What are e2fsprogs and libss2?

[D. Strout]

The first time I run apt-get dist-upgrade on an OpenVZ VPS, these two packages, e2fsprogs and libss2, are installed. What are they, why are they installed as part of this upgrade, and why don't they come "standard" in Ubuntu OpenVZ templates? Are they needed or not?

 

[AMDbuilder]

I suspect you can find the answer to your questions here:

http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/

https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/libss2

 

[NickM]

Something you have installed has a new version in the repositories, and it has a new dependency on those packages.  The new packages are being installed, of course, because you're doing dist-upgrade rather than upgrade.  Do an apt-get upgrade, and check which packages are being held back.  Those are the ones responsible for the new dependencies.