This is reproducible as well with 'apt-get dist-upgrade'; ubuntu- release-upgrader simply bails instead of letting a "wrong" upgrade path be calculated, but the removal of unity is reproducible with simple apt- get.
We can hint more strongly to apt that unity should be upgraded and unity-common should be removed by adding an additional Breaks: unity- common (<< 7.1.2) from another unity package lower in the stack - such as libunity9. ** Package changed: ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu) => libunity (Ubuntu) ** Changed in: libunity (Ubuntu) Assignee: Canonical Foundations Team (canonical-foundations) => Steve Langasek (vorlon) ** Also affects: libunity (Ubuntu Saucy) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of DX Packages, which is subscribed to libunity in Ubuntu. Matching subscriptions: dx-packages https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1241420 Title: unity held back if ubuntu-desktop is not installed during upgrade from raring to saucy (upgrade fails) Status in “libunity” package in Ubuntu: Triaged Status in “libunity” source package in Saucy: New Bug description: TEST CASE: 1. On a minimal installation of Ubuntu Raring install unity (without ubuntu-desktop) 2. Run: do-release-upgrade -m desktop ACTUAL RESULT: The system cannot upgrade because unity is removed due to the followinf resolution: Investigating (0) libunity-core-6.0-8 [ amd64 ] < none -> 7.1.2+13.10.20131014.1-0ubuntu1 > ( libs ) Broken libunity-core-6.0-8:amd64 Conflicts on unity-common [ amd64 ] < 7.0.0daily13.06.19~13.04-0ubuntu1 > ( gnome ) Considering unity-common:amd64 3 as a solution to libunity-core-6.0-8:amd64 2 Holding Back libunity-core-6.0-8:amd64 rather than change unity-common:amd64 [...] Investigating (0) unity [ amd64 ] < 7.0.0daily13.06.19~13.04-0ubuntu1 -> 7.1.2+13.10.20131014.1-0ubuntu1 > ( gnome ) Broken unity:amd64 Depends on libunity-core-6.0-8 [ amd64 ] < none -> 7.1.2+13.10.20131014.1-0ubuntu1 > ( libs ) (= 7.1.2+13.10.20131014.1-0ubuntu1) Considering libunity-core-6.0-8:amd64 2 as a solution to unity:amd64 0 Removing unity:amd64 rather than change libunity-core-6.0-8:amd64 Original Report /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log 2013-10-18 10:25:25,166 DEBUG blacklist expr 'unity$' matches 'unity' 2013-10-18 10:25:25,166 DEBUG The package 'unity' is marked for removal but it's in the removal blacklist 2013-10-18 10:25:59,444 ERROR Dist-upgrade failed: 'The package 'unity' is marked for removal but it is in the removal blacklist.' I have not installed the xorg-edgers ppa (only gnome3 from gnome3-team). ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04 Package: ubuntu-release-upgrader-core 1:0.192.13 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-31.46-generic 3.8.13.8 Uname: Linux 3.8.0-31-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8.3 Architecture: amd64 CrashDB: ubuntu Date: Fri Oct 18 10:26:09 2013 InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-11-09 (708 days ago) InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012) MarkForUpload: True PackageArchitecture: all SourcePackage: ubuntu-release-upgrader UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-10-18 (0 days ago) VarLogDistupgradeTermlog: To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libunity/+bug/1241420/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dx-packages Post to : dx-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dx-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp