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Time to upgrade!

2007.10.22

I'm currently upgrading a Linux box at work from Dapper to Gutsy.  From what I gather, update-manager is the recommended path, which means Dapper -> Edgy -> Feisty -> Gutsy.  However, this isn't a big deal.  I mirror all of these at work with apt-mirror anyway, so downloads are fast.  Here's what I do:


  • Edit sources.list to use my mirror
  • Change dapper to edgy: %s/dapper/edgy/g
  • sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade --download-only
  • Change dapper to edgy: %s/edgy/feisty/g
  • sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade --download-only
  • Change dapper to edgy: %s/feisty/gutsy/g
  • sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade --download-only
  • Now we have several GB of deb packages, no problem, though.
  • Replace sources.list with original
  • sudo update-manager -c
  • Repeat for Feisty and Gutsy
  • Reboot and cross fingers
The neatest part is that I don't have to be there for any of this, I just tunnel it all over ssh.  For the most part, the user can even keep using the machine (though I've found that Firefox upgrades trip current FF sessions up a bit.)  Anyway, it's a very handy way to upgrade.