The precompiled versions of emc2 are only compatible with Ubuntu 8.04 and
Ubuntu 6.06. Upgrading to 8.10 will remove the emc packages and make your
system unable to run emc.
Why aren't there packages for Ubuntu 8.10?
We have chosen to use 8.04 because it's a "long term support" (LTS) release. If
you use it, you can be sure of support and security fixes from the Ubuntu team
for 3-5 years. However, we would be happy to accept and host packages for other
versions if a user/developer of emc2 wishes to contribute them.
(originally posted on the AXIS blog)