On 21 June 2011 18:54, Ted Harding ted.harding@wlandres.net wrote:
Greetings all! I'd like to ask about something I've never found clear information on.
Suppose one has an older stable version of Debian. For example, on one machine I have Debian 4 ("Etch"). on another Debian 5 ("Lenny"). But the current stable version is Debian 6 "Squeeze").
What are my chances of successfully upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze? And how to do it?
I happened to do this just this very afternoon. Use this as a starting guide: http://www.debiantutorials.com/upgrade-from-lenny-to-squeeze/
It wasn't quite as straightforward as the tutorial, but it all depends on what packages you have installed on your computer as to how much will break. This is the easiest debian upgrade I've ever done, I think - the moinmoin wiki broke (ta Brett and Noodles for help), postgresql was a bit awkward, and there was incompatible line in an old config of dovecot. I didn't have Xserver installed on this server - that can often break after an upgrade. Make a backup first of at least /home and /etc if not the whole system.
And then what about upgrading from Etch to Squeeze?
I think you are supposed to hop from etch->lenny then from lenny->squeeze.
And what is likely to happen to packages (some external) installed on these obsolete Debians? (Especially where I have made my own modifications to software, most often configuration files and the like)?
The packages will be upgraded - if the package manager (apt or aptitude) notices that you have modified a config file it will politely ask you if you want to keep your one or install the new one, and offer to show the differences. You can either install the new version and use your backed up copy to re-edit, or keep your one in the hopes that there is nothing in it that will break a newer version. If that goes wrong, you can always grab the new version anyway.
I should add that within each version I have been happily and successfully following the upgrades from Debian for the various Debian packages.
All information and guidance welcome!
Hope that helps a bit - not the most experienced on list, but brimming with enthusiasm after today's success... (and I have another handful to get through by next week....)
Jenny