How to upgrade to a newer release

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Written by:

clem

Score: 61
votes: 67
Format: Article

A. Introduction

This tutorial explains how to upgrade to a newer release of Linux Mint.

B. General considerations

B1. Do you need to upgrade?

If things are working fine and you're happy with your current system, then you don't need to upgrade.

A new version of Linux Mint is released every 6 months. It usually comes with new features and improvements but there's nothing wrong with sticking with the release you already have. In fact, you could skip many releases and stick with the version that works for you.

Each release receives bug fixes and security updates for about 18 months (or 3 years in the case of "Long Term Support" releases such as Linux Mint 5 or Linux Mint 9). The development team is also focused on the latest release. If bug fixes and security updates are important to you, you should regularly upgrade to the latest releases, otherwise there's nothing wrong with keeping things as they are.

As a general rule... unless you need to, or unless you really want to, there's no reason for you to upgrade.

B2. Important aspects

The most important things when it comes to upgrading are:

That your data is safe
That you end up with a fully functional system

Your personal data is the most valuable thing in your computer. If anything happens and you break your operating system, it's not a problem, it can be reinstalled. If you lose your data... that's a different story.

So. No matter what way you're going to upgrade. The first thing to do is to make a backup of your data.

You'll also want to make sure that the release you're upgrading to is right for you. Every release comes with a different kernel. This means that it handles hardware differently. For instance, you may find out that a graphic card or a wireless adapter which currently works fine for you under Linux Mint, isn't recognized by the newer version of Linux Mint you're planning to upgrade to. In some cases, this could mean that upgrading to this release is the wrong decision, maybe you're better off skipping that particular release? There's only one way to know: you need to try it.

Linux Mint comes as a liveCD. Thanks to this, you can try the newer release on your computer and see if your hardware is recognized before proceeding to the upgrade.

To be safe:

Make a full backup of your data on an external device (USB stick or CD/DVD)
Download and burn the liveCD of the newer release, and check that your hardware is fully functional with it.

C. The different ways of upgrading

There are many different ways of upgrading to a newer release but we can categorize them in two different families: "fresh" and "package" upgrades.

C1. "Fresh" upgrades

In a "fresh" upgrade you use the liveCD of the new release to perform a new installation and to overwrite your existing partitions.

A "Fresh" upgrade consists of the following steps:

Making a backup of the data
Making a backup of the software selection
Performing a fresh installation using the liveCD of the new release
Restoring the data
Restoring the software selection

This is the recommended way to upgrade Linux Mint and it offers the following advantages:

Safe: Your data is backed up externally. Whatever mistake you make or whatever bug happens during the installation cannot affect it.
Fast: The installation usually lasts 10 minutes. The CD for the new release is less than 700MB and it contains about 3GB of compressed data. Downloading the ISO and upgrading from the CD is much faster than upgrading the system from the repositories.
Reliable: First, you get the opportunity to test your hardware detection in the new release using the liveCD. If anything is wrong you can simply decide not to upgrade, it's not too late. Second, you end up with a fresh installation of Linux Mint, i.e. a system that was fully tested by the development team and the community.
Easy: Things do go as planned this way.

C2. "Package" upgrades

A "package" upgrade consists of the following steps:

Pointing APT to the repositories of the newer release
Asking APT to perform a full upgrade

APT is the package management system used by Linux Mint. Alternatively, some releases were given a graphical upgrade tool to perform these steps.

This way of upgrading Linux Mint should only be recommended to advanced users.

Here are the pros and cons of upgrading the system this way:

Cons:

Slow: APT will download the new version of all the packages installed on your system. Assuming you installed nothing at all, that's about 3GB of data.... using a fresh upgrade you could have downloaded all that data by simply getting the 700MB ISO.
Unreliable: Depending on your modifications, your sources, your added software and your configuration you could end up with a system that acts and feels really different than a brand new version of the newer Linux Mint release. You're far from the beaten track and the added features might not work as well on your system as they were designed to.
Risky: The temptation when you upgrade with APT is not to perform backups... since your partitions aren't overwritten, nothing "forces" you to make backups... think about the risk though.
Complicated: Packages conflict with each others, they can bring complex dependencies and put you in situations that are difficult to solve.

