procedure for upgrade from Update Pack 3 to Update Pack 4

[TomRoche]

I believe I've been running UP3 for months. Just now I ran

Code: Select all

sudo aptitude update ; sudo aptitude -s full-upgrade

and saw a bazillion update/new packages, so I immediately started reading the UP4 blog post and this forum. However I still have some questions regarding how best to upgrade UP3 to UP4. Please correct/improve the following where needed, and especially add any missing steps, but my best guess for the UP3 -> UP4 upgrade procedure is:

1. Backup your current filesystem. Run your usual backup, and maybe also clone your drive(s) (for fastest recovery).

2. Find your GRUB menu. Per

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1949
> During the update you’ll be asked [...] where to install Grub.
> Answer with the location of your current Grub menu

so I find my GRUB menu location with

Code: Select all

$ sudo find /boot -name 'menu.lst' | wc -l
0
$ sudo find /boot -name 'grub.cfg' | wc -l
1
$ sudo find /boot -name 'grub.cfg'
/boot/grub/grub.cfg
$ df -h $(sudo find /boot -name 'grub.cfg')
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             462M   58M  381M  14% /boot

3. Check your APT repositories. Per

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1949
> Before you apply the updates for Update Pack 4, make sure
> you’re pointing to the correct repositories [...]
> Your APT [sources.list should] look like this:

> > deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
> > deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
> > deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
> > deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

so JIC I check to see that I've got the correct repos with

Code: Select all

$ less /etc/apt/sources.list

4. Update mintupdate-debian. Per

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1949
> If you see an update for "mintupdate-debian", accept it

so I do

Code: Select all

$ sudo aptitude install mintupdate-debian

5. Run mintupdate, e.g.,

Code: Select all

$ gksudo mintupdate &

6. In mintupdate, check Update Pack Info. Per

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1949 (point 4 added by me)
> 1. Click on the "Update Pack Info" button
> 2. Make sure "Your system configuration" shows up as green
> and doesn’t show any warnings or errors
> 3. If you see a warning or an error, follow the instructions given
> and repeat the process until they’re gone.
> 4. In the "Update Pack Info" window, make sure to read all the information
> related to Update Pack 4. Some of it might be irrelevant to you, but
> it will only take you a minute and it might you save you hours.

7. In mintupdate, install updates. Per

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1949
> When you're ready and you know all that there is to know,
> press the "Install Updates" button.

8. mintupdate will put up a dialog for "Downloading Package Information", i.e. the package index files. One can click on the twistie (or the text) to "Show for individual files". This dialog may be misleading (in earlier versions of mintupdate): package info which is marked "failed" may simply have been ignored (i.e., like packages marked "Ign" when doing `aptitude update`). Note also that, on subsequent restarts of mintupdate, package information will be downloaded on startup, before you see the mintupdate UI.

9. The mintupdate UI comes up with (probably many, many--I get 1179) packages marked for upgrade. Press button="Install Updates" again. One of two things will happen:

9.1 You will get a slightly different dialog for "Downloading Package Files" as it attempts to download the packages themselves (not the indices).
9.2 mintupdate will silently die (perhaps because it can't contact the server?) If so, try again later.

10. If mintupdate begins "Downloading Package Files", click on the twistie (or the text) to "Show for individual files". For this dialog, failure (i.e., packages marked "Failed") are bad news: if mintupdate fails to download any, it will (after attempting all downloads) put up a dialog asking

Some of the packages could not be retrieved from the server(s).
Do you want to continue, ignoring these packages?

Your safest response is to click button="No", cancel downloading, quit mintupdate, and try again when the update servers have less load. Note that your time will not have been wasted: packages which you have downloaded in the current session will not be subsequently re-downloaded. (Unless they change in the interim; detecting that is why the package indices, aka "package information" are always downloaded on each run of mintupdate.) You will see how many packages you have already downloaded when you restart: e.g., my last restart began with "Downloading file 949 of ..."

11. After all packages are downloaded, mintupdate will begin "Applying Changes" automatically. This can mostly proceed unattended: still, being a pessimist, I would still recommend clicking on the twistie (or the text) to show the console messages. Note that

11.1 mintupdate may want to replace system configuration files (mostly in /etc). When it does so, it will put up a dialog and wait, so check its progress periodically--every 5-15 minutes, depending on device speed.

11.2 You may encounter a problem with metapackage=mint-meta-common. If so, follow these instructions (recommended by zerozero).

12. I went away while mintupdate was running, and returned to find it ... gone. So be aware! The good news is, I reran

Code: Select all

$ gksudo mintupdate &

and it told me UP4 was installed and up-to-date.

13. I restarted with no prompts and no errors. If your experience is not so good, check zerozero's advice in the next post in this thread.

14. Just to be sure, and because I normally run `aptitude`, after restart I ran

Code: Select all

$ sudo aptitude update ; sudo aptitude -s full-upgrade

which was also up-to-date.

Anything missing or incorrect?

[zerozero]

Tom,
very complete
i would only add 2 "warnings"
- uncheck compiz from the startup apps or you gonna get this
- /var/lib/dpkg/info/debian-system-adjustments.postinst: 35: glib-compile-schemas: not found if the upgrade process breaks here (it might) look for the fix.

[laofzu]

MintUpdate never seems to work for me, as it always crashes. I always end up using command line with apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade. Question is about options, do you always choose the default value of no (N). Most options are confusing with no idea of what to choose.

[TomRoche]

Re: procedure for upgrade from Update Pack 3 to Update Pack

zerozero on Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:46 pm
> i would only add 2 "warnings"
> - uncheck compiz from the startup apps or you gonna get this
> - /var/lib/dpkg/info/debian-system-adjustments.postinst: 35: glib-compile-schemas: not found if the upgrade process breaks here (it might) look for the fix.

Thanks, I'll edit that in. One more question:

I start mintupdate and it starts "Downloading Package Information". But it only succeeds in downloading ~half the number of packages it attempts (68). Most of the failures have either "TranslationIndex" or "InRelease" in column=Package. Is this a Real Problem that I should fix, or should I just ignore it? (FWIW I tried rerunning just now and got the same result.)

[Monsta]

I start mintupdate and it starts "Downloading Package Information". But it only succeeds in downloading ~half the number of packages it attempts (68). Most of the failures have either "TranslationIndex" or "InRelease" in column=Package. Is this a Real Problem that I should fix, or should I just ignore it? (FWIW I tried rerunning just now and got the same result.)

This problem should eventually go away - it's caused by the heavy load on the update servers. But while it's still here, you should be cautious.

If it reports "failed to fetch bla bla bla", DON'T try to update - the package list is incomplete and you can get a broken system.
If the package list is okay, but during package downloading you see a dialog about not being able to download some packages - press "No" button and try again until every package will be downloaded successfully. Don't worry, apt is clever and won't waste your bandwidth trying to download something that's already in its cache.

edit: completely forgot to say thanks for this howto. so thanks a lot. it's really needed now.

[Kevin108]

Excellent guide!

[zerozero]

I start mintupdate and it starts "Downloading Package Information". But it only succeeds in downloading ~half the number of packages it attempts (68). Most of the failures have either "TranslationIndex" or "InRelease" in column=Package. Is this a Real Problem that I should fix, or should I just ignore it? (FWIW I tried rerunning just now and got the same result.)

This problem should eventually go away - it's caused by the heavy load on the update servers. But while it's still here, you should be cautious.

If it reports "failed to fetch bla bla bla", DON'T try to update - the package list is incomplete and you can get a broken system.
If the package list is okay, but during package downloading you see a dialog about not being able to download some packages - press "No" button and try again until every package will be downloaded successfully. Don't worry, apt is clever and won't waste your bandwidth trying to download something that's already in its cache.

edit: completely forgot to say thanks for this howto. so thanks a lot. it's really needed now.

Tom, Monsta,
i think we are seeing 2 different things:
- when MU retrieves the package index files from their sources (update) the wording is failed if no diff is found in the source, while in apt the wording is ign;
- of course now are days to be very careful using MU, because as Monsta said it won't protect you against partially d/l pkg list, the nowadays famous "failed to fetch"

EDIT: this is now solved with v. 2012.04.7.1

debian-system-adjustments (2012.04.7.1) debian; urgency=low

* Added dependency on libglib2.0-bin

-- Clement Lefebvre <root@linuxmint.com> Sat, 07 Apr 2012 20:24:00 +0100

[TomRoche]

zerozero on Sat Apr 07, 2012 5:30 pm
> we are seeing 2 different things:
> - when MU retrieves the package index files from their sources (update) the wording is failed if no diff is found in the source, while in apt the wording is ign;
> - of course now are days to be very careful using MU, because as Monsta said it won't protect you against partially d/l pkg list, the nowadays famous "failed to fetch"

So ... how does one differentiate between the following two conditions:

1. mintupdate has downloaded all the packages it needs, and is merely ignoring what it already has, so one is presumably clear to upgrade
2. mintupdate has truly failed to download a package it needs, and one should *not* upgrade

???

> EDIT: this is now solved with [debian-system-adjustments] 2012.04.7.1

But when I try to install debian-system-adjustments with `aptitude`, it wants "61 packages upgraded [and] 132 newly installed" which breaks lots other stuff :-( Is there a way to get the better mintupdate before I get UP4?

[Monsta]

So ... how does one differentiate between the following two conditions:

1. mintupdate has downloaded all the packages it needs, and is merely ignoring what it already has, so one is presumably clear to upgrade
2. mintupdate has truly failed to download a package it needs, and one should *not* upgrade

???

Let's assume the package list is fully downloaded before that (i.e. no "failed to fetch" errors). Then you push the update button and mintUpdate starts downloading.

1. If every package is downloaded successfully, mintUpdate just proceeds to install them automatically. As for ignoring already present packages, it's done silently in the process.
2. If mintUpdate is unable to download some packages NOT yet present in the cache, it shows a dialog box asking you if you still want to proceed with the installation. Answer "No" and no actual upgrade will be done. What's been downloaded successfully will remain in the cache. And then you can try again - push the update button, etc.

[zerozero]

So ... how does one differentiate between the following two conditions:

with pictures
- this is not bad (although the wording failed has raised several worried topics)

- it's the same as this (ign looks better)


- but this is bad

- it's similar to this (but notice as apt returns to the prompt after the error)