Upgrading a 2yr old LMDE ----> tricky, better don't

[msbln]

Here's the problem:

I want to go from UP6 to UP7, about 1300 updates.
Mintupdates freezes, so I tried

sudo apt-get upgrade

Downloads a lot, but doesn't start installing,
message:

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N: Ignoring file 'playonlinux.list.save' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/' as it has an invalid filename extension
N: Ignoring file 'playonlinux.list.save' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/' as it has an invalid filename extension
E: »gnome-session-fallback« konnte nicht unmittelbar konfiguriert werden. Lesen Sie »man 5 apt.conf« unter APT::Immediate-Configure bezüglich weiterer Details. (2)

I believe point E is the problem. gnome-session-fallback couldn't be configured.
What does it mean and what could/should I do about it?

Thanks.

[Monsta]

sudo apt-get upgrade

Read [url=http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=198&t=112836]this thread[/url] carefully.

[msbln]

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

leads to the same message

[Monsta]

First, please post the output of

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inxi -Sr

Second, please run dist-upgrade with the default locale so the messages would be in English:

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LC_ALL=C sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

and post the output here.

[msbln]

I have to prepare you, I'm trying to update an old version of LMDE.
Maybe it is yet possible.

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$ inxi -Sr
System:    Host ibm Kernel 3.0.0-1-686-pae i686 (32 bit) Distro Linux Mint Debian Edition
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list
           deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
           deb http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debian.linuxmint.com/debian/latest testing main contrib non-free
           deb http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debian.linuxmint.com/debian/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
           deb http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debian.linuxmint.com/debian/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

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$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
...
E: Could not perform immediate configuration on 'gnome-session-fallback'. Please see man 5 apt.conf under APT::Immediate-Configure for details. (2)

[Monsta]

Kernel 3.0.0-1-686-pae

two years old

And how does that fit into this statement?

I want to go from UP6 to UP7, about 1300 updates.

Well, okay... try this:

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LC_ALL=C sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -o APT::Immediate-Configure=0

[msbln]

Possibly the system cannot be updated.
I just tried this:

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$ sudo aptitude safe-upgrade
Löse Abhängigkeiten auf ...                   
offen: 186397; geschlossen: 279145; zurückgestellt: 170; Konflikte: 898       om
$ 

in English (my translation):

Resolving dependencies...
open: 186397; closed: 279145; unclear: 170; conflicts: 898

Doesn't look good, does it?

[Monsta]

Well, then scrap it and reinstall from the latest ISO, if you don't want to try my suggestions

[msbln]

I do want to try your suggestion.
I'm running now

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LC_ALL=C sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -o APT::Immediate-Configure=0

I keep you informed about what happens.

[msbln]

And how does that fit into this statement?

"I want to go from UP6 to UP7, about 1300 updates."

That's what mintupdate told me. But before starting to pull in,
mintupdate always freezed.

[msbln]

After a lot of time upgrading (hours) the process stopped with the following message:

Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/mint-themes-gtk3_3.8-1_all.deb
N: Ignoring file 'playonlinux.list.save' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/' as it has an invalid filename extension
N: Ignoring file 'playonlinux.list.save' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/' as it has an invalid filename extension
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Any idea how to proceed? The machine is running and I haven't restarted it yet.

[Monsta]

No ideas - I don't know what errors "were encountered". You probably skipped some messages before it.

You can try to resume the process with

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sudo dpkg --configure -a

and/or

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sudo apt-get -f install

or just

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sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

and hope to catch the message.

[msbln]

Command-line was not accessible so I had to restart,
after that there was no xsession just tty1 (whatever that is),
after typing in your suggestions always the following last lines appeared:

dpkg: warning: 'ldconfig' not found in PATH or not executable
dpkg: warning: 'start-stop-daemon' not found in PATH or not executable
dpkg: error: 2 expected programs not found in PATH or not executable
Note: root's PATH should usually contain /usr/local/sbin, /usr/sbin and /sbin
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)

[Monsta]

Command-line was not accessible so I had to restart,
after that there was no xsession just tty1 (whatever that is)

That's not good. Restarting in the middle of the upgrade means asking for trouble.
Well, at least you have the console. Log in as root and try to run the commands there (just remove "sudo" from them; you don't need it when you're logged in as root).

[msbln]

Monsta, thanks for staying with me.
As it is becoming a little over my head, I changed the direction.
I played back the image of the old LMDE and will not try to update the whole system.
Next to that partition I installed a fresh LMDE.
So I have both for the time being.

What I do not unterstand is, why the latest LMDE is on UP6 when UP7 is out already.
First I have to install the downloaded LMDE and then update to UP7 (over 1000+ updates).
Is there a more efficient way (especially if one wants to do this on more than one pc)?

[Monsta]

I played back the image of the old LMDE and will not try to update the whole system.

You'll have to update it sooner or later. You'll want to install some new software from the repositories, that software will pull in new libs, especially libc6 and other core ones... and you may end up with a partially upgraded system which may or may not work fine.
It's easier to follow the updates. That's the way LMDE is.

What I do not unterstand is, why the latest LMDE is on UP6 when UP7 is out already.
First I have to install the downloaded LMDE and then update to UP7 (over 1000+ updates).

Yes, because the new ISOs will be released only after UP8, which will be after Mint 16 release (so my guess is December 2013 - January 2014).

[msbln]

The old LMDE is going to be just temporary, for reference in terms of some adjustments, configurations...
The new LMDE is going to be the standard (this time following the updates closely).

Thanks for your advice and patience