Bug#1111043: upgrade-reports: Diverted /etc/os-release means a trixie upgrade doesn't seem to be trixie
Package: upgrade-reports
Severity: normal
X-Debbugs-Cc: last.rain1438@fastmail.com
(Please provide enough information to help the Debian
maintainers evaluate the report efficiently - e.g., by filling
in the sections below.)
My previous release is: bookworm
I am upgrading to: trixie
Archive date: ?
Upgrade date: 2025-08-13
uname -a before upgrade: (unavailable)
uname -a after upgrade: Linux zothique 6.12.38+deb13-amd64 #1 SMP
PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.38-1 (2025-07-16) x86_64 GNU/Linux (this is after
problem was remediated manually
Method: followed instructions at
https://www.debian.org/releases/trixie/release-notes/upgrading.en.html
Contents of /etc/apt/sources.list:
I removed /etc/apt/sources.list completely and replaced it with debian.sources
per instructions
- Were there any non-Debian packages installed before the upgrade? If
so, what were they?
no
- Was the system pre-update a 'pure' system only containing packages
from the previous release? If not, which packages were not from that
release?
yes
- Did any packages fail to upgrade?
no
- Were there any problems with the system after upgrading?
yes
The problem was simple: when I ran a tool such as "neofetch" it said I was
still on "bookworm." Looking around /etc/ I discovered that /etc/os-release
was a regular file (not a symlink) which contained the following:
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="12"
VERSION="12 (bookworm)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/";
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support";
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/";
IMAGE_ID=live
BUILD_ID=20241109T101058Z
I learned from commenters on reddit that this was one of the "base-files"
package. Messing with dpkg -l I discovered that this had been "diverted" so
that the symlink which was supposed to be there was at /etc/os-
release.debootstrap . I removed the file /etc/os-release manually and ran
"sudo dpkg-divert --remove --rename /etc/os-release" to un-divert the file, and
that fixed it.
I don't know why that diversion happened; it was probably that way ever since I
first installed the system. However, it would have been helpful if in the
process of upgrading to trixie, that diversion were removed so that /etc/os-
release could accurately reflect the system. The fact that that didn't happen
and I was left with an inaccurate /etc/os-release is the substance of the bug
report.
Further Comments/Problems:
Please attach the output of "COLUMNS=200 dpkg -l" (or "env COLUMNS ...",
depending on your shell) from before and after the upgrade so that we
know what packages were installed on your system.
I didn't do this before the upgrade, and I'm skipping it now since I'm pretty
sure that would be irrelevant to the bug report but I can provide this info for
my current system on request.
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