Linux Mint Forums

(Sometime during the LM18.x or LM-19 revisions the ability to create persistent USB instances was lost (to my knowledge). I used to use methods presented by pendrivelinux.com to create persistent installs on thumbdrives (by modifying casper).

I have a 16Gb USB thumbdrive with a live installation of LinuxMint 13 LTS using MATE with over 9Gb of persistence installed on it.

I have updated Firefox, LibreOffice and other pieces of software to be sure that known problem fixes are in place and software updates are current. However, I would guess that I have other components (Packages) that should be updated, but I don't know which they are. I know that if I update the kernel, I risk breaking my installation.

If I run "Synaptic" and sort by the icon column, it shows many Packages that have an exclamation point, "!", in the column icon.


How do I update that which needs updating without updating the kernel and breaking my install?

Do I use Synaptic or is this something that needs to be scripted?

Which packages, if selected, would risk updating the kernel?

I just saw that the ! indicates software that is installed and needs updating. However, my guess is that if I select the package "linux-headers-generic" I might break the install.

How do I lock the entire kernel so I don't risk updating and breaking it?

If I run Synaptic and sort by Section (instead of by Icon) and "lock version" everything listed under (Section) kernel, will that be sufficient to prevent me from ever altering the kernel and breaking the install?

antioch wrote:If I run Synaptic and sort by Section (instead of by Icon) and "lock version" everything listed under (Section) kernel, will that be sufficient to prevent me from ever altering the kernel and breaking the install?

I think this solution may work in your situation.

I also notice that there some packages "linux-..." listed under "metapackages" and "devel" as well.

If I select all updated packages that don't start with "linux-" will that prevent me from updating the kernel and wrecking my thumbdrive install?