Process to move from Testing to SID

[dcihon]

Looking for the steps that I should take to move from testing to SID.
This document explains what Testing and SID is :
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=197&t=91405
But doesn't explain the process to move to it.
My understanding would be that all you need to do is change your sources list and then do a sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get dist-upgrade.
I would like to know since there are so many variations of sources.list for SID what is the best to start with?
Any other files to change on the system before doing the commands above?
Maybe there is a guide for doing this or a guide can be made.
Thanks in advance
Dan

[drdavidk]

You've got the command line instructions right, though I always use Mint Update instead of dist-upgrade, as Mint Update allows you to select which software to upgrade, in case there are conflicts with dependencies. (If you don't have Mint Update installed, just go through Synaptic.)

A few nice links to make upgrading to Sid easier: Debian Sources List Generator (http://debgen.simplylinux.ch/) will automatically produce the code you need to add to sources.list (or go through Mint Update and select Edit-Software Sources, then select Other Sources and hit Add, then paste the code in. Another nice resources is: My Debian sources.list (https://sites.google.com/site/mydebiansourceslist/), which provides a large list of debian options.

[zerozero]

Dan,
slower
are these your actual sources.list >> viewtopic.php?f=190&t=113872#p665985
if yes you need to go in a 2-steps process: first upgrade from latest to testing and then (when the system is stabilized and you happy with the result) from testing to sid)

preparation: remove the file

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/etc/apt/preferences

step 1
replace all the content of /etc/apt/sources.list with

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deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org testing main non-free

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

check that everything is ok, you are going to have a new kernel installed, special attention to your graphics card drivers, grub, test the main app

when you are happy with the stability of the system let's go to >>

step 2
(this is the big one )
replace again all the content of sources.list with

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deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport romeo
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org sid main non-free

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

follow the sid breakages topic http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=198&t=70230 and good luck

[GeneC]

'zz' beat me to it....AGAIN....
Hey 'zz'

------------

Hi Dan...

I thought you were at SID?
Anyway, I guess you know of 'zerozero's' thread.
viewtopic.php?f=197&t=91405

Anyway here is a good basic SID sources.

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## sid ##
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian  main upstream incoming backport romeo import
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org sid main non-free

There is NO SID 'security'

You might want to change your etc/apt/preferences file to all the same values.
(OR just delete it)

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Package: *
Pin: release o=linuxmint
Pin-Priority: 700

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

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: 700


There should be 300+ packages to update. No real problems expected...

[zerozero]

Hey 'zz'

hey Gene happy new year (and to Dan as well of course )

on-topic: i still think that (if we move to sid) we should simply delete that file.

[GeneC]

Same to you, my friend.

I agree, but odd thing.. I just checked on this XFCE/LMDE/SID install and I had reverted to the original LMDE sources
(to experiment a month ago... )

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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

No harm, no foul...
A deletion of the file and DU revealed NO additional updates.
"Note to self" (If you change something to experiment, dont forget to UNchange it later...).

[zerozero]

yep, probably it won't (at the moment) make a big difference because:
- the major road-blocks (read libfontconfig1 and "friends") were removed from the mint repo
and
- sid is dormant
once any of these factors chance (and the second one can change anytime) we don't know what might happen.
it's one of these "better safe than sorry" situations

[autocrosser]

Tisk-Tisk...Run on the "wild" side & use Experimental---Me thinks you guys saw the GDM-non-start that Karashata & I had a couple of days ago.......Was fun finding what caused it---I Gnashed my teeth a bit due to just transferring to a SSD the day before (the Debian Gods must have been rubbing their hands in glee.....) Who would have thought a instant-messaging library could have caused such fun????

Now in all seriousness, Sid is rather tame this second (so true ZZ!!), but he likes to pounce when you think he's playing nicely.......Now would be a good time to jump in, but be wary.....

[dcihon]

Hey guys ,
Happy New Year.
I was on SID a while back. Had some trouble with the system. Trashed it.
Started over with the Unofficial LMDE KDE. Been on testing.

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deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import romeo backport
deb-src http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import romeo backport #Added by software-properties
deb http://lmde-mirror.gwendallebihan.net/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://lmde-mirror.gwendallebihan.net/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://lmde-mirror.gwendallebihan.net/latest/multimedia testing main non-free


System Stable.
Now is the New year and I'm ready to head back to SID.
Thanks for all the help and info.
Gonna be a good year for Linux.

[dcihon]

step 1
replace all the content of /etc/apt/sources.list with

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deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org testing main non-free



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



check that everything is ok, you are going to have a new kernel installed, special attention to your graphics card drivers, grub, test the main app

when you are happy with the stability of the system let's go to >>

Zero,
Decided to go with your method.
Here is what is going to be installed or removed after the sources.list change.

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276 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 257 MB of archives.
After this operation, 51.4 MB disk space will be freed.


[zerozero]

Dan,
you did step 0 "preparation" as well?
what is that package that is going to be removed?

[dcihon]

Zero,
I did the step 0 preparation.
Sorry didn't write down the removed file.
Would there be a record of it in a log somewhere?
Thanks
Dan

[zerozero]

it isn't probably very important (anyway as a rule we should always keep an eye on those outputs)
you probably can look at the log with

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cat /var/log/apt/history.log | grep Remove

[dcihon]

It was Thunderbird.
I was wondering why I lost it.
Reinstalled all ok.
I'm going to run this way for a while before I do the next step.
Thanks

[cwwgateway]

It was Thunderbird.
I was wondering why I lost it.
Reinstalled all ok.
I'm going to run this way for a while before I do the next step.
Thanks

The hunspell packages conflict with thunderbird, which causes it to be uninstalled. I believe that the maintainer won't fix it, so you can't use pure thunderbird in Debian. However, Debian's icedove is basically the same thing (just unbranded), and that works fine.

[zerozero]

I'm going to run this way for a while before I do the next step.

it's a good idea in the meantime sid is acting up