On Sun, 3 Oct 2021 12:49:12 -0400 "Roy J. Tellason, Sr." <r...@rtellason.com> wrote:
> On Sunday 03 October 2021 12:11:13 am Patrick Bartek wrote: > > On Sat, 2 Oct 2021 11:57:51 -0400 > > "Roy J. Tellason, Sr." <r...@rtellason.com> wrote: > > > > > In recent messaging here I touched on how I'd determined that my > > > workstation was way behind being current. Apparently I needed to > > > go 8->9->10->11. I tried the first of those steps, and things > > > did not go well in a number of ways... > > > > First, back up all your data before starting the dist-upgrade > > series. > > I did back up a bunch of stuff, and it's a good thing I did, or I > would have lost a lot... > > > Also, read and follow the Release Notes of dist-upgrade for each > > version. > > Where are these to be found? https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch/releasenotes https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/releasenotes https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/releasenotes (Bullseye) Here's the main document page: https://www.debian.org/doc/ > > Reboot after each version upgrade, then do an apt-get > > update/upgrade, etc. > > Are you suggesting that I go through that for all of the versions, > one after another? Yes. You want to make sure that each version is fully up to date BEFORE dist-upgrading to the next. Also, check that the repo sources list is correct for each version. > > > For some reason, the software decided to remove virtualbox. > > > Which is a real problem, because it's inside a virtual machine > > > that I do all of my mail, so I couldn't get at my mail for a > > > while. In Synaptic Package Manager if I try to install it I get > > > the following error message: > > > > > > "Package virtualbox has no available version, but exists in the > > > database. This typically means that the package was mentioned in > > > a dependency and never uploaded, has been obsoleted or is not > > > available with the contents of sources.list" > > > > > > I got temporarily past this by installing 8 on this laptop I'm > > > currently typimg on. Some things are decidedly less convenient. > > > > Complete the dist-upgrade for all versions, then reinstall > > VirtualBox. Be sure you saved all your VMs before the > > dist-upgrade(s). They may be deleted. > > Yes, I did save them and will do so again before I proceed, since > I'm modifying this one as I type here... > > I don't use the VB version in the Debian repos, but download and > > install the .deb directly from their web site. During the install > > the VB repo will be set up. > > I did do a download from their site. But it's not clear to me where > I need to put it and how to tell the package management software > about it. Did you download the .deb file of it? You can use dpkg to install, but it won't automatically take care of dependencies. I use gdebi-core, a command line utility, that will install the .deb file correctly and install any dependencies. You must be root to install. > > > Firefox is majorly different, apparently having gone from 68.9.0 > > > --> 78.14.0esr. It no longer uses the font that I'm telling it > > > to, and for some odd reason won't play any youtube videos any > > > more. Instead I see a message on the screen that says "if video > > > doesn't start momentarily restart your device". Huh? > > > > > > Konqueror is also broken, I get "Could not start proess Unable to > > > create io-slave: klauncher said: Error loading 'kio_file'"... > > > > > > Trying to open a file with Okular gets me a similar message. > > > > Complete the entire dist-upgrade before trying to fix problems. > > The problems may fix themselves. > > For all of the versions, straight through to 11? More or less. Check the repos are the correct for that version, Update/upgrade, then reboot. The Release Notes gives full instructions. > > > I don't see any way to back out of these changes, or any obvious > > > place to look for where the problems are. Suggestions welcomed. > > > > I avoid dist-upgrading, if I can because of such problems, and do a > > clean install of the newest version on a free partition keeping the > > old install as fallback in case something goes awry. > > I have done similar in the passt, with Slackware. Which isually > involves stickinng another hard drive in the machine. I don't have > one handy at present, though, and probably won't be getting one in > the near-term. You really only need enough free space on a single drive to install the new version. I share the swap partition to conserve space. So, I only need / and /home partitions for the new install. Some share the /home partition, too, but I never have. The installer should take care of setting up dual or multibooting as required. B
