[SOLVED] mintUpdate issue - 1200+ updates to do?

[roger3000]

Hi there,

Please apologize if my question seems obscure - it is to me. I'm far from an expert in the Debian stuff, though I'm not afraid of putting my hands under the hood

I'm running the following system:

Kernel : Linux 3.2.0-2-486 (i686)
Compiled : #1 Mon Mar 5 00:55:40 UTC 2012
Default C Compiler : GNU C Compiler version 4.6.3 (Debian 4.6.3-1)
Distribution : Linux Mint Xfce Edition
Desktop Environment : XFCE 4

there has been a mintUpdate update, with a popup window asking for a mirror.
I've selected one of these.

Now I have 1200+ updates, for 830 Mo or so.
Last time I had something like this was after I had messed up somewhere, resulting in the loss of my xfce DE which was changed by Gnome, and the inability to reboot the laptop...
I'm thus getting a bit nervous before applying so many changes at once...

Did anything drastically change, and can I proceed to the whole bunch of updates, or did I mess something somewhere, and shall I avoid applying so many changes?...

Thanks for the help

[zerozero]

eventually it's safe, it's just UP5 knocking your door but to be sure can you post the output of

Code: Select all

inxi -r

[iainrs]

Hi roger3000

I don't think the question is obscure as I'm at the same level of experience and I've been going through similar problems with my system :

Kernel : Linux 3.2.0-3-amd64 (x86_64) [after UD5)
Compiled : #1 SMP Thu Jun 28 09:07:26 UTC 2012
C Library : Unknown
Default C Compiler : GNU C Compiler version 4.7.1 (Debian 4.7.1-2)
Distribution : Linux Mint Debian Edition
Desktop Environment : XFCE 4

Processor : Intel i5 quad core, 2.67GHz , 4Gb Ram


Question ? - Are you actually running LMDE ?
you say "Distribution : Linux Mint Xfce Edition" which I thought was is the Ubuntu based edition.

When I tried to install Update 4 when it came out in March, it caused a lot of problems with Gnome so I restored from backup, installed XFCE as my DE and then reran the Update. Since then I've been running with XFCE very successfully

A few days ago I ran 'Update Manager' and it said that I had 1409 updates - Update 5 had arrived !

Yesterday (19th) after backing up the system with Clonezilla I tried to install the updates. It said I had about 1580 files to download, after about 1300 it failed with 'cannot access file' (or something similar). I assumed that this was a server load problem and retried later on in the day. I had the same problem at about the same stage.

While looking around the system I noticed that /tmp had about 200mb free. This led to the realisation that /tmp was not on the '/' partition but was a tmpfs (a RAM disk loaded under the control of '/etc/default/rcS') something I hadn't known before.
Thinking that this might be a clue (download was said to be 1Gb) I changed RAMTMP to 'no', rebooted and reran 'Update Manager'. To my surprise this time it started to download from where it had left off (13xx of 1580), continued and processed ALL the files. I then rebooted and everything seems OK with the new kernel etc.

I am therefore pleased that this update had gone better that the last one but I do have a have some questions :

1. Mint Update (- debian) what is it called ? (maybe trivial but ..)
synaptic refers to 'mintupdate' & 'mintupdate-debian' (installed, version : 1.0.6)
Update Manager about gives 'mintUpdate' - no '-debian' no version number

2. How can I find out how Mint Update (however spelt) actually works :
where does it download files to ?
is /tmp used ?

3. When looking at 'view - History of Updates' Mint Update indicates that some files were updated 3 times yesterday - twice during the 'failed' runs and then at the 'sucessful' run. This presumably refers to the download not the actual software update ?

So back to your question. I would make sure that you are backed-up before 'Installing Updates'. It all seemed to work for me but I'm not quite sure 'how" !

Iain

[roger3000]

Thanks, both of you, for your answers

eventually it's safe, it's just UP5 knocking your door but to be sure can you post the output of

Code: Select all

inxi -r

Here it comes:

Code: Select all

 ~ $ inxi -r
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list
           deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport
           deb http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest testing main contrib non-free
           deb http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest/multimedia testing main non-free
           deb http://mirror.rts-informatique.fr/linuxmint/debian/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
           deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main
           deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main


Hi roger3000

I don't think the question is obscure as I'm at the same level of experience and I've been going through similar problems with my system :

Kernel : Linux 3.2.0-3-amd64 (x86_64) [after UD5)
Compiled : #1 SMP Thu Jun 28 09:07:26 UTC 2012
C Library : Unknown
Default C Compiler : GNU C Compiler version 4.7.1 (Debian 4.7.1-2)
Distribution : Linux Mint Debian Edition
Desktop Environment : XFCE 4

Processor : Intel i5 quad core, 2.67GHz , 4Gb Ram


Question ? - Are you actually running LMDE ?
you say "Distribution : Linux Mint Xfce Edition" which I thought was is the Ubuntu based edition.

