Using dist-upgrade to upgrade from Debian to Ubuntu

jcbparry · 09-10-2007, 06:49 PM

Hi all!
I am using Debian (unknown version) and I want to get Ubuntu installed using dist-upgrade. You would say just put in the CD and install it. No. Can't do it. No CD Rom. Just floppies and a peagasus compatible USB ethernet adapter. PLEASE HELP!!

AlucardZero · 09-10-2007, 07:11 PM

NO, no, no, and NO.

You can't do that.

craigevil · 09-10-2007, 07:31 PM

oh you can but you probably wouldnt have a working system when your were done.

From Ubuntu Hacks:

Quote:

The naive solution to converting an existing Debian system to Ubuntu is to just edit your /etc/apt/sources.list to switch all the Debian archive references to the equivalent Ubuntu archives and then upgrade all packages. That's a good start, but unfortunately it will most likely leave you with a fairly broken system because many of the libraries in Debian will have newer versions than their equivalents in Ubuntu, so it's necessary to do a bit more work to end up with a usable system.
Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list to comment out all the Debian archives and add entries for the Ubuntu archives. If you need to generate an Ubuntu sources.list file, you can use the "source-o-matic" tool available online at http://www.ubuntulinux.nl/source-o-matic, or you can just put in some basic entries as a starting point:
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted

Then update the package list and install sudo if you don't already have it installed:
# apt-get update
# apt-get install sudo

Since Ubuntu relies so much on the primary user having sudo privileges, it's also a good idea to edit your /etc/sudoers by running visudo and adding a line like this:
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

Then place your primary user into the admin group, replacing username with your actual username:
# usermod

username

-g admin

As a first step to getting all the installed packages in order, you can manually force a reinstall of every package on your system to the specific version available in Ubuntu, but since a typical Debian system has over a thousand packages installed, that can be rather tedious. You can save yourself some time by writing a little script like this:
#!/bin/sh
for name in \Qdpkg --get-selections | grep '[[:space:]]install$' \\
| awk '{print $1}'\Q
do
sudo apt-get install --assume-yes ${name}=\Qapt-cache show $name \\
| grep '^Version' | awk '{print $2}'\Q
done

It's highly likely that some packages you have previously installed from the Debian archives won't "cross-grade" cleanly to the version available in Ubuntu, and you may have to manually uninstall some packages to allow the process to complete. Depending on how your system is set up, you may need to do a lot of poking and prodding to get to the point where:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

can execute cleanly.
Once you have your existing packages converted to the Ubuntu versions, it's time to pull in the core Ubuntu packages:
$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-standard ubuntu-desktop

The result won't be perfect, but you should then have a system that is a reasonable approximation of a full Ubuntu install.

The big question is why you would want to do something like that to begin with.

rickh · 09-10-2007, 08:09 PM

Quote:

oh you can but you probably wouldnt have a working system when your were done.

Anyone who has to ask, ... can't.

...and, it won't be an "upgrade."

jcbparry · 09-11-2007, 09:16 AM

then how do you configure a static network using a console. i need to install kde. no cd rive. how do you mount an external cdrom. it detects it but does not mount it. please help

mikieboy · 09-11-2007, 02:29 PM

I don't understand the question. Why can't you "apt-get install kde-base"?

norobro · 09-11-2007, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickh

...and, it won't be an "upgrade."

I like the subtle dis of Ubuntu.

Where is our buddy aerdt, Mikie?

Norm

Pebcak · 09-11-2007, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcbparry

Hi all!
I am using Debian (unknown version) and I want to get Ubuntu installed using dist-upgrade. You would say just put in the CD and install it. No. Can't do it. No CD Rom. Just floppies and a peagasus compatible USB ethernet adapter. PLEASE HELP!!

Yep, easy as falling off a log. 1. download a ubuntu iso 2. burn to cd 3. blow away a perfectly good install of Debian and install ubuntu.

Ubuntu is NOT Debian and is in no way an upgrade. Why not just tell us the problems you're having with your Debian install and we'll see what we can do about fixing them.

mikieboy · 09-13-2007, 07:25 AM

Originally posted by norobro:

Quote:

Where is our buddy aerdt, Mikie?

Hi Norm,

Our buddy is a busy chap, what with administering 84 RHEL servers and his three distros as well as carrying out impromptu distro reviews.

Besides, after his last visit to the Debian forum I think he spit out his dummy.

Mikie