diff -Nru update-manager-18.10.10/debian/changelog update-manager-18.10.10.1/debian/changelog
--- update-manager-18.10.10/debian/changelog	2018-10-04 19:06:35.000000000 +0000
+++ update-manager-18.10.10.1/debian/changelog	2019-01-14 21:37:11.000000000 +0000
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+update-manager (1:18.10.10.1) cosmic; urgency=medium
+
+  * UpdateManager/Core/MetaRelease.py: set prompt in MetaReleaseCore so that
+    do-release-upgrade can provide more informative error messages.
+    (LP: #1798618, LP: #1795024)
+
+ -- Brian Murray <brian@ubuntu.com>  Mon, 14 Jan 2019 13:37:11 -0800
+
 update-manager (1:18.10.10) cosmic; urgency=medium
 
   * Stop lazy import of InstallBackends.
diff -Nru update-manager-18.10.10/UpdateManager/Core/MetaRelease.py update-manager-18.10.10.1/UpdateManager/Core/MetaRelease.py
--- update-manager-18.10.10/UpdateManager/Core/MetaRelease.py	2018-10-04 19:06:35.000000000 +0000
+++ update-manager-18.10.10.1/UpdateManager/Core/MetaRelease.py	2019-01-14 21:37:09.000000000 +0000
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@
         self.current_dist_name = get_dist()
         self.current_dist_version = get_dist_version()
         self.no_longer_supported = None
+        self.prompt = None
 
         # default (if the conf file is missing)
         base_uri = "https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/"
@@ -146,11 +147,13 @@
             if parser.has_option("DEFAULT", "Prompt"):
                 prompt = parser.get("DEFAULT", "Prompt").lower()
                 if (prompt == "never" or prompt == "no"):
+                    self.prompt = 'never'
                     # nothing to do for this object
                     # FIXME: what about no longer supported?
                     self.downloaded.set()
                     return
                 elif prompt == "lts":
+                    self.prompt = 'lts'
                     # the Prompt=lts setting only makes sense when running on
                     # a LTS, otherwise it would result in users not receiving
                     # any distro upgrades
@@ -159,6 +162,8 @@
                         self.METARELEASE_URI = self.METARELEASE_URI_LTS
                     else:
                         self._debug("Prompt=lts for non-LTS, ignoring")
+                else:
+                    self.prompt = 'normal'
         # needed for the _tryUpgradeSelf() code in DistUpgradeController
         if forceLTS:
             self.METARELEASE_URI = self.METARELEASE_URI_LTS