I have learned that when an update pops up a message that it wants to remove a package and not update it, that my update will break. Given this is a firmware plugin, I fear removing it may break my system badly.
Is anybody else getting this message? Is there a work around like when it wanted to remove Kdevelop recently?
That is not necessarily true, a package will be removed for many reasons that will not break the system. Especially considering the posts regarding the firmware update in the latest packages breaking the update process itself I have read a couple of times. This could be a replacement/removal of a problem package to solve something like that. Also these firmware updates are a convenience not a necessity for the most part they can be done by other means if absolutely necessary. You should always be doing a good backup plan that has been tested and confirmed to be working in the case of possible breakage during an update. To test what is going to happen when it removes it open a Konsole window to type in then enter sudo apt -s remove libfwupdplugin5, this will simulate the removal of the package to tell you what will happen if it is removed.
Edit: The sudo apt -s full-upgrade command typed in then hit enter will show the simulated entire upgrade process so you can check everything to be done.
Edit2: Removal of the -s from either command will actually have it done to the system, either the removal or upgrade depending on the command obviously.
Running the dummy remove seems to show that it is broken, and after removing it, 4 other packages will be installed, but then these are broken too? I am concerned. This sort of “want to remove” oddity has shown up 3 or 4 times in the past couple of years, and each time it has broken my system, so I am wary of running this update until I understand what is going on.
On another note, this update is way too large for all at once, as it includes a kernel and gpu drivers, and is over 500mb in size. This update is scaring me. My gut says if I run this I wont have a usable system when its done. Given I have not had any recent Live NEON ISO successfully start in the past 6 months, I am not even sure I can re-install neon. The only ISO that will run at the moment is Kubuntu 23.10.
Starting 2 pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 1
Investigating (0) fwupd:amd64 < 1.7.9-1~22.04.3 → 1.9.7-1+22.04+jammy+release+build1 @ii uU Ib >
Broken fwupd:amd64 Depends on libflashrom1:amd64 < none | 1.2-5build1 @un uH >
Considering libflashrom1:amd64 1 as a solution to fwupd:amd64 109
…
The following additional packages will be installed:
fwupd gir1.2-fwupd-2.0 libflashrom1 libftdi1-2 libfwupd-dev libfwupd2 libprotobuf-c1
Recommended packages:
jq
The following packages will be REMOVED:
libfwupdplugin5
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libflashrom1 libftdi1-2 libprotobuf-c1
The following packages will be upgraded:
fwupd gir1.2-fwupd-2.0 libfwupd-dev libfwupd2
4 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 1 to remove and 406 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Yes I can see why you would be reluctant to do it. You are using the neon user edition I would think from the size of that update. I have just been playing around with it today and the entire KDE gets updated with that. You get the 5.27.10 for the Plasma, the Frameworks goes to 114, the QT to 5.15.12 and the KDE Gear apps get upgraded to the 23.08.4 versions.
If you get the new version 6.?? version of the ubuntu kernel then that thing breaks more than a few packages with the new apparmor security model, I spent couple of days finding the solution to that one so my programs would start again. This is why I mentioned working backups before they are extremely important for when people do bonehead things like breaking people installs by making large untested changes to the OS like that. I am lucky well paranoid really as I have duplicate spare machine that all testing gets done on and my scripts I made for the backup and restore work flawlessly. Not sure what to tell you on how to proceed do you have method to backup the install?
With neon upgrading fwupd packages to a current version, the existing libfwupdplugin5 is no longer used.
From a changelog:
fwupd (1.8.6-1) unstable; urgency=medium
* New upstream version (1.8.6)
- Notable change upstream is that libfwupdplugin is no longer a library
that is available for developing out-of-tree plugins. All plugins are
now linked into an internal library distributed in the fwupd package.
So, scary as it may look, it is perfectly normal.
Thanks Claydoh, I missed that when I was looking over the packages.
It isn’t obvious, though, since the upgraded libfwupd2 is a part of fwupd, even in the previous version. I thought that it was replacing libfwupdplugin5, so I didn’t worry about it until I saw this post. A little research and asking around cleared it up.
This update is a bit confusing as I already updated to 5.27.10 a couple of weeks ago, and kernel 6.5 last week. Fortunately I have had no trouble with the latest kernel, though some over at the Kubuntu group on FB have had some issues. I guess I was a bit shocked at how extensive this update is while not actually replacing Plasma et al as well.
It recommends installing “jq”. Is this important? It is a javascript processor I believe. Anyway, I am downloading the most recent LIVE ISO image and will see if it stays stable, as the last few I have downloaded keep crashing shortly after arriving at the desktop. If it works, I will give the update a go.
The last big batch was from Frameworks and Qt upgrades, not from Plasma itself.
The 6.5 kernel seems to have been problematic on some hardware across distros.
Yeah, I heard Debian was most effected by the new 6.5. Anyway, thanks for the boost in confidence. I have a saying “I would rather be paranoid than right”. 
I downloaded the latest ISO and quickly tested it, which seems to work again but is really slow, so it is nice to know I can reinstall again.
I then ran “apt autoremove”, rebooted and ran the update, which then got even weirder. The number of packages (406) to be replaced was the same, but now the download size went down from 500mb to 350, and it kicked up a PPG signature error which I tracked down to be from the Brave Browser PPA, which I thought I had purged.
I ignored the error and ran the update and all seems fine. As long as Davinci Resolve and my photography tools work nothing else matters, and they do.
So, whew. Thanks again guys!
You are welcome, good to read you have it sorted.
This suggests you should be using btrfs. Reverting an update takes moments and a reboot.