Yes I am:

Code: Select all

 ~ $ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:   LinuxMint
Description:   Linux Mint Xfce Edition
Release:   1
Codename:   debian


When I tried to install Update 4 when it came out in March, it caused a lot of problems with Gnome so I restored from backup, installed XFCE as my DE and then reran the Update. Since then I've been running with XFCE very successfully

A few days ago I ran 'Update Manager' and it said that I had 1409 updates - Update 5 had arrived !

Yesterday (19th) after backing up the system with Clonezilla I tried to install the updates. It said I had about 1580 files to download, after about 1300 it failed with 'cannot access file' (or something similar). I assumed that this was a server load problem and retried later on in the day. I had the same problem at about the same stage.

While looking around the system I noticed that /tmp had about 200mb free. This led to the realisation that /tmp was not on the '/' partition but was a tmpfs (a RAM disk loaded under the control of '/etc/default/rcS') something I hadn't known before.
Thinking that this might be a clue (download was said to be 1Gb) I changed RAMTMP to 'no', rebooted and reran 'Update Manager'. To my surprise this time it started to download from where it had left off (13xx of 1580), continued and processed ALL the files. I then rebooted and everything seems OK with the new kernel etc.

I am therefore pleased that this update had gone better that the last one but I do have a have some questions :

1. Mint Update (- debian) what is it called ? (maybe trivial but ..)
synaptic refers to 'mintupdate' & 'mintupdate-debian' (installed, version : 1.0.6)
Update Manager about gives 'mintUpdate' - no '-debian' no version number

2. How can I find out how Mint Update (however spelt) actually works :
where does it download files to ?
is /tmp used ?

3. When looking at 'view - History of Updates' Mint Update indicates that some files were updated 3 times yesterday - twice during the 'failed' runs and then at the 'sucessful' run. This presumably refers to the download not the actual software update ?

So back to your question. I would make sure that you are backed-up before 'Installing Updates'. It all seemed to work for me but I'm not quite sure 'how" !

Iain

OK, well...
I'll keep in mind backuping everything before running a 1200+ updates... just in case
And I'll revert to this thread in case I face any further issue!

thanks again

[zerozero]

hold on just a bit
those

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main

shouldn't be there, they are devil unless you have a special pinning for them
what's the output of

Code: Select all

cat /etc/apt/preferences

[caerolle]

00,

Just following along with some of these LMDE to hopefully learn a little, sounds like *LMDE* is the devil!

[roger3000]

hold on just a bit
those

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main

shouldn't be there, they are devil unless you have a special pinning for them
what's the output of

Code: Select all

cat /etc/apt/preferences

don't know where the devil comes from, nor where it lies, but...
seems I've done something I shouldn't have done...

Code: Select all

~ $ cat /etc/apt/preferences
Package: *
Pin: release o=linuxmint
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: origin packages.linuxmint.com
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: 500


[zerozero]

well unstable is sid http://wooledge.org/~greg/sidfaq.html and is not part of lmde's standard repos, they magically slipped into your sources.list; dist-upgrade with those repos active can be a very unpleasant experience;

don't get me wrong, sid is great but can burn in seconds, you need to have some patience to run it.

[zerozero]

sounds like *LMDE* is the devil!

a good one

[roger3000]

hold on just a bit
those

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main

shouldn't be there, they are devil

So, I first changed the "unstable" for "testing", as in the other lines, and re-ran an update with mintUpdate manager.
Which proposed me ~1200 updates..
I then simply commented these 2 lines, refreshed... 1155 updates.

So these remaining ones are safe?
nothing will "burn in seconds"?...

[zerozero]

the remaining ones (excluding the unstable entries) are safe, are the ones you should be using from the start.

if you decide (after apply this UP) to play with sid read at least this viewtopic.php?f=197&t=91405

good hacking

[roger3000]

ok, all has been smoothly updated

thanks for your help!