apt-get update -y generates "invoke-rc.d: could not determine current runlevel"

Trying to run either an "apt-get update -y" and I keep getting some sort of error, any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

root@ubuntu:~# cat /etc/issue Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS \n \l root@ubuntu:~# lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS Release: 18.04 Codename: bionic root@ubuntu:~# uname -a Linux ubuntu 3.10.105 #25426 SMP Wed Jul 8 03:19:33 CST 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux root@ubuntu:~# apt-key list /etc/apt/trusted.gpg -------------------- pub rsa2048 2011-08-03 [SC] [expires: 2025-07-27] 30EB F4E7 3CCE 63EE E124 DD27 8E6D A8B4 E158 C569 uid [ unknown] Samuli Seppänen (OpenVPN Technologies, Inc) <> sub rsa2048 2011-08-03 [E] [expires: 2025-07-27] /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ubuntu-keyring-2012-archive.gpg ------------------------------------------------------ pub rsa4096 2012-05-11 [SC] 790B C727 7767 219C 42C8 6F93 3B4F E6AC C0B2 1F32 uid [ unknown] Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key (2012) <> /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ubuntu-keyring-2012-cdimage.gpg ------------------------------------------------------ pub rsa4096 2012-05-11 [SC] 8439 38DF 228D 22F7 B374 2BC0 D94A A3F0 EFE2 1092 uid [ unknown] Ubuntu CD Image Automatic Signing Key (2012) <> /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ubuntu-keyring-2018-archive.gpg ------------------------------------------------------ pub rsa4096 2018-09-17 [SC] F6EC B376 2474 EDA9 D21B 7022 8719 20D1 991B C93C uid [ unknown] Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key (2018) <> root@ubuntu:~# cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openvpn-aptrepo.list deb bionic main root@ubuntu:/# openvpn --version OpenVPN 2.4.9 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [MH/PKTINFO] [AEAD] built on Oct 30 2019 library versions: OpenSSL 1.1.1 11 Sep 2018, LZO 2.08 Originally developed by James Yonan Copyright (C) 2002-2018 OpenVPN Inc <> Compile time defines: enable_async_push=no enable_comp_stub=no enable_crypto=yes enable_crypto_ofb_cfb=yes enable_debug=yes enable_def_auth=yes enable_dependency_tracking=no enable_dlopen=unknown enable_dlopen_self=unknown enable_dlopen_self_static=unknown enable_fast_install=needless enable_fragment=yes enable_iproute2=yes enable_libtool_lock=yes enable_lz4=yes enable_lzo=yes enable_maintainer_mode=no enable_management=yes enable_multihome=yes enable_pam_dlopen=no enable_pedantic=no enable_pf=yes enable_pkcs11=yes enable_plugin_auth_pam=yes enable_plugin_down_root=yes enable_plugins=yes enable_port_share=yes enable_selinux=no enable_server=yes enable_shared=yes enable_shared_with_static_runtimes=no enable_silent_rules=no enable_small=no enable_static=yes enable_strict=no enable_strict_options=no enable_systemd=yes enable_werror=no enable_win32_dll=yes enable_x509_alt_username=yes with_aix_soname=aix with_crypto_library=openssl with_gnu_ld=yes with_mem_check=no with_sysroot=no root@ubuntu:/# apt-get -y Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done openvpn is already the newest version (2.4.9-bionic0). 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. 1 not fully installed or removed. After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used. Setting up openvpn (2.4.9-bionic0) ... invoke-rc.d: could not determine current runlevel invoke-rc.d: policy-rc.d denied execution of cond-restart. /var/lib/dpkg/info/openvpn.postinst: 63: /var/lib/dpkg/info/openvpn.postinst: file: not found dpkg: error processing package openvpn (--configure): installed openvpn package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: openvpn E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) root@ubuntu:~# 

1 Answer

You seem to be inventing a problem that does not exist.

Here are the current versions of openvpn for each release of Ubuntu:

$ rmadison openvpn openvpn | 2.2.1-8ubuntu1 | precise | source, amd64, armel, armhf, i386, powerpc openvpn | 2.2.1-8ubuntu1.4 | precise-security | source, amd64, armel, armhf, i386, powerpc openvpn | 2.2.1-8ubuntu1.4 | precise-updates | source, amd64, armel, armhf, i386, powerpc openvpn | 2.3.2-7ubuntu3 | trusty | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el openvpn | 2.3.2-7ubuntu3.2 | trusty-security | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el openvpn | 2.3.2-7ubuntu3.2 | trusty-updates | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el openvpn | 2.3.10-1ubuntu2 | xenial | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el, s390x openvpn | 2.3.10-1ubuntu2.1 | xenial-security | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el, s390x openvpn | 2.3.10-1ubuntu2.2 | xenial-updates | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el, s390x openvpn | 2.4.4-2ubuntu1 | bionic | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el, s390x openvpn | 2.4.4-2ubuntu1.3 | bionic-updates | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el, s390x openvpn | 2.4.4-2ubuntu1.4 | bionic-proposed | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el, s390x openvpn | 2.4.7-1ubuntu2 | focal | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x openvpn | 2.4.7-1ubuntu2.20.04.1 | focal-proposed | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x openvpn | 2.4.9-3ubuntu1 | groovy | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x 

Note that older releases don't get newer versions. For newer software, use a newer release of Ubuntu.

• Older releases DO get security patches; older releases are safe to use.

Next, let's look upstream at Debian, and see the recent OpenVPN uploads:

[2020-08-16] Accepted openvpn 2.5~beta1-3 (source) into experimental

This means that a Debian volunteer has packaged OpenVPN 2.5, and uploaded it to Debian for testing. These newly-uploaded packages will be in a future release of Ubuntu...

...Probably not 20.10, though. Debian Import Freeze for 20.10 is August 27, 2020. Testing is unlikely to be completed so quickly.