A very simple first query - before I plunge into the depths of the dist-upgrade.

My standard dist-upgrade routine (used successfully when upgrading previous stable releases) relies on installing the new release from DVDs.

Etch had everything on one DVD; Lenny had 3 DVDs; Squeeze has *8* DVDs!

In addition, the README.txt file on the first Squueeze disk has the following entry:

> The programs on the Binary discs are ordered by popularity. The
> Binary-1 disc contains the most popular programs and the installation
> tools; it is possible to install and run Debian *with only the Binary-1
> disc*. The other discs, up to Binary-8, contain mostly
> special-interest programs.

I also note the entry in the release notes which states:

> the distribution includes over 10352
> new packages, for a total of over 29050 packages.

Given that I run a single desktop and my needs are very modest, I am reluctant to clutter up my computer with indexed references to 29050 packages, most of which I will never use.

On the other hand, I have plenty of unused space (for a larger index file) on my Linux partition and do not wish to "lose a ship because I saved a ha'pence worth of tar".

All advice/comments will be gratefully received.

felixk

I would strongly recommend to use a net-based upgrade path. I simply don't see the point in downloading DVDs instead of only the packages you need, especially if you only need one or two packages from a DVD. You also will not have to guess which DVDs you really need to upgrade your system.
And I can assure you, you will not "clutter up" your system, on my system (Debian Sid, with enabled Experimental and Multimedia repositories and apt-file installed) the /var/cache/apt folder has a size of only 53 MB (after apt-get clean), where the size of the apt-file sub-directory is 20 MB.

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I upgraded on line and it went flawlessly.

I wrote up my experiences here.

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Firstly, my thanks to both "frankbell" and "TobiSGD" for the prompt replies and "frankbell's" helpful reference.

The reference - alas - came too late; I had already printed out a 20-page extract of Debian's release notes!

However, nothing has been lost; the release notes point to the need to remove non-Debian packages before attempting the upgrade.

Based on my *unreliable* memory, I have 2 such packages (from Epson) that need to be removed.

The details provided by "dpkg-query" are:

dpkg-query -l "iscan*"
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Cfg-files/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==============-==============-============================================
in iscan <none> (no description available)
pn iscan-plugin-g <none> (no description available)

- which raises more questions than it answers.

The new questions are:

1. Is there any (dpkg?) routine that would identify other alien packages on my system, that I had overlooked; and

2. Is "dpkg -r 'Package Name' " an adequate routine for (temporarily) removing the alien packages?

It is worth flagging that neither the "iscan" package nor the "iscan-plugin" were found by either aptitude or synaptic; the packages were supplied by Epson as ".rpm" packages and converted to ".deb" packages with the help of "alien".

Again, many thanks for the helpful advice.

felixk

There are many ways to find these packages. One, for example would be to fire up aptitude in interactive mode and look at the packages in the "Obsolete and Locally Created Packages" section.

Cheers,

Evo2.

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I also printed out all those release notes.

Sometimes nothing beats the printed page.

It's difficult to put a check mark next to each completed step in an online document. The sharpie marks make the screen hard to read.

Thank you. That was the pointer that I needed.

It turns out that I have 34 "Obsolete and Locally Created Packages".

On inspection, all appear to be "obsolete"; none were "locally created".

With a bit of luck, the rest of the upgrade routine will run without hitch (and I fully agree with frenkbell's comments that it is much simpler to put a tick on a printed page).

My thanks to ll for their interest and helpful suggestions.

felixk