Pros:

Automated: APT does everything for you (well, until something goes wrong of course)
Real upgrade: A "fresh" upgrade is kind of like the new Linux Mint with your data on it... this in comparison feels more like "your system" running the newer version underneath.

D. How to upgrade

In this tutorial we'll use a "fresh" upgrade.

D1. Make a backup of your existing system

You need to save your personal data and your software selection: Your personal data, simply because you don't want to lose it... and your software selection, because post-installation you don't want to have to reinstall all the applications you've added to your system.

D1.1 Get a recent version of mintBackup

If you are running Linux Mint 9 or a later version, you can skip this paragraph and move to section D1.2.

If you are running Linux Mint 8, do the following:

Launch Firefox and go to http://packages.linuxmint.com/list.php?release=Isadora
Find the line for "mintbackup" and click on "all" in the "DEB" column to download the package
Once downloaded on your computer, double click the .deb file to install mintBackup.

If you are running an earlier version of Linux Mint (5, 6 or 7), do the following:

Download mintBackup from here: http://packages.linuxmint.com/pool/romeo/m/mintbackup/mintbackup_2.0.2-mint5-1_all.deb
Find the line for "mintbackup" and click on "all" in the "DEB" column to download the package
Once downloaded on your computer, double click the .deb file to install mintBackup.

D1.2 Backup your data

Open mintBackup from the Menu -> Administration -> Backup Tool

Click on "Backup files".

Select your home directory for the source.
Select where you want to backup the files as your destination (ideally some external volume since the plan is to format this partition during the installation)
In the advanced options choose the following:
1. A description (that's always a good idea to add to a backup)
2. The output format (whether you want to save the backup as a directory, or an archive... archives take longer but if you plan to backup to NTFS/FAT volumes, archives preserve permissions that cannot be preserved by directories on these Windows filesystems)
3. Overwrite (you can ignore this setting, it only comes into play if you plan to update an already made backup)
4. Confirm integrity: slower but more reliable, it checks the signature of each file after it was backed up.
5. Preserve permissions and timestamps: This should be selected.
6. Follow symlinks: Not needed.
Click "Forward"

To save space and time, exclude things you don't need. For instance, I don't need to backup my "sandbox" and "Downloads" directories, but that's just me.

When you're ready, click "Forward".

Review the information about your backup and press "Apply".

Note: When the backup is finished. Make absolutely sure to check the result yourself. No matter how much trust you put in the backup tool, head towards the destination, and check that all your files and directories were backed up successfully. If you chose to backup as an archive, make sure to open it up to see if it's working and whether or not it contains everything that it should. The tool is stable, but there can always be a bug or you could have made a mistake... since we're talking about your data here, make absolutely sure before anything else.

D1.3 Backup your software selection

Open mintBackup from the Menu -> Administration -> Backup Tool

Click on "Backup software selection".

Choose a destination (ideally some external volume since the plan is to format this partition during the installation).

The following screen shows you all the packages you added to your Linux Mint system. Select the ones you want to exclude from your backup and click "Apply".

Note: When the backup is finished (it shouldn't take long), go to the destination and check for a file which name starts with "software_selection". This is the backup of your software selection.

D2. Test and install the newer version of Linux Mint

Download the ISO for the newer version of Linux Mint.
Check its MD5 signature.
Burn it at low speed on a liveCD.
Boot from the liveCD and select the option "Check disk integrity".
Boot from the liveCD and select "Start Linux Mint".
Once on the live desktop, check that your hardware is properly recognized (graphics card, wireless..etc)
Once you're happy and confident that this newer release is good for you, click on "Install" on the desktop and proceed with a normal installation.
When asked by the installer, choose "Specify partitions manually (advanced)", select the partition that you used for your current installation of Linux Mint, assign "/" to it, and reformat it to "ext4".

D3. Restore your data and your software selection

D3.1Restore your data

Open mintBackup from the Menu -> Administration -> Backup Tool

Click on "Restore files".

