Utah Open Source Planet

Christer Edwards
nonic
Ubuntu Tutorials : Dapper - Feisty - Gutsy - Hardy

» A Reminder About Upgrading Ubuntu…

I have seen a few questions in IRC and the forums lately regarding upgrading Ubuntu machines. I thought I would toss out a reminder on the best, supported, methods of upgrading your machine and how to avoid (hopefully) some common pitfalls.

Upgrade Preparation

The first step towards an upgrade is to backup any mission-critical data that you may need. Things like your documents, presentations, homework, etc. I have never had an issue with an installer breaking and losing my data, but its simply just a good idea. I’d hate to not have done the “just-in-case” and look back in regret.

Back up all your data by copying or archiving everything from /home/username, including those hidden folders. This will include your personal files and personal configuration and settings.

Upgrade Requirements

It is worth pointing out that two things are required before you’ll be able to cleanly upgrade your machine.

Your machine is completely up to date on its current release.
You understand that upgrading is only supporting between single releases or LTS to LTS releases. (ie; 7.04 -> 7.10 -> 8.04 is OK, 6.06 -> 8.04 is OK)

Once you understand these simple requirements you’re ready to begin.

Upgrading Your Machine

I have outlined upgrade steps in the past, which you may want to refer to for further details (a lot of feedback in the comments section), and I’ll also review them here.

No matter the version you are currently using you can be automagically offered an upgrade by using the Update Manager tool. This tool can be found via “System > Administration > Update Manager” or via launching it by way of the Run Application Dialog:

ALT+F2 "update-manager"

As mentioned above you need to make sure your machine is up to date on its current release before you’ll be offered the new version. Do this by clicking “Check” to check for any available updates.

Apply all available updates (these should not normally be delayed, very rarely do updates cause any breakages).

Repeat the update process until you are notified that a new release is available. You’ll see something similar to this:

update manager upgrade to 8.04

If you are still on a previous version of Ubuntu the “available release” may vary, of course.

Remember, if you are upgrading from Ubuntu 7.10 you can upgrade directly to the latest release of 8.04. If you are using anything previous to that you’ll need to repeat these steps for each release until you arrive at 8.04. Yes, this might take some time if you are very far behind.

If you are using Ubuntu 6.06 you should be notified that 8.04 is available and you can upgrade directly.

I spent a bit of time backing things up and preparing for the upgrade (you know, just in case). I then switched my repository to a faster mirror than the local one I had been using and I installed the required package to handle upgrades (update-manager-core). After this I ran sudo screen do-release-upgrade and watched the fun happen. (Yeah, I ran it in screen because I didn’t know how long it might take and I wanted to be able to detach if needed..)

Guess how long it took? Less than nine minutes! In less time than it normally takes to even download the CD I was upgraded, rebooted and back in production! So far things are running great, the upgrade went as smooth as can be, and my world has been rocked by Ubuntu Server!

I just have to say, if you or your company has been wondering whether Ubuntu is ready for the server, all I have to say is HELL YEAH IT IS! Try to upgrade a production machine from one release to the next and have it back in production in less than 10 minutes another “Enterprise” Linux distribution. Ohh, and do it while its still in production without any CDs.. I dare ya!

This is the last of my servers / desktops / laptops that is not yet running Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy”. In my testing on non-production machines and semi-production machines the upgrades have worked absolutely perfectly. I wanted to post an announcement / warning that I would be upgrading this server to Ubuntu 8.04 at some point today. I’ll post on the progress. Heads up however. If the blog manages to disappear altogether you’ll know what happened

Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” is released! Definitely cause for celebration with many, many new features and improvements! I figure a hot search item for the next little bit will be regarding how to upgrade. I thought I’d share a collection of links that will hopefully cover enough of the bases to cover everyone. Remember, the interweb tubes are going to be fairly clogged today so don’t be surprised if core Ubuntu sites take forever to load or don’t load at all. I notice the Ubuntu Wiki is already overloaded this morning. I’m hoping I’ve covered enough of the bases with recent posts to get everyone covered.

I’ve also linked posts from previous releases. The steps are generally similar enough to give you a good idea. Feel free to use them as a reference but not pure-gospel.

