Hi altogether,

as my system Lubuntu 16.04.5 LTS, 64 bit gets its updates only util April next year I´ll eventually have to deal with the topic of upgrades.

I plan to go for LTS again (bionic beaver). I think I will try the upgrade which synaptic keeps offering for a while now. But in case that doesn´t go well I´ll have to opt for a clean install (after doing a system-backup with clonezilla).
I have a separate /home-partition, so I think I can keep that one.

My question is: how do I go about installing all the packages that I have now?
Some or even most of them come with the new system I think. So it´s the difference between the packages that are currently installed and the standard ones of bionic which I have to deal with.

Any suggestions?

Tnx a lot in advance.
Greetings.
Rosika

Not an ubuntu person, but use their manager (Synaptic? Apt?)

Don't go mixing apps from one version onto another, because these were compiled against certain other files (libraries, headers, etc) and sooner rather than later a clean install will be your only option (After the system pukes). Sounds like a good time for backing up though :-). Back up /home especially, on another disk, usb drive, or to dvds if necessary.

Hi business_kid,

thanks a lot for your answer.

You are certainly right there. I think I´ll go for a clean install right away.

The thing is: I have to reinstall those packages that I installed over the years. Somehow I have to create a list of those additional packages and then have to install them with
So basically I´m looking for a command to produce this list.

Greetings
Rosika

i made a dist-upgrade on debian (no gui) and there was absolutely no problem.
one would hope ubuntu also can manage that, they had more than 10 years to learn.
i would look for a decent tutorial about that (preferably from ubuntu pages), before starting.

saving your /home makes a lot of sense, but don't expect to be able to just drop it back in without any rough edges.

no, i would try the dist-upgrade first.
no harm in trying, if the alternative is a fresh install.

I have a dozen *buntu installations. The only times I don't dist-upgrade an LTS is when adding *buntu to a new PC. The only one I have on 18.04 is the newest. Most of the rest except for the two oldest, which I haven't used in over a year and have 12.04, are still with 16.04 (with TDE) or 14.04 (with KDE4).

I think "apt-cache pkgnames" will give you a list of what's currently installed on your system. If it comes to reinstalling, you only need to consider the applications; any libraries that they need will be installed along with them.

+1 on all the dist-upgrade suggestions, & do your backups.

When/if the upgrade goes bellyup, there is some 'apt-get --fix-broken' thing to sort it. Repeat, back up the /home.

Hi again and thanks all of you for your replies.

@ondoho:

Yeah, I think I´ll go for dist-upgrade first. But a plan B is always good to have. In case of difficulties
I´d have to perform a a clean-install after all ......

@mrmazda:

Fine. Thanks for sharing. That sounds promising.

@hazel:

"apt-cache pkgnames" in my case produces a list of all theoretically available packages. Not so much those that are installed on my system.
Yet I´ve found a command that shows all packages that were manually installed afterwards:
(see https://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/s.../#post-8901018 ).
After a clean-install of the new system:
should give me those packages back.
I hope that´s correct so far.

@business_kid,

thanks for the hint. Really good to know

Greetings
Rosika