If you backed up your data as an archive, choose "Archive", otherwise choose "Directory", then point the source to either your archive or the location where you made the backup of your data.

Set your new home folder as the destination.

You can ignore the advanced options since your home folder is empty at the moment. These settings are only there to optimize things for people running regular backups.

Review the information and press "Apply" when ready.

D3.2 Restore your software selection

Open mintBackup from the Menu -> Administration -> Backup Tool

Click on "Restore software selection".

Select your backed up software selection file and press "Forward".

In the next screen you can see a list of packages. Select the ones you want to install and press "Apply".

This list only contains packages which were part of your previous software selection and which are not installed in the present system. The packages which are already installed in your new system don't need to be installed again, so they don't appear in this list.

At any moment, you can press the "Close" button. You don't have to install everything. If you change your mind later on, just launch the Backup tool again and restore your software selection using the same backup, the list will appear and show you the packages you're missing.

If you were using PPA or other repositories and if some of your previously installed packages are not found by the present system, these packages will appear in the list but you won't be able to select them. If that is the case, update your APT sources using the Menu -> Administration -> Software Sources tool to add the missing repositories, then click on the "Refresh" button in the Backup Tool.

Note: The "Refresh" button refreshes the list, not your APT cache. If you update your /etc/apt/sources.list manually, make sure to run "apt update" in the terminal.

E. Frequently Asked Questions

E1. Why doesn't Linux Mint upgrade the way Ubuntu does?

From our point of view, Ubuntu does three things wrong:

It doesn't make it easy for you to backup your data, nor does it warn you to do so.
It automatically asks you to upgrade to the latest version. You click on the "upgrade" button and there's no turning back. No explanation about the risks involved, no explanation about the pros and cons... just a simple button to click for a process you likely don't understand.
It uses a "package" upgrade method. See section C2 for pros and cons associated with this method.

The only advantage Ubuntu offers is that it makes the process trivial and fully automated. Though, considering the risks and the way it upgrades your system, this should be considered dangerous. We do not even recommend this on the command line, so to have it triggered from the click of a button is just not acceptable to us. It's easy alright, but it's not the right solution. Sometimes things are important enough for us to take the time to do them properly. When it comes to upgrading, it's important to backup your data, to test the release before installing it and to avoid any broken or conflicting packages. The method chosen by Ubuntu is fully graphical and extremely easy to use, but it fails to do just that, and that's what matters the most.

E2. Wouldn't it be better if Mint was a rolling distribution?

Yes and no.

A "rolling" distribution is a distribution which doesn't jump from release to release, packages are continuously updated. Thanks to this, users do not need to upgrade to any newer release of course, but the trade-off is stability and pace. It's easier to test a system when it's "frozen". With a moving base of packages, each new change can potentially introduce problems with the other packages... on a distribution featuring more than 30,000 packages it would take days to perform a full regression test after each package update!

Debian is a good example of this. The stable branch is a frozen snapshot of the testing branch. The testing branch itself isn't considered fully stable and it can take a while before some new packages appear into it. Of course, thanks to the nature of rolling distributions, any regression introduced by a new package can be fixed a few days later. Overall, rolling distributions are quite stable, as users are quick to report broken features and developers are quick to fix them... problems happen, and they get fixed.

With a frozen base, there's a lot of testing going on, after which things are not likely to break. This also gives the distribution 6 months between each releases where the developers don't need to worry about upgrades and can spend their time on development and innovation.

Most distributions available nowadays adopt a release cycle. Notable exceptions include Debian (excluding the "Stable" branch which isn't considered a "rolling" distribution), Arch Linux, Gentoo, PCLinuxOS, Sidux and Foresight Linux.

E3. How can I upgrade using APT?

This is something we do not recommend, however, if you're absolutely sure this is what you want to do, then read this other tutorial.

Tags: upgrade upgrading release
Created: 4 months ago.
Last edited: 3 months ago.
Read 75354 times.

