Re: dist upgrade nightmare!
On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 10:32:42AM EST, Jude DaShiell wrote:
> I tried taking a friend's machine from lenny to squeeze and it turned
> into a disaster. As a consequence of the attempt his entire package
> update and repair systems are broken. apt-get -f install can't fix
> anything and dpkg --configure -a can't fix anything anymore and as
> a consequence of those two acts, it's impossible to update his
> system. I can't even downgrade back to lenny! What I would like to
> know is if emergency procedures exist that can clear the mess out that
> these operations created and get the system back to some known state.
> I wouldn't mind this so much if the upgrade had simply failed but
> a system breaking like this where even though useable with the
> squeeze kernel on it is there nothing can be installed or uninstalled
> with apt-get and aptitude apparently got turned into a zombi placed
> in not fully installed or uninstalled or deferred status. If I had
> done this to my own computer that would be one thing, but this is
> a computer of a friend and I don't appreciate these tools for having
> ended up leaving this kind of damage.
Hey Jude,
Sorry to hear about that.
Whether upgrading your own system or your friend's, the correct upgrade
procedure is as follows:
1. Clone your existing system to a new partition¹
2. Update your booloader so you have access the clone
2. Read the release notes, etc.
3. From the clone, run the update, upgrade, dist-upgrade procedure
4. Test the resulting system for a couple of days.
5. Delete the old system if you need to reclaim the disk space
In any case, there is _always_ a quick painless way to ‘downgrade back
to lenny’.. such as restoring from the full backup you made prior to
running the dist-upgrade.
As others have said, booting off a rescue disc and backing up anything
worth saving is still an option. Reinstalling and restoring the user
data shouldn't be difficult.
Cheers,
cj
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