I have successfully (I hope) upgraded from Debian 8 (Jessie) stable to permanent testing. I did:
sudo check sudo update sudo upgrade then saved /etc/apt/sources.list as /etc/apt/sources.list.old. Here was the original /etc/apt/sources.list: ------------------------------------------------------------------- # deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 8.2.0 _Jessie_ - Official amd64 NETINST Binary-1 20150906-11:09]/ jessie main deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free # jessie-updates, previously known as 'volatile' deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free # jessie-backports, previously on backports.debian.org deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports main contrib non-free ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I changed (and saved) /etc/apt/sources.list as: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ # deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 8.2.0 _Jessie_ - Official amd64 NETINST Binary-1 20150906-11:09]/ jessie$ deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free deb-src http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free # jessie-updates, previously known as 'volatile' # sysadmin renamed "jessie-updates" to "testing updates": deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing-updates main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing-updates main contrib non-free # jessie-backports, previously on backports.debian.org # sysadmin commented out "jessie-backports": # deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports main contrib non-free # deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports main contrib non-free ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, I just "commented out" the jessie-backports lines, and changed the jessie-updates lines to testing-updates. And saved the edited /etc/apt/sources.list. Then, I did: sudo check sudo update sudo upgrade clean autoclean autoremove And rebooted. All seems well. But, should I now do: sudo apt-get --download-only dist-upgrade sudo dist-upgrade (Note that I want to track testing permanently, NOT just until Jessie becomes Stretch.) Or should I just leave it as is? Also note - doing: sudo apt-get --download-only dist-upgrade would result in: "361 upgraded, 242 newly installed, 36 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 471 MB of archives. After this operation, 741 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] " BTW, in my earlier proposed changes to /etc/apt/sources.list, I thought that I had clearly indicated that the jessie-backports lines were to be "commented out", and thus inactive. I am sorry if there was any confusion on that point. Also, regarding: "On Sun, 24 Jan 2016 21:26:26 -0500 Francis Gerund <ranr...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello . . . > > Is this mic on? > What?" This just (I thought humorously) references a classic thing done by old-time stand-up comedians to elicit audience participation, when they feel like they are "dying on stage". At the time I wrote that, I was surprised at the lack of activity on the list, including responded to my original question. I actually thought that there might be something wrong with the email system. Which brings me to my final point. I honestly thought it was a simple,easy question, that would relatively quickly receive a simple, easy response. I was surprised that upgrading from stable to testing is still not a simple, clear, idiot-proof operation. After all, this is 2016 . . . right? I wonder why there is still not a simple utility program, or even a CLI script, to upgrade from stable to testing, or testing to unstable, etc. Or if there is, please let me (and everyone) know about it. It doesn't seem like it would be very difficult to make, for someone who knows how. And I believe it would be extremely useful. Think of the problems it would help to prevent. Anyway, thanks to all who replied. And I hope this in some way may help others in the same position.