Comments
1 week ago	Gramps	Nice guide, thanks for taking the time to write it and share the information it with us.
1 week ago	hatani	very nice guide, thanks for sharing. +1
1 month ago	Cisse	Oh yeah, and I did make an extra copy of the mail folder from Mozilla-Thunderbird and the Bookmarks.html file, just to be on the safe side. Hope that the files-backup worked fine so I won't need them. Also chose not to exclude all the .hidden folders... Don't know if that was smart but I'll test only to restore the .mozilla and .mozilla-thunderbird folders first. Fingers crossed...
1 month ago	Cisse	Hmmm, the software selection backup didn't notice my installed "Transmission" and "JDownloader" applications. But that's not a problem that's hard to resolve ;-)
2 months ago	kriskardiak	Hi, I'm currently running a regular Mint 8. I have tried the lxde Mint 8 version on an old computer and found it really cool and fast. I'm therefore wondering about upgrading my regular Mint 8 system into a LXDE Mint 9 (when the stable version will be out). So my question is: does this way of upgrading apply to my case Linux Mint 8 ---> LXDE Mint 9? Or should I consider a more radical solution (erase the regular 8 by installing the LXDE Mint 9 instead)? Thanx for your wise advices.
3 months ago	ikey	Previously discussed fixes (@remoulder and @clem) are now in git, awaiting clem's testing.
3 months ago	clem	@davebritton: Check your ~/.mozilla folder.. it's likely you've got two profiles folders in there... and FF probably created a new one instead of using the one you restored. For the additional repositories, it's a limitation of the tool.. it will still show you the packages you're missing from them, but you'll have to add the PPAs again before you can restore them. The reason we didn't support 3rd party repositories in this version of the backup tool is because we didn't want to rush things and it could have been dangerous to do some "guess work" on PPAs... for instance, there's no guarantee the PPAs you're using for Mint 8, exist for Mint 9... so a tool supporting that would have to test them, and it was just out of the scope for this release cycle.
3 months ago	davebritton	I backed up my Mint 8 as described to do a full reinstall as recommended, and did a fresh install of Mint 9, and reinstalled everything backed up and all software using the backup utility as described. Two problems: 1- where are my Firefox bookmarks? gone where the light goes when you turn it off, I guess. Good thing I don't use this system for email; that might have disappeared too. This tutorial should describe what to do to prevent this kind of loss, whatever caused it, since FFox is the default browser. 2- I had some additional repositories (e.g. supercollider) set up as ppa's and these got lost. I had to manually reinstall them. Doesn't seem like that should be necessary.
3 months ago	wbrown33	Congratulations on another great release - they just keep getting better! In the tutorial, I think a section on how to upgrade a system with a separate /home directory would be useful, since some of us use that strategy. It would seem that deleting all the .hidden (except of course .mozilla, .mozilla-thunderbird, etc.) files before the install would be the right thing to do but I am not sure about exactly what files should be deleted, or if this is even the right thing to do. I installed a fresh full isadora on my laptop and many things that don't work on helena work fine now. I want to get the same results from my main desktop!
3 months ago	BobRose152	I really like the detail of this tutorial, I am looking forward to using Linux Mint 9
3 months ago	EdQld	Clem, the new Upgrade Tutorial,part D2 8. choose "custom partitions....." no such wording/option, confusing for newbies like me! Instead with "Prepare disk space" choose > "Specify partitions manually (advanced)" > "Prepare partitions" > highlight ext entry (existing Mint) > Change > Edit a partition > new size: leave as is > Use as: ext4 > Format: check it > Mount Point: "/" With quotation marks used, I just kept on searching for the exact & elusive wording "Custom partitions", until someone in the Forums confirmed the above information Quick edit of that entry would save newbies a bit of anxiety :) Great tutorial by the way Clem, your work is much appreciated! Mint is a fantastic OS!
3 months ago	clem	Yes. The idea is to add each .hidden directory to the list of excluded folders by default. This way, the user can selectively remove any hidden folder from the exclusion list that he/she actually wants to add to the backup. If you used the old mintBackup, you're probably familiar with this... it'll be very similar.
