Inline upgrade of Debian Buster

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi all,

I´m using Debian Buster in a virtual machine (KVM/qemu/virt-manager).

As I´m currently still on Debian 10 (Buster) it´s time to upgrade it to the latest version (Bookworm).
I tried to do so yesterday but my attempt failed, I´m sorry to say.

I wanted to upgrade the system directly from Buster to Bookworm. I´m not sure it was the right thing to do.
Should I have perhaps taken the route: Buster —> Bullseye —> Bookworm
Is it in theory possible to skip a version with the inline upgrade

As my first attempt failed I tried another method: upgrade to Bullseye first, but I seem to have run out of virtual disk space.
I need to enlarge it first.

Curiously enough the small disk space wasn´t the issue with my first attempt. Here I ran into difficulties of a different kind.

My steps were the following:

• take a snapshot of the VM (which proved to be the right thing to do)
• in Debian: unhold any kept-back packages
• sudo apt update
• sudo apt upgrade
• reboot the system
• sudo apt dist-upgrade
• sudo sed -i 's/buster/bullseye/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
• sudo sed -i 's/buster/bullseye/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list
• sudo apt update
• sudo apt upgrade
• sudo apt full-upgrade
• reboot the system
• sudo apt autoremove
• sudo apt clean

The first problem I ran into was:

The step “sudo apt update” after the sources have been changed to bookworm… I got the following message:

Hit:1 http://deb.anydesk.com all InRelease
Hit:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease                                       
Ign:3 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm/updates InRelease                 
Hit:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease                               
Err:5 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm/updates Release  
  404  Not Found [IP: 146.75.118.132 80]
Hit:6 https://download.docker.com/linux/debian bookworm InRelease          
Reading package lists... Done                        
E: The repository 'http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm/updates Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

To address this issue, I temporarily disabled the security updates repository for Bookworm while still proceeding with the upgrade.
Once the correct repository is available, I may re-enable it, I guess.

So I commented out the lines:

# deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm/updates main
# deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm/updates main

It worked well but I finally ran into the main problem:

After sudo apt full-upgrade (it downloaded all the packages but couldn´t install them): This was the last message I received:

 "/usr/bin/perl: error while loading shared libraries: libcrypt.so.1: cannot open shared object
 file: No such file or directory
dpkg: Fehler beim Bearbeiten des Paketes libc6:amd64 (--configure):
 »installiertes libc6:amd64-Skript des Paketes post-installation«-Unterprozess gab den Fehler
wert 127 zurück
Fehler traten auf beim Bearbeiten von:
 libc6:amd64
Fehler: Zeitüberschreitung wurde erreicht
needrestart is being skipped since dpkg has failed". After that I wanted to restart but the system won´t start anymore.

Sorry, it´s in German.

Basically it´s this:

• Error processing the package libc6:amd64 (–configure)
• post-installation sub-process: error 127
• libc6:amd64: error editing / timeout

I rebooted but couldn´t log in anymore.

Hmm, as this procedure failed, what would you suggest is the wisest course for doing an inline upgrade from Debian Buster to Bookworm

Many thanks in advance

Cheers from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

E: The repository 'http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm/updates Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configu

I dont think that message means what you thought it meant.
I get the same message with my Devuan upgrade attempt.

I think it means more things have to be changed in sources.list than just the release name.
Hang on while I sort it out with Devuan… you can waste a lot of downloads with this sort of thing.

The subsequent errors are all caused by getting the wrong repo.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Neville,

@nevj

Hang on while I sort it out with Devuan…

Thanks a lot for the offer.

@nevj

I think it means more things have to be changed in sources.list than just the release name.

I see. I´ll have to investigate further.
This might be the cause why my attempt failed in the end.

Many greetings from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

I´ll have to investigate further.

If you try again, and it still gives that message, just kill it before it downloads anything. It will be wrong… dont waste the download.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Thanks Neville.

That´s good advice indeed.
I´ll have to look for the official Debian guide anyhow. Perhaps there´s another thing I didn´t do right… .

Cheers from Rosika

[4dandl4 (Daniel Phillips)]

@Rosika
Since you are using a VM, I think I would just create a new VM using Debian/Bookworm and just delete the Debian/Buster.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Daniel,

in theory you´re right, of course.

The thing is however: I created that Buster VM quite a while ago and I did it for experimental purposes at the time.
I had no idea I would be using it in a more elaborate way.

In due course I not only installed quite a lot of programmes and experimented with docker, I also applied a lot of changes and introduced some personal data.

Unfortunately I didn´t create a separate home partition and a data partition during the installation process (which I did for my host), so I would lose everything with a fresh install.

I´d like to stick to the inline upgrade, if possible.

Still: thanks a lot for your suggestion.

Many greetings from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

Unfortunately I didn´t create a separate home partition and a data partition during the installation process (which I did for my host), so I would lose everything with a fresh install.

