When Upgrading Screen Shuts Off and On

[RFKiller]

I am using a brand new installation of Kali, and when I upgrade or dist-upgrade after the fresh installation then my screen proceeds to turn off, then back on with only a mouse cursor. When I reboot after the failed upgrade the same thing happens. Which means I automatically have to do another installation because I can't even get to a login prompt. Anyone else having this issue?

[_defalt]

Show the output of cat /etc/apt/sources.list

[RFKiller]

Show the output of cat /etc/apt/sources.list

root@kali:~# cat /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free
deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free

Do you need anything else?

[_defalt]

Correct your repositories:
deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free

[RFKiller]

But why would not want the source files along with the binaries? I will edit the sources.list file and upgrade. But I don't see why the source would cause problems. The binaries are built from source.

[RFKiller]

It looks like that was a workaround. It works for now, but it's not a solution. Why does downloading the source code plus the binaries result in non-usable OS, when just the binaries work fine?

[_defalt]

That was not a workaround. It is a solution. You were downloading and unpacking packages from an incorrect repository. Consider yourself safe as it didn't crash your kernel else it could have been gone worse. Kernel implicitly trust the sources of repositories.

[_defalt]

Why does downloading the source code plus the binaries result in non-usable OS, when just the binaries work fine?

Downloading wrong packages for your OS would make it unusable.

[RFKiller]

But they aren't wrong packages. They are official Kali rolling source. And I have used Kali since its birth with both binary packages and their source. So why would it suddenly break? And why would it be listed in the sources.list file?

P.S.: a kernel panic would have made no difference. I had to do a fresh installation every time I tried to upgrade anyways.

[_defalt]

Offensive security made the second source obsolete with the release of kali rolling 2016.2. You should read kali-linux documentation and keep yourself updated with new changes.

The source you are calling official is not official at all and using that may crash your kernel. Kali rolling has only one official repository which is:

deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free

why would it be listed in the sources.list file

Your sources.list file is not controlled by offensive security. You can add and remove whatever link you want. In kali-linux documentation it is strictly written what repositories are being used for kali rolling. I can't find yours in it.

[RFKiller]

Offensive security made the second source obsolete with the release of kali rolling 2016.2. You should read kali-linux documentation and keep yourself updated with new changes.

The source you are calling official is not official at all and using that may crash your kernel. Kali rolling has only one official repository which is:

deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free


Your sources.list file is not controlled by offensive security. You can add and remove whatever link you want. In kali-linux documentation it is strictly written what repositories are being used for kali rolling. I can't find yours in it.

Exactly. And http://docs.kali.org/general-use/kal...t-repositories shows that deb-src is in the sources.list file by default. It specifically uses

deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free
# For source package access, uncomment the following line
# deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free

which tells me it IS an official Kali Linux repository. They wouldn't put a repository in the sources.list if it was going to bork the system every time. And you build a binary directly from source. So why would building from source break my laptop when the binaries build from said source work just fine?

By the way, thanks for taking your time to help me out. I just don't understand why the deb packages work but the same deb-src packages don't.

[_defalt]

Linux allows you to build packages directly from the source. For installing from source, you need to build the source code yourself. That means you need to take care of the dependencies yourself. Also you need to be aware of all the features of the package so that you can build it accordingly. I don't generally recommend to use this source unless you are yourself a developer and want to re-compile the source code. Using it without taking care of dependencies will produce conflicts between the binary package and source package. Commenting it again makes your OS smoother to upgrade. It's official.

[RFKiller]

Thank you for explaining that to me. In the decade I have been using various Linux distros I have never heard/read that before; however I use Linux for programming and web design mostly and occasionally want to learn/test security too. But I've also never had a problem using the deb-src repos with Debian/Ubuntu before.