Upgrade Ubuntu 6.06 or 7.10 to Ubuntu 8.04

Upgrade 7.10 “Gutsy” to Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy” (ubuntu-tutorials)

Upgrade 6.06 “Dapper” to Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy” (ubuntu-tutorials)

Upgrade from Ubuntu Release Candidate to Ubuntu 8.04 Final (ubuntu-tutorials)

Upgrade Ubuntu Images to Final with Jigdo (ubuntu-tutorials)

Upgrade Ubuntu 6.06 “Dapper” Server to Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy” Server (ubuntu-tutorials)

Upgrade Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) Beta (ubuntu geek)

Ubuntu Community Wiki Upgrade Notes (community wiki)

Previous Release Steps

How To Upgrade to Ubuntu 7.10 (ubuntu-tutorials)

Upgrade Ubuntu 7.04 Server to Ubuntu 7.10 (ubuntu-tutorials)

Upgrade Problems? Try A Different Repository Mirror (ubuntu-tutorials)

Caching Upgrade for Multiple Machines with Apt-Cacher

If you plan on upgrading multiple machines on a single network using the above options please, for your sake and for the sake of the interweb tubes, set up something like Apt-Cacher to make your upgrades more bandwidth efficient! Basically, if you’ve got two or three machines you plan on upgrading, Apt-Cacher will pull down all the required packages for the first machine & then cache them for the remaining machines. The second and third (and fourth.. and fifth..) will upgrade tremendously faster and you’ll help unclog the interweb tubes for everyone else

With Ubuntu 8.04 being the second LTS (Long Term Support) release it is also possible to upgrade from LTS to LTS releases. This means upgrading Ubuntu 6.06 to Ubuntu 8.04. I have tested this in a previous post, “Dapper 6.06 to Hardy 8.04 Direct Server Upgrade“, which you might also be interested in (that post is regarding the Server and not the Desktop release.)

Upgrading via Update Manager

Step 1: It is suggested that you make sure your BIOS is up-to-date before you try such an upgrade. This is based on some changes in the latest kernel releases which can conflict with older BIOS firmware.

Step 2: You’ll need to make sure that the dapper-updates software channel is activated. (See my previous post linked above for an example of which repositories can/should be enabled.)

Step 3: Press Alt-F2 and type gksu "update-manager -d"

Step 4: Click the Check button to check for new updates.

Step 5: A message will appear informing you of the availability of the new release.

Step 6: Click Upgrade

Step 7: Follow the instructions as the Update Manager utility will walk you through each step of the upgrade. You will still have a chance to back out after clicking Upgrade if you feel you’re not yet ready.

For more information and other information from the Wiki see: Upgrade Notes

Press Alt-F2 and type update-manager --devel-release

(when 8.04 is final the --devel-release is no longer needed)

Click the Check button to check for new updates.

A message will appear informing you of the availability of the new release.

Click Upgrade

Follow the instructions as the Update Manager utility will walk you through each step of the upgrade. You will still have a chance to back out after clicking Upgrade if you feel you’re not yet ready.

It should be noted that this will upgrade your machine via your internet connection and can take quite some time. If you have access to a fast mirror it can be faster, but immediately after a release the interweb tubes tend to clog up. You’ve been warned.

For more information and suggestions from the Wiki see: Upgrade Notes

If you’ve installed Beta and want to upgrade to RC (and eventually Final) simply continue to update your machine. There isn’t anything special that needs to be done, just run Update Manager and apply any available updates. Updating your machine in this way will take you from Beta to RC to Final.

I hope that helps for anyone still wondering. Also, for those of you that are still on Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy” that are going to be updating I’ll have instructions on that over the next two days.

by Christer Edwards at 12:50 PM under 8.04 , beta , rc , upgrade (Comments)

Christer Edwards
nonic
Ubuntu Tutorials : Dapper - Feisty - Gutsy - Hardy

» Updating Ubuntu Images With Jigdo

Well its that time again, the Ubuntu community is just about ready to launch another fantastic release and with that release the worlds interweb tubes are going to get clogged as everyone upgrades. It’s about this time that I always start thinking about ways to be more efficient with my bandwidth.

