.35-3-pve: 5.15.35-6
pve-kernel-5.11.22-7-pve: 5.11.22-12
pve-kernel-5.11.22-5-pve: 5.11.22-10
pve-kernel-5.11.22-1-pve: 5.11.22-2
pve-kernel-5.4.128-1-pve: 5.4.128-1
pve-kernel-5.4.106-1-pve: 5.4.106-1
ceph-fuse: 15.2.16-pve1
corosync: 3.1.5-pve2
criu: 3.15-1+pve-1
glusterfs-client: 9.2-1
ifupdown: residual config
ifupdown2: 3.1.0-1+pmx3
ksm-control-daemon: 1.4-1
libjs-extjs: 7.0.0-1
libknet1: 1.24-pve1
libproxmox-acme-perl: 1.4.2
libproxmox-backup-qemu0: 1.3.1-1
libpve-access-control: 7.0-4
libpve-apiclient-perl: 3.2-1
libpve-common-perl: 7.0-9
libpve-guest-common-perl: 4.0-2
libpve-http-server-perl: 4.1-2
libpve-storage-perl: 7.0-11
libqb0: 1.0.5-1
libspice-server1: 0.14.3-2.1
lvm2: 2.03.11-2.1
lxc-pve: 4.0.12-1
lxcfs: 4.0.12-pve1
novnc-pve: 1.3.0-3
proxmox-backup-client: 2.2.3-1
proxmox-backup-file-restore: 2.2.3-1
proxmox-mini-journalreader: 1.3-1
proxmox-widget-toolkit: 3.5.1
pve-cluster: 7.2-1
pve-container: 4.0-10
pve-docs: 7.2-2
pve-edk2-firmware: 3.20210831-2
pve-firewall: 4.2-5
pve-firmware: 3.4-2
pve-ha-manager: 3.3-4
pve-i18n: 2.7-2
pve-qemu-kvm: 6.0.0-4
pve-xtermjs: 4.16.0-1
qemu-server: 7.0-14
smartmontools: 7.2-pve3
spiceterm: 3.2-2
vncterm: 1.7-1
zfsutils-linux: 2.1.4-pve1I've searched for possible solutions (1, 2, 3, 4, ...) but it seems that most people with this error message were lacking a needed Ceph repository, and I don't think that is the problem here. I have never installed Ceph on this hardware, and it isn't one of the packages that apt wants to remove anyway. Despite this, I tried adding the Ceph Octopus repo then running apt update and apt full-upgrade but it didn't resolve the issue. Here's what I get with Ceph Octopus repo enabled:
Code:
root@vmserver2:~# apt update
Hit:1 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian bullseye InRelease
Hit:2 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://security.debian.org bullseye-security InRelease
Hit:4 http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bullseye InRelease
Get:5 http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-octopus bullseye InRelease [2,891 B]
Get:6 http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-octopus bullseye/main amd64 Packages [42.9 kB]
Fetched 45.8 kB in 1s (38.6 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
18 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
root@vmserver2:~# apt list --upgradeable
Listing... Done
ceph-common/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
libcephfs2/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
libpve-access-control/stable 7.2-2 all [upgradable from: 7.0-4]
libpve-common-perl/stable 7.2-2 all [upgradable from: 7.0-9]
libpve-guest-common-perl/stable 4.1-2 all [upgradable from: 4.0-2]
libpve-rs-perl/stable 0.6.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 0.2.3]
libpve-storage-perl/stable 7.2-5 all [upgradable from: 7.0-11]
librados2/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
libradosstriper1/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
librbd1/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
pve-container/stable 4.2-1 all [upgradable from: 4.0-10]
pve-manager/stable 7.2-5 amd64 [upgradable from: 7.0-11]
pve-qemu-kvm/stable 6.2.0-10 amd64 [upgradable from: 6.0.0-4]
python3-ceph-argparse/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
python3-cephfs/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
python3-rados/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
python3-rbd/stable 15.2.16-pve1 amd64 [upgradable from: 14.2.21-1]
qemu-server/stable 7.2-3 amd64 [upgradable from: 7.0-14]
root@vmserver2:~# apt full-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
proxmox-ve pve-container pve-ha-manager pve-manager qemu-server
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libproxmox-rs-perl
The following packages have been kept back:
libcephfs2 python3-ceph-argparse python3-cephfs python3-rados
The following packages will be upgraded:
libpve-access-control libpve-common-perl libpve-rs-perl
3 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 5 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,471 kB of archives.
After this operation, 9,768 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
W: (pve-apt-hook) !! WARNING !!
W: (pve-apt-hook) You are attempting to remove the meta-package 'proxmox-ve'!
W: (pve-apt-hook)
W: (pve-apt-hook) If you really want to permanently remove 'proxmox-ve' from your system, run the following command
W: (pve-apt-hook) touch '/please-remove-proxmox-ve'
W: (pve-apt-hook) run apt purge proxmox-ve to remove the meta-package
W: (pve-apt-hook) and repeat your apt invocation.
W: (pve-apt-hook)
W: (pve-apt-hook) If you are unsure why 'proxmox-ve' would be removed, please verify
W: (pve-apt-hook) - your APT repository settings
W: (pve-apt-hook) - that you are using 'apt full-upgrade' to upgrade your system
E: Sub-process /usr/share/proxmox-ve/pve-apt-hook returned an error code (1)
E: Failure running script /usr/share/proxmox-ve/pve-apt-hookI then deleted the ceph.list file and added the Ceph Pacific repo and tried apt update and apt full-upgrade again. Still fails.
