How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

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MartinaNeumayer

How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

Post by MartinaNeumayer »

Update by admin: please follow the official instructions for upgrading from 17.3 to 18: https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2316. For historical purposes leaving this topic in place but please use the official instructions instead of this topic.

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As so many people bomb me on pw with questions about "how to upgrade",
here it is.. I wrote some tutorial for all. :p
Here you have it..

Yes! It is possible now to upgrade Mint from 17.3 to 18.

BTW: This is NOT for the LMDE edition!

Remember, v.18 is now in an ALPHA version and may have some bugs!
This is ONLY for people who knows what their doing and who knows
how to workaround/fix some issues!
In the simple words: For testing and developing purposes!

All You do, you're doing at your own risk!
Don't blame me if something goes wrong, if your home gont burned
or your grandma's cat fly's away and won't come back!

I strongly recommend the full system backup before you do something!


Important, before you begin!

1. Amount of the downloaded data is circa ~2GB
2. Your system MUST BE UP TO DATE! If is not, use command:

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sudo apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
3. Turn off all non standard repositories!
4. Optional - if you use the kernel which comes not with the Mint system, switch to standard one before upgrade! Just in case!
5. Read the troubleshooting section!

Ok.. Now the upgrade process..

1. You must change the system repos from Mint 17.3/Ubuntu 14.04 to Mint 18/Ubuntu 16.04
Open the terminal and do this:

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gksudo pluma /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
and change all entries to those:
(You can backup this file before change anything)

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deb http://packages.linuxmint.com sarah main upstream import backport
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
# OFFICIAL UBUNTU REPOS #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
###### Ubuntu Main Repos
deb http://tl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted universe multiverse 
deb-src http://tl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted universe multiverse
###### Ubuntu Update Repos
deb http://tl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse 
deb http://tl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse 
deb-src http://tl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse 
deb-src http://tl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse
###### Ubuntu Partner Repo
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu xenial partner
Next save all changes and close the editor.

2. Go back to the terminal and do:

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sudo apt-get update
Wait a bit until the system updates his new repos list
and do a second command:

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sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Wait again until the system ends the packages downloading (circa 1.2GB of datas)

3. Now follow all the instructions on the screen which appears in the upgrading process.

4. At the end Your machine need a restart/reboot.
5. When Your system starts again, you can enable all your previously disabled repos and you can switch back to the non-standard kernel.
6. Some systems need a GFX/modem proprietary drivers reinstallation. If You have one, do that.

Troubleshooting.

1. On some machines with Cinnamon DE, you need to (re)install the Cinnamon packages by hand after the upgrade:

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sudo apt-get install cinnamon
Then make a reboot.

2. Some systems have errors with "libpng" package.
To fix this make like that:

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sudo apt-get purge libpng 
sudo apt-get install -f 
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Then make a reboot.

3. If you get the error like that:

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"W: http://packages.linuxmint.com/dists/sarah/Release.gpg: Signature by
key E1A38B8F144675D060EA666F3EE67F3D0FF405B2 uses weak digest algorithm (SHA1)"
Go here:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo ... bug=818540
And try to resign this key like mentioned in the topic.


That's all.
Enjoy! :D
Last edited by MartinaNeumayer on Tue May 10, 2016 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Pjotr
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Re: How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

Post by Pjotr »

eMcE wrote:Remember, v.18 is now in an ALPHA version and may have some bugs!
I would change that into "probably still has tons of serious and even showstopper bugs" if I were you.... :wink:
Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
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All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
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eladhen
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Re: How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

Post by eladhen »

I tried this on VirtualBox and couldn't get the system to boot after the upgrade...
MartinaNeumayer

Re: How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

Post by MartinaNeumayer »

Pjotr wrote:
eMcE wrote:Remember, v.18 is now in an ALPHA version and may have some bugs!
I would change that into "probably still has tons of serious and even showstopper bugs" if I were you.... :wink:
Off course alpha version has some bugs and issues. That's why is called alpha.
Well.. I updated my test machine and works. I don't saw any problems.. Jet
MartinaNeumayer

Re: How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

Post by MartinaNeumayer »

eladhen wrote:I tried this on VirtualBox and couldn't get the system to boot after the upgrade...
I don't used VirtualBox.. Maybe vbox is the cause for the problems? Is hard to determine without any additional informations.
Habitual

Re: How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

Post by Habitual »

It's Linux, do what you like.
I ain't supporting it.

GET YOU SOME!
froyoshark

Re: How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

Post by froyoshark »

Testing now on my main system. So far everything's extremely stable, got the Nvidia drivers set up and using kernel 4.6rc7. I don't think I've seen any bugs whatsoever since I got it set up. Great work guys! I made a Reddit post showcasing it with a link to this page here: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comme ... nty_theme/
Janilson

Re: How to upgrade Mint 17.3 to 18 - Alpha version. Only for TESTING!

Post by Janilson »

:arrow: software-sources fix

:idea:

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sudo gedit /etc/lsb-release
edit to:

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DISTRIB_ID=LinuxMint
DISTRIB_RELEASE=18
DISTRIB_CODENAME=sarah
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 18 Sarah"
Or will have problems to change mirrors the repositories
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