Kubuntu Dapper to Edgy Update
 

I did a search and looked through a number of threads regarding updating from a working Kubuntu Dapper installation to Edgy. I hesitate to update because I read about a fair number of problems folks had in updating, but I also rad about new featues that make me want to update. There were also various suggestions as to how to update. The Kubuntu web page gives a multistep process using sudo apt-get, but some of the posts in one of th threads talks about bad things happening when he did that. I also read a web page about common problems in updating Dapper to Edgy and their solutions at http://tinyurl.com/yj369a, and it's intimidating.

My question is...some of these posts are now months old. Have there been improvements in Edgy to resolve some of those problems, and what's the current best/safest way for a non-expert to update? Safest would include backing up, but that's not an option. I don't have the CD, but can DL and burn it if there's not a better way.

Recommended procedure from the Kubuntu web page is shown below...is this still accurate and likely to result in a safe and successful installation?
-------------
Users of Kubuntu 6.06 LTS can upgrade to 6.10 over the internet by following these instructions:

* NOTE: This procedure upgrades your system over the Internet, which requires a large download of several hundred megabytes.
* In Konqueror go to /etc/apt, right click on sources.list and choose Actions -> Edit as Root
* Change all instances of dapper to edgy
* Launch a console with KMenu -> System -> Konsole
* In the console run: sudo apt-get update
* In the console run: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade and follow the prompts to upgrade
* In the console run: sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop python-qt3 python-kde3 ubuntu-minimal and follow the prompts to install
* Reboot your computer

If you have a Kubuntu 6.10 CD, put it in the drive, and run apt-cdrom from the command line. Then follow the instructions above.
----------------------

From what I've read in the forums and some newsgroups I also read, it appears that updating to Edgy can be pretty transparent and successful, but I've read an unexpected number of accounts of problems.

Thanks!
Optiker

As in any major upgrade using the package manager to update, for example, from Ubuntu 6.06 to 6.10, there is a danger of something going wrong. It depends on what packages and versions you have installed, if they break dependencies, how you have edited your config files (are they replaced by new stock ones or not, and how that affects the system -- both ways) etc..

Usually the message is: "if you can, do a clean install -- if you can't, use a cd-booted upgrade if available, and only if that is impossible, use package manager update". That's what I recommend: if you had created a separate /home directory when you installed your Ubuntu, you could now just download 6.10 cd, boot from it and install it overwriting the existing installation, but choosing not to format your home partition. That would result in a completely clean update which would work as far as the new distribution version works -- no fear of colliding configuration files or existing packet dependency problems. But usually people just run through their Linux setup and don't create a separate /home directory, and in many cases Linux just creates /home under root, which prevents you from updating the system like I described above.

In this case the next best choice of updating is to boot from the install cd and choose a "upgrade" option from the setup; however I'm not sure if Ubuntu offers that (I haven't checked out the Alternate Install Disc, but I have a feeling Ubuntu does not support this -- Fedora does, for example). So, if you can't back up all your data (for example your complete home directory), do a clean install and then overwrite the existing distribution, nor do you have a separate /home directory (/home in a different partition than root /), then your only choice is -- if you wish to keep your data as safe as possible -- to do an upgrade through apt.

I believe updating trough apt is somewhat safe. By this I mean that it's probable that either nothing, or only very small things, go wrong. It of course could be that your system gets trashed, but that's unprobable.

As an example I can mention that a similar upgrade from Fedora Core 4 to 5 could be made using Fedora's package manager yum, it had similar warnings as you have read, some problems mentioned etc. but I did it on a relatively old Core 4 completely without problems. And even if you had problems, you should be able to fix them, so as long as you don't format anything you are "safe" :) you can take a live-cd and burn your data to a safe place any time you like, even if the system died during the upgrade.

Consider what you want; if you don't have a burning need to get some new updates, but you have valuable data that you can't back up (well in that case you should really be able to back it up, so..) or don't want to do such a thing, then keep on using version 6.06. Instead if you are a brave mind, really really want to get the updates and think it's more important than knowing your data is 99,9% safe, just go ahead. I see no reason why you couldn't try. You could run the apt commands first as dry tests, so that nothing is actually done (i.e. the packages are downloaded, but not installed, the system just "tests to see if it would work"), and if it doesn't produce any big problems, just go ahead and run them the usual way.

If you can't do a clean overwrite-install, go ahead. You're probably just ok, and in case you weren't, borrow your friend's pc and come here and ask how we can fix it up :)

bOuncer...Makes sense. Actually, I have very little data in my home directory, so losing it is no big deal. I'm still dbbling in Linux, so not really generating a lot of anything important. What I do generate, I usually store in a fat32 partition that I access in both Windows and Linux.

I've read about and been advised to set up a home directory on a different partition, but being pretty inexperienced, it wounded confusing, so I've never done it.

Your suggestions makes sense - to consider how important it is to me to update, and how bave I am. After a month of restoring a Win2k installation broken by a MS update, and trying to reinstall (and so far failing) Dapper on that same computer, I'm not feeling very brave.

I think maybe I'll just let it go and stay wiht Dapper for the foreseeable future.

Thanks!
Optiker