Bittorrent, of course, is a great improvement over the traditional direct download method but in some cases there are potentially more efficient methods to use. I’d like to outline (as I do with every release) how to update your current ubuntu images using Jigdo.

Jigdo, if you’re not familiar, takes a current Ubuntu image and compares its contained packages with the packages within an updated image (ie; alpha vs beta, beta vs RC, RC vs final). Using this method you’re only downloading the packages that have *changed* between images and not the entire image again. The morning RC was released I used jigdo against my local ubuntu package mirror and had the new image in about a minute!

Installing Jigdo

Jigdo is available within the Ubuntu repositories. To install Jigdo you can run the command:

sudo aptitude install jigdo-file

Using Jigdo

Jigdo requires a .jigdo file, which outlines what the latest image *should* have, which is then compared to the previous image file that you already have on the machine. The previous image can be burned and in the drive or loop-mounted (mount -o loop file.iso /mnt). So, to begin you’ll need to start Jigdo and give it the path to a .jigdo file:

jigdo-lite http://us.releases.ubuntu.com/hardy/ubuntu-8.04-rc-alternate-i386.jigdo

The .jigdo file can be found on most download sites, look for it just below the .iso or .torrent files.

Jigdo will then download that .jigdo file and read the contents of what package versions should be in the latest release. It will then ask you for the image you want to compare it to, which you can point it to your loaded disk or mounted .iso.

If not much has changed between the images (its *really* efficient for updating dailies!) it should be finished pretty quickly. The more changes there are the more packages it’ll have to download. When it has being able to find, or has downloaded the required updated packages, it’ll create a new .iso image for you. Tada! You have an upgraded image and you’ve used much less bandwidth than traditional methods.

note: using Jigdo to compare a 7.10 image vs an 8.04 image is not going to offer any improvements–everything has been changed. It is best used for incremental updates, like beta to RC, RC to final, etc.

For more information on using Jigdo for updating Ubuntu images see the JigdoDownloadHowTo Wiki page.

by Christer Edwards at 6:00 PM under alpha , beta , jigdo , rc , upgrade (Comments)

Christer Edwards
nonic
Ubuntu Tutorials : Dapper - Feisty - Gutsy - Hardy

» Dapper To Hardy Direct Server Upgrade Works!

The other day I thought I’d give the Ubuntu 6.06 LTS to 8.04 LTS direct upgrade path a try on my Ubuntu 6.06 server. It ran smoothly (over ssh no less), until I ran into one bug at the end. I reported it, with a reply back the next day. Two days later it has been fixed and I tried an upgrade again. I’m happy to say that the direct upgrade path worked perfectly on a fresh install of Ubuntu 6.06 Server. Here is how I did it:

Ubuntu 6.06 to Ubuntu 8.04 Upgrade (Server)

I verified that my current install was completely up to date:

sudo aptitude update sudo aptitude upgrade sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

Also, to be thorough, this is what my sources.list looked like (each ‘deb’ entry should be one single line):

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-proposed main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse

Once I had applied all updates (if you’re already up to date, you don’t need a reboot) I then installed the server-based update utility:

sudo aptitude install update-manager-core

Once this is installed you’re ready to begin the upgrade process. You can start the upgrade using:

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

note: once Ubuntu 8.04 final is released the -d option will no longer be needed.

At this point it’ll do some checking, verify and update the newer repository and ask you a few questions along the lines of “There is no going back from here, are you sure you want to upgrade?” After that its smooth sailing.

If you do run into any issues during the upgrade please report them against the update-manager-core package in Launchpad.

by Christer Edwards at 10:46 PM under dapper , hardy , lts , server , ubuntu , upgrade (Comments)

Kevin Kubasik
nonic
For Once I Oneder

» The Deed Is Done

A successful (so far) Wordpress upgrade. Version 2.3 seems cool enough, If you spot a problem, please let me know!

Edit: It appears that I may have spoken too soon… Some fickle behavior from plugins that used to like categories, but I guess that was to be expected. =/

by Kevin Kubasik at 7:42 PM under blog , kubasik , upgrade , wordpress (Comments)

Clint Savage
herlo
Sexy Sexy Penguins » Tech

» Werewolf (Fedora 8) Upgrade in 3 Easy Steps Using yum

Recently, there was a request in one of my comments on this post. The request was for an easy way to upgrade from Fedora 7 to Fedora 8. So I took this on as a bit of a challenge. I feel pretty comfortable with yum and I thought it would be a good and easy task.

A bit of warning here, make sure your current Moonshine ( Fedora 7 ) release is update by running yum update. Also, it is recommended that backups be made of files being modified. If you don’t backup the file, it may be impossible to fix in the future. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Let’s upgrade Moonshine ( Fedora 7 ) to Werewolf ( Fedora 8 ) in three easy steps:

First things first, lets print out some version info:

$ cat /etc/*release
Fedora release 7 (Moonshine)
Fedora release 7 (Moonshine)

$ uname -r
2.6.23.1-21.fc7

Its easy to tell that this machine is indeed using Moonshine ( Fedora 7 ), so let’s upgrade!

Step 1 - Modify the yum repo files

Located in /etc/yum.repos.d directory are where the yum repository files are stored. We need to modify one line so that yum will know where to look:

$ su -
# vim /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora.repo

Find the first line that starts:

mirrorlist=http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch

and change it:

mirrorlist=http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=fedora-8&arch=$basearch

What changed? Well, the $releasever value is the current value for our version of fedora, in this case 7. By changing it to 8, it’ll load the correct repositories for Werewolf (F8) instead of Moonshine (F7). Save the file, and now we’re ready to move onto the next step.

Step 1 (Alternate)

Since posting this, I’ve learned that another option is available. To update the repositories, its possible to install an rpm to accomplish the same as above and it won’t require Step 3.

Choose your mirror from http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org. I picked University of Oregon’s site because it was close to me.

# rpm -Uvh \
ftp://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/8/Everything/i386/os/Packages/fedora-release-*.rpm

Your ftp/http line here may be different, that is fine. This command installs the updated repositories for Werewolf ( Fedora 8 )

Step 2 - Upgrade

In this step, we just need to run (as root):

# yum update
fedora               100% |===============| 2.1 kB   00:00
primary.sqlite.bz2   100% |===============| 4.9 MB   00:03
Setting up Update Process
Resolving Dependencies
.. snip ..

A few prompts will appear, after the repository data is loaded, a list of several hundred megs (possibly a gigabyte or more) of packages will be ready to install. This is the moment of truth.

Transaction Summary
============================
Install     88 Package(s)
Update     836 Package(s)
Remove       1 Package(s)

Total download size: 1.0 G
Is this ok [y/N]:

Start the download of over 800 packages (in my case) and install and update your system. If you feel a bit of trepidation, I concur. Its still exciting though, isn’t it?

Is this ok [y/N]: y

Now aren’t you excited! In about 30-45 minutes, you’ll have a newly upgraded Werewolf ( Fedora 8 ).

Downloading Packages:
orca-2.20.0.1-1. 100% |=========================| 1.5 MB    00:01
.. snip ..

Step 3 - Cleanup and Reboot

Welcome to your new Werewolf. Treat it wisely. First things first though, we need to clean up our editing from step 1:

# vim /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora.repo

Find the first line that starts:

mirrorlist=http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=fedora-8&arch=$basearch

and change it:

mirrorlist=http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch

Save the file, or if you prefer, copy the backup you made over the modified repo file.

In addition, there are some items that aren’t in Fedora 8 the same way they were in Fedora 7. For these, read this guide. I didn’t have these problems myself, ymmv.

To get the newly updated kernel and all the new goodness of Werewolf, a reboot is necessary. Enjoy your new Lycanthrope on the flip side.

Cheers,

Herlo

by herlo at 7:35 AM under fedora , guru , install , releases , tech , tools , update , upgrade , werewolf , yum (Comments)

Clint Savage
herlo
Sexy Sexy Penguins » Tech

» Thoughts on the Fedora Upgrade - Part 1

So its been a whole two days since I upgraded to Werewolf. I love it! Most everything works out of the box (OOTB), wireless, bluetooth, even suspend/resume seem to be possible for the first time!