3 months ago	ahmad	First of all thank you for this tutorial and for this great distribution and tools (mintbackup etc that come with it) I would like to add my voice to remoulder to include in this tutorial that .hidden (except for .mozilla and similar) should not be backed up. If ikey excludes .hidden by default then maybe suggest to people to backup .mozilla (and similar) Thanks
3 months ago	remoulder	@ikey: thank's, look forward to testing the changes.
3 months ago	ikey	@remoulder: I'm going to take a brave new look at the tool. Which means I'll do it.. I need a list of all known issues/wanted features so that we can get this thing done. Got a fix lined up for the owner issue, so that in itself is good. Also .hidden directories will be excluded by default, meaning users will be able to select which they backup easier. This should allow for full home directory backups if people so choose. The current version of mintBackup doesn't allow for that (which is what i meant on the forums), however we can add these features/fixes :) Think I've covered everything.. if not then someone let me know please. Cheers.
3 months ago	remoulder	@Clem: going on recent forum posts, I'm not sure it's just a permissions problem which a simple chown -R on home would solve, however I look forward to Ikey's comments. He has already said on the forum that he didn't anticipate the backup tool being used to restore the entire home folder.
3 months ago	clem	@remoulder: There's an issue with file permissions and hidden folders this tool needs to address. I'll chat with ikey to see how we can tackle these problems.
3 months ago	redsun82	I always have a separate partition for /home and never got issues doing fresh installs preserving the home directory. This time it went smooth too. Only major and pleasant novelty, I used the backup tool for the software selection: cool!
3 months ago	R1200RT-fan	Thank you for the instructive tutorial, now running the live DVD (AMD64) and planning on upgrading (from Helena) shortly. One question I didn't encounter in your tutorial: when installing Isadora over Helena, will GRUB automatically be updated as well? If not, how can I update GRUB to the latest version? Or are the GRUB versions in Helena and Isadora the same?
3 months ago	remoulder	@Clem: there is a serious issue with restoring your entire home folder into the new install as the tutorial suggests. Many users are experiencing broken desktops and applications after doing so due to incompatible settings being restored in .gconf and other hidden config folders. Can I suggest you make clear in the tutorial that only data folders such as Documents, etc, be restored rather then the entire home. However care is needed with certain folders such as .mozilla and .thunderbird (or other mail app folder) to ensure the user's mail and browser profiles are restored.
3 months ago	clem	Added section E3 to link to a tutorial on how to upgrade using APT.
3 months ago	kneekoo	"Linux Mint comes as a liveCD. Thanks to this, you can try the newer release on your computer and see if your hardware is recognized before proceeding to the upgrade." Isadora is working fine as it is, but I have to install my video drivers for my ATI HD5770 to get 3D acceleration in games, right? This leaves me and many others with the same issue: how do I test the video drivers by running from a liveCD if jockey tells me to restart? If I restart, I'll end up with the liveCD again, with no drivers installed. I know about and I used init 1 + init 5 but too few Mint users know how to test this way. Wouldn't it be nice if the liveCD would automate this method? At least is it possible? If it is, then this is the way to go for a new version of Mint. I'm bragging about the video drivers because my Isadora from home simply cannot use the latest Catalyst. Those drivers simply don't work even if I build my own packages so I am currently reluctant in installing Mint 9, until AMD releases another driver package. Anyway, what would be nice in Mint would be this "soft restart" of the system, in order to test the installed drivers. This would be great.
3 months ago	wolfjb	It would be nice if there were some hybrid of Fresh and Package install, ie, one that could do a package install from the CD I just downloaded. Still do the backup (of course), but then choose to upgrade from the cd without having to reformat/reinstall the whole thing.
3 months ago	Khaled-Khalil	why do i get the feeling that this post intends to urge me to drop mint and begin considering sidux or another rolling distribution ? about 3 years of relying on mint should see an end thought, for now i will try to upgrade (the ubuntu way), just to KEEP MY (customized) system up to date and be able to get new software. but as soon as i am installing a new system i will follow your valuable hint. thanks anyway, it was a good experience after all.
3 months ago	andydch	mintBackup can't backup file with size more than 4gb... :(
