curl problem after ubuntu upgrade

Question

I got a precision 3450 last week with ubuntu 20.04. I immediately upgraded the system to 21.04, but ran into the problem described here , that after a seemingly successful upgrade, the OS doesn't realize that it's at the new version, and therefore e.g. shows incorrect info when queried with 'lsb_release -a' and in particular refuses further upgrades. I traced this problem back to the file /usr/lib/os-release -- which contains version info -- not being upgraded for some reason. The file is part of the package base-files, which is replaced with a new version during the upgrade, but for some reason the upgrade process does not upgrade this specific file even though it's in the package in a new version. I assume this is due to some Dell-specific modification in the pre-installed Ubuntu version? In any case, I managed to solve the problem by over-writing /usr/lib/os-release by hand with the new version. After this I repeated the process and upgraded to 21.10. My first question: I realize that over-writing /usr/ib/os-release by hand is a hack. Is there a better way to upgrade? Or is Dell deliberately blocking this? Anyway, the system is running fine now, except for one problem: when I enter 'curl' on the command line, I get the error message > curl: error while loading shared libraries: libldap_r-2.4.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory This looks like a problem with shared libraries for me. I asked a friend who is running Ubuntu 21.10 on a XPS 13 and has the same versions of curl and libldap, and curl works fine for him. Googling the error message doesn't give any hits, so it seems to be specific to my system. I wonder if it's due to the 'hacky' way that I performed the upgrade, and whether that messed up something with the dynamic linker. But surprisingly, everything else works and I'm running a KDE destkop, chrome, and vscode. Did anybody see anything similar? What can I do to fix curl? And is there some deeper problem in my installation due to the hacky upgrade?

jjonas · Accepted Answer

I solved the problem by uninstalling the packages dca-enabler and dca-enabler-packages. See here .

mazzinia_ · Answer

Tried this ?  sudo apt-get install libldap-2.4-2

speedstep · Answer

@jjonas

Please press the blue Accept as Solution button below if this post answers your question.

Dell only supports their releases and image aka only the version it shipped with. There is enterprise support for what you are asking but that support is not free. Recovery wont work if you erased or re partitioned your drive because the recovery partition is encrypted and cannot be cloned.

Reset Dell OEM Ubuntu Linux to factory state.

Power on the system.
Wait for the onscreen message booting in insecure mode to appear, then press the Esc key on the keyboard once. Note: The message booting in insecure ...
After pressing the Esc key, the GNU GRUB boot loader screen should appear.
Use the down arrow key on the keyboard to highlight the last option, Restore Ubuntu Version Number to factory state , then press the Enter ...
The computer will boot to a Dell Recovery environment.

Use the Dell OS Recovery Tool to create a USB recovery drive that you can use to reinstall the version of Windows or Linux that came with your PC.

The Linux-based computer must have the Startup Disk Creator tool installed.
Blank USB 2.0 FAT32 flash drive with at least 16 GB of free space.
Service Tag of the Dell computer on which you want to install the operating system.
Download the Dell OS Recovery image.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/drivers/osiso/recoverytool

jjonas · Answer

Yes, and it doesn't work since libldap-2.4-2 is not in the 21.10 repos. However, I also downloaded the package by hand and installed it with dpkg. Running curl after that yields the error message

> curl: symbol lookup error: curl: undefined symbol: curl_multi_poll, version URL_OPENSSL_4

More details here.

WizardOfBoz2 · Answer

A complete downgrade, going back to the Dell-approved image seems to be an awfully painful remedy. Further, if the Dell approved approach breaks upgrades (or forces you to wait, or to pay) then I'd prefer a different (i.e. non-Dell) solution. The 3450 was just released 6 months ago and already the Dell software complement is out of date and won't allow you to update? Crazy.

I guess you might have to do this if you have a warranty and this is part of a system that depends upon Dell SW and you want Dell service. For me, instead of trying to retrograde my machine I think I'd just backup the original disks and overwrite the system disk with a clean version of 21.04. And never look back.

My two cents.

jjonas · Answer

I definitely want to avoid reinstalling, that's why I'm asking here. The reinstallation I can figure out on my own. For anyone coming across this thread, I also asked my question on askubuntu.com, you can find more information there .

mazzinia_ · Answer

Very interesting, to read the solution in details.

On a side note, the 2 packages you removed are actually something totally not needed for your usage, I think

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/wyse-wms/wyse-wms_3.0_ag/dell-client-agent?guid=guid-ab6c0a82-f0be-4698-9654-b31802522d12&lang=en-us

WizardOfBoz2 · Answer

So Dell Client Agent Enabler (dca-enabler) was the problem. It is likely not needed for your app. Can someone tell me (I'm clueless, but curious) when dca WOULD be useful?

My understanding is that dca would only be useful if you had a server set up to service thin clients. That is, totally bloatware for a stand-alone workstation. Is this correct, or am I mangling the terminology or meaning?

mazzinia_ · Answer

Slightly not correct

Dca allows clients ( aka workstations with ubuntu installed ) to be remotely managed by a centralized IT desk ( using Wyse Management Suite ).

It's indeed not useful for standalone workstations, while is handy for servicing big installations.

Precision Fixed Workstations

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