But one of the oddities I encountered while upgrading was the names of the packages. Mind you, this is just my twisted mind being interested in some of the funny odd or strange package names I found while the yum upgrade was taking place.

So here’s the list anyway, with a short description of each. Enjoy:

gwenhywfar - A multi-platform helper library for networking and security applications and libraries.
meanwhile - Lotus Sametime session functionality.
neon - An HTTP and WebDAV client library.
coolkey - Linux Driver support for the CoolKey and CAC products.
rarian - Designed as a replacement for scrollkeeper; A documentation meta-data library.
openjade - An implementation of the ISO/IEC 10179:1996 standard DSSSL.
sox - (Sound eXchange) is a sound file format converter.
cadaver - A command-line WebDAV client.
booty - Small python library for use with bootloader configuration.
orca - A flexible, extensible, and powerful assistive technology.
zenity - Lets you display Gtk+ dialog boxes from the command line and through shell scripts.
eog - Eye of GNOME (EOG) is an image viewer.
gok - Enables users to control their computer without relying on a standard keyboard or mouse, leveraging GNOME’s accessibility framework
devilspie - A window-matching utility.*

This information was gathered using the command ‘rpm -qi <packagename>’. This provided enough information to help understand at least the basics of each of these packages and whether to consider using them in the future.

The packages in italics above are packages that I consider interesting, and I plan to attempt to blog about each of them in turn as part of my POW series.

The devilspie package has a * which means that I’ve used this program before. I quite enjoyed using the Devil’s Pie, and plan to take a look at it again in Fedora 8 as the previous package had some real limitations and lacked needed flexibility.

Please watch for the upcoming articles on these utilities. Also, if there are packages that you found interesting during your upgrade, please comment and let me know what they are so I can learn and possibly use them as well.

Cheers,

Herlo

by herlo at 6:43 PM under fedora , fedora 8 , install , packages , rawhide , releases , rpm , tech , upgrade , werewolf , yum (Comments)

Clint Savage
herlo
Sexy Sexy Penguins » Tech

» Upgraded! Fedora 8 (Werewolf) is installed!

And so the saga continues!

Transaction Summary
=============================================================================
Install     98 Package(s)
Update    1092 Package(s)
Remove       2 Package(s)

Total download size: 1.3 G
Is this ok [y/N]: y

Resulted in:

$ cat /etc/*release
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf)
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf)
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf)

I did have a few problems, mostly things that were from non-fedora repositories. Once I cleared those up, all went well. Fedora 8 is beautiful.

A couple things to note. My ATI drivers seemed to stay in place and as horrible as ever for dual displays. I’m going to be trying xrandr as soon as I can find the open ATI drivers. Another is that I love to use vlc, but its in the livna repository and currently requires python 2.4, but Werewolf uses python 2.5. I guess I’ll have to get the src.rpm and rebuild it with python 2.5 as the requirement. I also noted that my mouse pad is currently not working, I’ll have to find out why the synaptics drivers stopped working.

Update: I’ve decided it might be useful to at least include a couple cool pictures of the new theme, so here you go.

Cheers,

Clint

by herlo at 4:00 AM under fedora , fedora 8 , install , news , rawhide , tech , upgrade , werewolf , yum update (Comments)

Dennis Muhlestein
nonic
All My Brain

» Upgrading to Xorg-X11 7.3 with ati-drivers 8.42.3 on Gentoo

I’m a sucker for bleeding edge technology. After posting before about upgrading to the 8.42.3 ati drivers, I realized I was using Xorg-X11 7.2, not 7.3, which is the latest. The latest 7.3 ebuild contains a block on the ati drivers. The block is no longer necessary though because the 8.42.3 drivers [...]

by Dennis at 6:13 PM under aiglx , ati , compiz , ebuild , emerge , gentoo , software , ui , upgrade , xorg

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Step 1 - Modify the yum repo files

Step 1 (Alternate)

Step 2 - Upgrade

Step 3 - Cleanup and Reboot

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