3 months ago	cvdman	I am a little concerned re a fresh install as I have a tng database installed in local host and although I can back it up, it can take sometime to reinstall and get working. Is there a way I can copy the database to a partition and move it back after a fresh install?
3 months ago	heltonbiker	I use an intermediate backup/safety strategy: My home folder is in one physical HD, which is backed up regularly (only the most most valuable data) to another HD, which remains unmounted on boot. On system upgrade, I MANUALLY DISCONNECT the /home HD, do a fresh install, and only after things go fine, I edit fstab and put a line there sending /home mounting point to the HD, using a "by label" flag. A bit tricky and a bit of work, but caring well of a lot of personal information is never an overkill.
3 months ago	Borsook	Shouldn't this tutorial include also a section for APT upgrade? This way those who do not want the "fresh" way are left in the cold...
3 months ago	latepaul	@smiff - the data backup side worked ok for me. Having said that I only really did a quick test as I've got existing backups for that. As to the point of the tool - even if it were only so future upgrades it would be of some value, and it looks like it works on Mint 8 (from others' comments)
3 months ago	Smiff	@latepaul thanks, i'm more concerned about home dir backup (sometimes on main partition, sometimes i have it on a separate partition, not sure how to deal with both cases? can i just leave the seperate partition and tell the Mint9 installer to map it. is this safe?) Software selection i can do manually, it'll just take a while! Anyway.. I don't mean to be rude but isn't an upgrade tool that doesn't work on old versions pretty pointless?
3 months ago	3picide	This should save me quite a bit of time! I won't have to manually add things from my home directory to Dropbox and vice versa after I upgrade. It will also be extremely nice to back up software (I have several programs that I literally cannot do without). Never really thought about how useful having a separate /home partition would be..... might give that a go on my next upgrade. Great tutorial and even better software! Thanks! Just switched to Mint and I love everything about it!
3 months ago	blegs38552	I have Ubuntu 10.4 installed on my laptop in a Linux partition (not WUBI). What will be the best way to install Mint 9.0? I have no data (I still use Windows 7 partition for my critical data) that I need to back up, but there is some software that I installed (especially scanner drivers that I would ike to retain if possible). Can Mint be installed as an upgrade to my Ubuntu installation, or is my best alternative to remove or overwrite Ubuntu (what is the best way to do this) and back up my software?
3 months ago	latepaul	@smiff - I had the same problem. I'm planning to upgrade from Mint 7 to 9 when it's released. I use Areca for data backups but was hoping to use the new mintbackup (2.0) for software selection. The way I read the tutorial it implies you can do this. However after some investigation I've found that it relies on a later version of python-apt. The version of python-apt in Mint 7 has different names for properties and methods than the one in Mint 9. For example the property called "installed" in the Mint 9 version is called "installedVersion" in the earlier version. Probably there are some things done in a different way and not just re-named. Anyway someone would need to port mintbackup 2.0 to work on Mint 7. You can use the version of mintbackup (1.6) in the Mint 7 repositories but that only does data AFAICS. HTH
3 months ago	Frank	Great tutorial, very helpfull Regards from Argentina Waiting the Mint Isadora !
3 months ago	Smiff	from Mint5 repo? since i'm running Mint7 (and some machines on Ubuntu Jaunty which i want to upgrade to Mint9) - shouldn't i use the v1.6.2 tool in Gloria repo? and if i do, will i then be able to restore both the home dir and software selection in Mint9 (using the tool that comes with Mint9). or am i missing the point sorry? perhaps you can't backup and load software selection between versions for example if running Shiretoko (firefox 3.5x) in Jaunty, what happens when restoring that in Mint9 (presumably has firefox 3.6x)? thanks..
3 months ago	clem	@Smiff: I'll update the tutorial, basically you need to get the version of mintBackup that is in the Mint 5 repositories on http://packages.linuxmint.com
