Hi.
On Sun, Oct 07, 2018 at 08:14:05AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
It was recommended that I update to Buster.
I started with Debian 9.1.0 installed from purchased DVD1.
[MATE desktop]
I edited sources.list to access online repository.
I then followed the instructions at
[linuxconfig.org/how-to-upgrade-debian-9-stretch-to-debian-10-buster]
as it had everything conveniently shown.
That guide misses so crucial details and so barebone that it even feels
wrong.
I mean, there's the obligatory "backup your system first"?
Where's the warning like "do *NOT* upgrade your system from X session
(VNC included)"?
And last, but not least, "if you do it via ssh, using screen(1) or
tmux(1) is a must. Or get yourself iLO/ILOM/BMC".
But it seems that you've figured out last part already, isn't it ;)?
Everything appeared to go normally up to a point well into the actual downloading of the Buster packages.
That's harmless by itself, unless apt gone further and started
installing the packages.
I temporarily lost my internet connection. After reconnecting apt-get
gave an error message suggesting I use "--fix-missing" IIRC.
Which seems to be the above case.
It appeared to work and boot correctly.
They call Debian "The Universal OS". The part of this universality (sp?)
is Debian's ability to provide you with bootable system even after
numerous deliberate attempts to break it.
Failed upgrade (and it's most likely failed) is one of those cases.
In short, a bootable system proves nothing by itself.
However Gparted no longer appears in the System->Administration menu although Synaptic shows it as installed. I blindly chose to tell
Synaptic to reinstall it.
If synaptic worked for you, it's likely that not everything's lost, and
the upgrade process can be completed.
I installed stretch to another partition which I'm using now.
Is the Buster install repairable?
Depends. I'd start with chrooting into this "another partition" and
doing like something like this: