How to properly upgrade LMDE?

[kmb42vt]

Hello all, I finally got around to installing the December release of LMDE (amd64) and I've run into a bit of a problem with how to properly upgrade the thing.

I've seen this topic discussed here and there among the LMDE threads but I've seen nothing concrete on the subject so I have a few questions.

In the original release of LMDE it was stated that MintUpdate hadn't been modified for LMDE as yet and it would be in the future. That being said and with the December, 2010 release of LMDE, is MintUpdate now tailored for LMDE or is it still the same module that is used in LM 10?? And if it has been tailored for LMDE, should level 1 through 3 updates only be applied or should we consider levels 4 and 5 as well? If it hasn't been modified for LMDE yet, what's the recommended way to upgrade?

Another question that comes to mind is the configuration files the updates want to replace. I've heard both "Keep" all of them and "Replace" all of them. I've not had very good luck so far with replacing them all since it tends to cause problems with LMDE so much so that I need to completely re-install (no problem in that though as it's installed in my testing partition).

What I'm looking for is a recommended way to safely upgrade LMDE, (that is if such a thing exists ). So any idea are very welcome and perhaps this thread can serve as a sort of a guideline?

[kmb42vt]

A quick update:

I see now that MintUpdate hasn't been modified yet for LMDE. Sorry, I missed that part otherwise my previous questions are still valid. One of the main reasons I ask is that using a command like sudo apt-get update then sudo apt-get dist-upgrade as recommended in another thread replaces the Mint configuration files (if I choose "Replace" instead of "Keep") and the "Base/lsb" (files/module/libraries?) with Debian's. Some say to use sudo apt-get update then sudo apt-get dist-upgrade and others say to use sudo apt-get update then sudo apt-get upgrade and yet others say to install "debdelta" and run apt-get update && debdelta-upgrade or apt-get update && debdelta-upgrade && apt-get dist-upgrade. So I'm completely at sea as to which way is the best.

This is the thread I'm referring to: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... e&start=20

LMDE isn't pure Debian so I can't see using sudo apt-get update then sudo apt-get dist-upgrade as being the safe way to do an upgrade. Or am I wrong? I know I'm confused.

[gotjazz]

I'd suggest dist-upgrade for the time being. If you see any Xorg or kernel updates there you might want to drop out of x though (an advice i only sometimes heed myself and nothing bad has happened yet but just to be on the safe side...)

debdelta is just something to lower the ammount of data that has to be downloaded - it doesn't really affect the result of the update so I have no advice for or against it. (all i know is that yum on fedora which does something similar seems to take longer to "reunite" packages with the deltas than the data-decrease saves you in download time. but of course that is only an issue with broadband. if anyone is on dialup or something debdelta is really advisable I guess)

[kmb42vt]

I'd suggest dist-upgrade for the time being. If you see any Xorg or kernel updates there you might want to drop out of x though (an advice i only sometimes heed myself and nothing bad has happened yet but just to be on the safe side...)

debdelta is just something to lower the amount of data that has to be downloaded - it doesn't really affect the result of the update so I have no advice for or against it. (all i know is that yum on fedora which does something similar seems to take longer to "reunite" packages with the deltas than the data-decrease saves you in download time. but of course that is only an issue with broadband. if anyone is on dialup or something debdelta is really advisable I guess)

Thanks much for the reply. I've completed the 2nd install this time and all went well. I did drop out to the command prompt this time in order to perform the update but I used "apt-get update" and then "apt-get upgrade" this time around since I wanted to do the total update in stages as I ran into problems the first time doing it all at once (basically borked LMDE for some reason). After the update was complete I rebooted and everything seemed okay. Then I ran "apt-get update" then "apt-get dist-upgrade" in the terminal and since there were no Xorg updates at that point (there were during the first round when I dropped out to the command prompt), I performed the "dist-upgrade" via the terminal while still within the desktop. Again, no problems occurred.

At this point I installed the latest Nvidia driver that Synaptic offers (195.*) and everything is running fine at this point.

My thoughts at this point:

>>I hadn't dropped out to the command prompt the first time I installed LMDE (amd64) and I did the update via the terminal instead. I also used "apt-get dist-upgrade" instead of going in stages like I did this second time around.

>> When prompted during the update, I did not replace any of the configuration files that were updated by the package maintainer this time around like I did the first time--I kept the originals (probably the most important point). I did accept the optimized boot sequence when prompted .

One thing I did not like was that the update installed the Evolution mail client and the Epiphany browser when these items are not part of LMDE but I suppose that can be worked out on the dev side of things when they get around to it.

[Dave68]

One thing I did not like was that the update installed the Evolution mail client and the Epiphany browser when these items are not part of LMDE but I suppose that can be worked out on the dev side of things when they get around to it.

These are packages that were included in the gnome-core updates back in mid January. There is a way to remove them, and I'll look for that thread. My choice was to just remove Visibility of them in the Mint Menu. I figured that would keep my wife from mucking about with stuff she really had no business in.

I also use:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade

I have had no issues thus far. I've also used Mint Update in the past, and again with no issues. I think it is just a preference. I went the Debian way with update and dist-upgrade, and I "kept" instead of "replaced" to keep the Linux Mint Specific Items. Again, personal preference.

Here's the Thread I was telling you about: viewtopic.php?f=141&t=62021&p=356322&hilit=metapackage#p356322

Good Luck,
Dave

[hinto]

I use smxi http://smxi.org/