Re: unhappy upgrade
On Sun, 3 Oct 2021 12:49:12 -0400
"Roy J. Tellason, Sr." <roy@rtellason.com> wrote:
> On Sunday 03 October 2021 12:11:13 am Patrick Bartek wrote:
> > On Sat, 2 Oct 2021 11:57:51 -0400
> > "Roy J. Tellason, Sr." <roy@rtellason.com> wrote:
> >
> > > In recent messaging here I touched on how I'd determined that my
> > > workstation was way behind being current. Apparently I needed to
> > > go 8->9->10->11. I tried the first of those steps, and things
> > > did not go well in a number of ways...
> >
> > First, back up all your data before starting the dist-upgrade
> > series.
>
> I did back up a bunch of stuff, and it's a good thing I did, or I
> would have lost a lot...
>
> > Also, read and follow the Release Notes of dist-upgrade for each
> > version.
>
> Where are these to be found?
https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes
https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch/releasenotes
https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/releasenotes
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/releasenotes (Bullseye)
Here's the main document page:
https://www.debian.org/doc/
> > Reboot after each version upgrade, then do an apt-get
> > update/upgrade, etc.
>
> Are you suggesting that I go through that for all of the versions,
> one after another?
Yes. You want to make sure that each version is fully up to date
BEFORE dist-upgrading to the next.
Also, check that the repo sources list is correct for each version.
> > > For some reason, the software decided to remove virtualbox.
> > > Which is a real problem, because it's inside a virtual machine
> > > that I do all of my mail, so I couldn't get at my mail for a
> > > while. In Synaptic Package Manager if I try to install it I get
> > > the following error message:
> > >
> > > "Package virtualbox has no available version, but exists in the
> > > database. This typically means that the package was mentioned in
> > > a dependency and never uploaded, has been obsoleted or is not
> > > available with the contents of sources.list"
> > >
> > > I got temporarily past this by installing 8 on this laptop I'm
> > > currently typimg on. Some things are decidedly less convenient.
> >
> > Complete the dist-upgrade for all versions, then reinstall
> > VirtualBox. Be sure you saved all your VMs before the
> > dist-upgrade(s). They may be deleted.
>
> Yes, I did save them and will do so again before I proceed, since
> I'm modifying this one as I type here...
> > I don't use the VB version in the Debian repos, but download and
> > install the .deb directly from their web site. During the install
> > the VB repo will be set up.
>
> I did do a download from their site. But it's not clear to me where
> I need to put it and how to tell the package management software
> about it.
Did you download the .deb file of it? You can use dpkg to install, but
it won't automatically take care of dependencies. I use gdebi-core, a
command line utility, that will install the .deb file correctly and
install any dependencies. You must be root to install.
> > > Firefox is majorly different, apparently having gone from 68.9.0
> > > --> 78.14.0esr. It no longer uses the font that I'm telling it
> > > to, and for some odd reason won't play any youtube videos any
> > > more. Instead I see a message on the screen that says "if video
> > > doesn't start momentarily restart your device". Huh?
> > >
> > > Konqueror is also broken, I get "Could not start proess Unable to
> > > create io-slave: klauncher said: Error loading 'kio_file'"...
> > >
> > > Trying to open a file with Okular gets me a similar message.
> >
> > Complete the entire dist-upgrade before trying to fix problems.
> > The problems may fix themselves.
>
> For all of the versions, straight through to 11?
More or less. Check the repos are the correct for that version,
Update/upgrade, then reboot. The Release Notes gives full
instructions.
> > > I don't see any way to back out of these changes, or any obvious
> > > place to look for where the problems are. Suggestions welcomed.
> >
> > I avoid dist-upgrading, if I can because of such problems, and do a
> > clean install of the newest version on a free partition keeping the
> > old install as fallback in case something goes awry.
>
> I have done similar in the passt, with Slackware. Which isually
> involves stickinng another hard drive in the machine. I don't have
> one handy at present, though, and probably won't be getting one in
> the near-term.
You really only need enough free space on a single drive to install
the new version. I share the swap partition to conserve space. So, I
only need / and /home partitions for the new install. Some share
the /home partition, too, but I never have. The installer should take
care of setting up dual or multibooting as required.
B
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