Not quite that bad.
@4dandl4 is right. You can just make another VM, bundle up your home directory into a tarfile, and sftp it across to the new VM. You do lose your installs and configs though.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

I see, Neville.

Right. This path actually didn´t occur to me. Thanks.

Still: I don´t want to give up on the inline uprade yet.

Cheers from Rosika

[4dandl4 (Daniel Phillips)]

One should be able to move any data to an ext drive or to a usb stick and transfer data as needed, I do this all the time with the shared folder with VirtualBox.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Yes, Daniel, you´re right, of course .
That should be doable.

Cheers from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@4dandl4

ext drive or to a usb stick

Yeah, put it anywhere convenient, or just keep the old VM

It might be an idea to keep /etc too.

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

I don´t want to give up on the inline uprade yet

Hi Rosika,
Read man apt-secure(8) and man sources.list(5)
I dont have the answer yet, but it is something to do with
security.
Update: No its not that … see below.

The problem is in the line

deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged deadalus main

If I comment that out , the error messages disappear
but
you cant do without that line…

Solved . See my Devuan upgrade topic.
It was all due to a typo… see the spelling in the above
line from sources.list… it is daedalus NOT deadalus.

Check you spelling in sources.list… you may or may not have the same problem.
Regards
Neville

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Hi Neville,

thanks for the update.

@nevj

It might be an idea to keep /etc too.

Thanks for this hint as well.

Having issues due to a typo can happen to all of us.
The good thing is you found the culprit and you could set it right.

In the meantime I read through Debian´s tutorial for upgrading from Buster to Bullseye:
Chapter 4. Upgrades from Debian 10 (buster) .

Well, I´ll be blessed . It´s some sort of short story rather than a tutorial.

I´m pretty intimidated by it and I fear I will miss some crucial point after all…

Has anoyne of you successfully done a Debian inline upgrade yet
If yes: what might the important steps not to miss be?

In my post #1 I provided the steps I followed, but there seems to be more to it, I guess.

Thanks and many greetings from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

Has anoyne of you successfully done a Debian inline upgrade yet

Hi Rosika,
Yes, I have a Debian hard install in my small desktop, which had an inline upgrade from 10 to 11. I am going to need to do 11 to 12 on it sometime.
There is a complication. It controls grub on my small desktop. If the upgrade fails, it will not boot.
I think I will transfer control of grub to Gentoo, before I start.

I dont have any special tips. Just use the official instructions, and follow them exactly. Be wary of third party instructions.

Regards
Neville

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Thanks Neville.

@nevj

Just use the official instructions,

O.K., I will have to read it through thouroughly a few times more as it seems quite challenging.

For me it turned out to be a wise decision to have taken a snapshot of the VM beforehand.
So I can start afresh.

I still have to enlarge the qcow2 image first. As it is at the present it´s definitively too small for the upgrade.

Many greetings from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

I will have to read it through thouroughly

One point.
If you have other repos, eg ppa’s, comment them out in sources.list. They will interfere. You just want the 3 standard deb lines… without typos.

It is a big upgrade… with Devuan my apt-get dist-upgrade had about 1200 gets.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Thanks a lot for pointing that out, Neville.

In fact I neglected to take care of PPA´s during my first attempt.

In Buster my sources look like this at present:

rosika2@debian ~> cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# 

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.9.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 xfce-CD Binary-1 20210327-10:42]/ buster main

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.9.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 xfce-CD Binary-1 20210327-10:42]/ buster main

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main

# buster-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main

# This system was installed using small removable media
# (e.g. netinst, live or single CD). The matching "deb cdrom"
# entries were disabled at the end of the installation process.
# For information about how to configure apt package sources,
# see the sources.list(5) manual.
deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian buster stable
# deb-src [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian buster stable

But there´s also:

rosika2@debian ~> ll /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
insgesamt 8,0K
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 37 Jun 14  2022 anydesk-stable.list
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 37 Jun 14  2022 anydesk-stable.list.save
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Mai  8  2022 xtradeb-ubuntu-apps-kinetic.list
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Mai  8  2022 xtradeb-ubuntu-apps-kinetic.list.save

So I will have to deal with these as well.

Many greetings from Rosika

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@Rosika

So I will have to deal with these as well.

I dont know what to do with those. Does the official guide say? I would think hide them… move them somewhere else temporarily. You can deal with them separately later.
and
I just remembered, use script . You may need to consult it if it fails. I know, script is an annoying format… but there is no ther way to get a log.

[Rosika (Rosika Schreck)]

Thanks Neville.

@nevj

Does the official guide say?

I´ll have to take a closer look at it yet.
Moving them somewhere else seems the way to go. That´s certainly a good idea.

@nevj

use script

Thanks. I´ll do a research on how to implement it for the upgrade process.

Cheers from Rosika