3 months ago	Smiff	clem that loads it but with some errors (mintBackup.py:10209): libglade-WARNING : unknown property `create_folders' for class `GtkFileChooserButton' (mintBackup.py:10209): libglade-WARNING : unknown property `create_folders' for class `GtkFileChooserButton' (mintBackup.py:10209): libglade-WARNING *: unknown property `create_folders' for class `GtkFileChooserButton' trying to backup software selection: Exception in thread mintBackup-packages: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python2.6/threading.py", line 525, in __bootstrap_inner self.run() File "/usr/lib/python2.6/threading.py", line 477, in run self.__target(self.__args, **self.__kwargs) File "/usr/lib/linuxmint/mintBackup/mintBackup.py", line 1431, in load_packages if(pkg.installed): AttributeError: 'Package' object has no attribute 'installed' seems to hang. haven't tried a home dir backup yet but definitely not working right sorry.
3 months ago	clem	Smiff: try this in the terminal: sudo python /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintBackup/mintBackup.py
3 months ago	Smiff	backup tool 2.0.5 does not work for me! console output: sh: sh:: not found 1.6.2 works. system: mint7 32bit 2.6.28-15 generic kernel
3 months ago	AgingTechnogeek	The new Backup Tool works well. Used it to save list of installed software before I installed Mint 9. Used the same list when I installed Mint 9 x64. Worked for both versions. Only manual install was Swiftfox for the 64 bit version. Did not use data backup - all my stuff is in a separate data partition linked to /home but surmise it would work just as well as the software backup. Great job ikey!
3 months ago	Smiff	can i use this app to upgrade from mint7 (to mint9)? what about from jaunty (ubuntu 9.04) to mint9? are there are any particular customisations that will break an upgrade? i want to use the c1 "fresh" method recommended here. thanks.
4 months ago	VICTOR360	Great Tutorial Easy To Understand Good work!
4 months ago	ej64	Hi Clem, I've got the same problem as murali. Tons of hidden configuration files after data restore. The whole system was crippled, apps like firefox, OpenOffice and so on did not start. MintMenu vanished, all the taskbar helpers, too. Having nothing to loose, I deleted all hidden files and directories within my home dir. Then everything was fine again. Maybe it happened because I upgraded into the same partition with the exact same username and machine name as before under Mint8. Please, add a warning regarding these hidden files. Thanks, Eberhard
4 months ago	murali_sb	Ok. Can we add support for wildcard characters. After i triggered backup i realised there were tons of hidden files/dir which i really didn't care whether they are backed up or not and lot of time was spent on that. Thanks.
4 months ago	clem	@murali_sb: I don't think the current version allows the use of wildcard characters.
4 months ago	ikey	Eh... what regex? o_O
4 months ago	murali_sb	Hi Clem, Is there a way to exclude hidden files/directories. I tried /home/user/.* but it still included the dir's. I think the regex was wrong.
4 months ago	clem	greatbigdragon: Can you be more specific about the error?
4 months ago	kneekoo	@greatbigdragon: You might have a file saved by the root user and the one you're saving from doesn't have to right to read it. I'm not sure, but it's a possibility, so no matter the compression, not having the necessary rights can lead to this. Try the following two commands being logged in s your regular user: cd ~ ls -lR \| grep root The first command gets you in your home directory and the second will recursively list all files if the line being processed has the "root" word in it. It's a small dirty trick but it should work.
4 months ago	greatbigdragon	When using MintBackup, I keep getting errors when backing up my home directory. The second time I watched it, and it got all the way to file 59033 of 59034 and then said it was finished and an error occurred. This happened both with .bz2 and .gz compression. What's going on here?
4 months ago	remoulder	@Robert: The tutorial is about how to upgrade an Existing installation - therefore the partitions already exist.
4 months ago	western	Upgrading browsers is the main problem: Linux is not dangerous like Windows, but malware attacks our computers through the browsers, so I always want the latest versions in my pc. As MintUpdate doesn't change Opera 9.10 with Opera 9.50 (and Firefox 3 with Firefox 3.6), I have to make a fresh upgrade of Mint every six months. Opera is more than a browser: I have to backup emails, notes, bookmarks and more. The Clem's tutorial is very good, but I need something more to know which is the best method to make a fresh upgrade of Mint, updating my browsers and making a backup of my browser data.
4 months ago	Robert	In section D2 you write - "When asked by the installer, choose "custom partitioning", select the partition that you used for your current installation of Linux Mint, assign "/" to it, and reformat it to "ext4"" - I think you should perhaps give more details about using the custom installer. For example, I have the impression that it's best to manually set the swap partition, too - this guarantees that it will correctly be set as twice the size of your RAM, which ensures that hibernation and sleep will work correctly. If people just use the automatic partitioner, then the swap size is often wrong - and then loads of people pop up in the forums freaking out about this and that not working... Also At the bottom of the following page on the Linux Mint forum, I posted my ideas on manual partitioning (my username their is 'Chainy') during installation - setting a /home directory etc, too. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=13252&start=80 What do you think?
