Ubuntu 7.10 Update Manager possibly not updating and def. not offering new distro
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Ubuntu 7.10 Update Manager possibly not updating and def. not offering new distro
I'm running 7.10 and want to upgrade to 8.04 (and eventually 8.10) Following directions, I'm trying to make sure that 7.10 is updated before I start. I go into the Systems menu, choose Administration and then Update Manager and then click the Check button. It says it's downloading 77 files and then it appears to be "Checking for updates" but it doesn't show me the packages that it supposedly has downloaded.
Then when I click the Check button again, -- when I think I'm supposed to be offered a chance to upgrade -- it appears to download exactly 77 packages again.
So, I go to the command line and run sudo apt-get update and again seem to get 77 packages.
deb@deb-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Then I thought maybe I don't need those 77 files and can just upgrade anyway? So, I tried sudo apt-get dist-upgrade also with no result.
Quote:
deb@deb-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
In Administration, I looked at the Software Sources and I've got everything selected on the Ubuntu Software tab. I'm not really sure what else to check.
My next step would be to burn a disk for 8.04 and do the install that way, but I guess I'm wondering what happened to the update function and what are those 77 files, or if they are even files? How important is it to make sure that 7.10 is definitely up to date before I upgrade? I usually install software updates every couple days as they become available via the "Software Updates Available" notifier so my stuff shouldn't be too out of date.
I just tried sudo apt-get upgrade and then sudo apt-get dist upgrade and got 0's for both.
Quote:
deb@deb-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
deb@deb-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Can I use the install command for a whole distro if I find the exact name or is that not a good idea?
I wonder if the Ubuntu update system can't handle two upgrades being outstanding. I made sure my last Gutsy system was updated to Hardy in the week before Intrepid became available to avoid this situation. Hardy at release was so flaky I refused to update this (needed) system. Intrepid seems a bit better, and I will do this system in a month or so.
As a general policy I don't upgrade Ubuntu systems, but re-install completely (to a different partition) with the new CD. Works fine if you have /home off on a separate partition, and use the same userid(s)/password on (re-)install.
I would also recommend a clean install of 8.10 instead of trying to dist-upgrade from 7.10 > 8.04 > 8.10. A clean install will likely be easier and quicker than dist-upgrading past 2 versions; and will surely be the best way to avoid problems. If you have a seaparate /home it is not a big deal to do a clean install of 8.10 to your current root partition. If you do not have a separate /home, now would be a good time as any to re-partition your hard drive and make a separate home partition.
I always do a clean install instead of dist-upgrading to a new version of Ubuntu. A clean install takes less than 30 minutes. It then takes me about an hour (at the most) to reinstall the programs I use and set things up the way I like them. I don't consider this amount of downtime to be a problem. Compared to a dist-upgrade it is perhaps just a bit longer, but it is more of a fail-safe way of upgrading imo.
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