Recipe 3.9. Upgrading to a Newer Debian Release

3.9.1 Problem

You want to upgrade to a newer release; for example, from Woody to Sarge.

3.9.2 Solution

First, edit /etc/apt/sources.list so that it has only Sarge entries. Then do the following:

# apt-get update

# apt-get -u upgrade

# apt-get -u dist-upgrade

The -u flag lets you review the changes first. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection and how many packages are required, this can take up to several hours.

If apt-get -u dist-upgrade shows any held packages, this indicates dependency conflicts that apt cannot resolve. See Recipe 3.13 for how to resolve these conflicts.

3.9.3 Discussion

At some point Sarge will be promoted to Stable, and Woody will be "retired." When that happens, this is how to "promote" your system as well.

3.9.4 See Also

apt-get(8)
Local Documentation (/usr/share/doc/Debian/apt-howto)

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