4 months ago	heltonbiker	@ clem: I wrote you a personal message even before finishing the reading of the post! I want to translate it or help to translate it to portuguese! That's the fun of using Mint: improvements (like backup tool) just pop in front of our eyes!
4 months ago	latepaul	I like this - does mintBackup have a command line interface so I can run it from cron?
4 months ago	Mdyter	one trick while making a backup of your /home directory - exclude this folder /home/UserName/.local/share/Trash. here a kept all the deleted files what are stored in Trash. or simply clean Trash before making a backup
4 months ago	clem	The tutorial is now complete.
4 months ago	clem	@carlp101: Yes. They're stable now in the Isadora repository, just waiting to be localized. I'll update the tutorial with the missing sections.
4 months ago	carlp101	I think the current release mechanism makes the most sense. Once we have the new back-up and restore tool we'll be in good shape.
4 months ago	clem	It can, but it's tricky... the solution we went for at this stage was to significantly improve backup and restoration tools. I can't show you the new mintBackup yet, but it solves a lot of problems.
4 months ago	remoulder	Dohh, guess I wasn't having a good day yesterday! Meant to say mint installer not mintinstall. Does this mean this cannot be done?
4 months ago	clem	@remoulder: The installer isn't mintinstall (that's the software manager), it's ubiquity. It's maintained by Ubuntu.
4 months ago	remoulder	Blueprint added for mintinstall to automatically create a separate home partition when entire disk partitioning is selected.
4 months ago	gary	Good explanation on the Linux Mint method of doing things. I learned long ago to put the "home" directory on a separate partition, it just made things easier when it became time to upgrade or change distro's. One of the other issues with checking hardware compatibility is with video cards. If you have to restart, that eliminates the installation of your driver--or is there something I don't know about? I love the idea of a program that captures the additional programs that are installed over the lifetime of the installation. There is always something I forget, and then I have to go back and install it. Most of the programs that I have to download I will keep the debs in my folder, but if it is out of the repositories, then remembering what I had it for is another story entirely. Thanks once again.
4 months ago	chrisp1000	Awesome tutorial, can't wait for the backup bits. Just wondered if you are considering 'encouraging' users to move to a separate / and /home partitions during install to make things even simpler?
4 months ago	clem	@npap: Thanks ;)
4 months ago	npap	A very comprehensive tutorial; methodical and to the point. Good work again from Clem.
4 months ago	clem	I know :) I answered your comment to let you know that this was the plan indeed. This will be linked to from the release notes of course.
4 months ago	remoulder	@Clem, thanks for the reply. I am aware of the team's efforts in this regard and I wasn't suggesting an alternative, only that your tutorial explains the Mint philosophy on upgrading very clearly and would be useful to include in release announcements to address the inevitable 'how do I upgrade' questions.
4 months ago	clem	@remoulder: We're moving away from the development of an upgrade tool and towards clean "fresh" upgrades. What was missing was documentation, and tools to easily backup your data and your software selection. Ikey has been working hard on the new mintBackup. Starting with Mint 9, the tool will allow you to backup any kind of data using incremental technologies (similar to rsync) and also to backup the list of software you added to your system. Post-install this same tool will let you restore all of that, so you'll end up with a fresh installation, with your home data, your personal configuration, and even your favourite software. This tutorial takes care of the documentation aspect. With the new mintBackup installed by default in Linux Mint, that's all you'll need in regards to upgrade instructions.
4 months ago	Mdyter	Really Good! agree with remoulder.
4 months ago	remoulder	Fantastic Clem. You should considered including or linking this to new release announcements?

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