Resolved: How do I cope with lots of Level 3 LMDE updates?

[RevMike]

I am happy with my 32bit Mint Debian knowing I don't have to worry about Upgrades. BUT I am addicted to checking the MintUpdate symbol most days and finding lots of Level 3 updates.
Reading what each L3 update does is time consuming (and I don't understand many of them). SO:
Do I just accept all of them and watch the HDD gradually being filled? OR
Can I ignore all L3s?
Is there a way of just updating Apps that I use regularly?

I always accept L1 & L2 updates.
Thanks,
Mike

[ddavid123]

The Level three upgrades are upgrades from Debian Testing repos. If you want your system to keep up with the current state of Debian Testing, then you want to apply all the level three upgrades. If you want to have a stable system with absolutely no breakages or problems, then Install the LMDE iso from December of 2010 and change the /etc/apt/sources.list to point to squeeze. If you want to continue on as a rolling release, then continue applying Level 3 upgrades.

If you are worried about breaking the system, then by all means leave level 3 upgrades alone. I hear that clem is working on a new LMDE repository that will enable us to recieve monthly "stable" well tested upgrades from Debian! I believe he will mirror the debian testing repo and then only allow Mint team tested upgrades into the repo so that the upgrades should not break your system. It is a bold, yet fantastic idea!

P.S.. Upgrading software packages should not use more hard drive space, unless the program has new features added. Usually the old version of the program is deleted or written over so there should not be an additive effect. Now there are times when new packages are installed and that adds to the hard drive usage. But also some are uninstalled, so unless you have a hard drive capacity less than say 10 GB then you should be ok!

[RevMike]

Thanks for a clear simple and encouraging reply!
Mike

[jeffreyC]

This needs to be said again LMDE is not Ubuntu ! you need to install all five levels of updates.
If you do not, you will find yourself with package dependencies which are not the right version, this will screw up your system.

The Mint team has not changed the Update Manager for LM Debian E yet.
In Ubuntu updates are different than Debian testing.

[rhodry]

This needs to be said again LMDE is not Ubuntu ! you need to install all five levels of updates.
If you do not, you will find yourself with package dependencies which are not the right version, this will screw up your system.

The Mint team has not changed the Update Manager for LM Debian E yet.
In Ubuntu updates are different than Debian testing.

Yes, it needs to be said again & again & again & .......

LMDE is a ROLLING RELEASE distribution based on Debian Testing. Mint 11 is a fixed release based on Ubuntu. They are chalk & cheese; and you should not adopt Ubuntu-based strategies in LMDE.

By definition, rolling releases ROLL along IN THEIR ENTIRETY! You should update ALL available updates all the time! It has been discussed numerous time already in these forums about MintUpdate not being modified yet for LMDE. The recommended method for LMDE upgrades is to open a terminal and (as root) issue this command (or its equivalent):

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

If you are not sure why the "upgrade" followed by "dist-upgrade" have a read of 'man apt-get'. It is all about getting all the apps you can up to date before issuing the command that can remove apps.

Any partial upgrade strategy in LMDE is not 'playing safe' it is asking for trouble.

good luck,
rhodry.

[tdockery97]

What he said

[doktordave]

Also, smxi is your friend.

[jeffreyC]

If you are not yet comfortable with the command line, Synaptic is a GUI front end for apt, and works quite well.
I have used it to keep a Debian testing install up to date for 9 months with no problems caused by it.
I am starting to wonder if the best advice is to remove Mint Update ?

[jeffreyC]

There is a new package in the repo : mintupdate-debian
Maybe the time of this level 3,4,5 nonsense is over.

[muka]

I'm not so sure about installing ALL the updates.
I like the idea about those Level 3 packages - as they break my wireless I might also leave them alone.

It's not fun having your LMDE used as a lab-rat.

Cheers muka

[jeffreyC]

Pin the packages related to your wireless, and update the rest.