Re: dist upgrade nightmare!
Hi,
On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 10:32:42AM -0500, 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.
We know apt-get dist-upgrade usually works but sometimes we need little
action in advance. that is why we have release files.
> 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.
There are many recovery options... But simple ones:
1. Boot from live CD and backup all the data you created!
Now you have 2 options to choose from.
2a. Boot from live CD/installer CD and make repair using chroot mounting
broken system and fixing it from base system.
2b. Make fresh install and make data reinstalled from backup.
2a needs good understanding of shell etc.
2b is simpler.
You should read:
2.6. Recovery from a broken system
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html#_recovery_from_a_broken_system
Osamu
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