Upgrade linux mint in-place using apt

Upgrade an existing Mint using apt

About this tutorial

This tutorial provides the necessary information to upgrade mint to the latest version without reinstalling/restoring. For a potentially trouble-free upgrade method see: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2

The various caveats in the above tutorial apply, and this may break your system, but if you come from the land of rolling releases (gentoo, arch, etc) then it is reasonable to expect upgrading mint in-place to be relatively painless.

This tutorial is for upgrading to Linux Mint 9 (Isadora), and is based on upgrading from Linux Mint 8. The procedure should apply to other transitions, but if you are upgrading to a version other than 9 you will need a different sources.list. You will probably find replacing "isadora" with the new mint moniker and "lucid" with the new ubuntu moniker in the sources.list file will successfully point apt at future repositories.

I will try to update this document for new releases of mint, and with any problems. Please let me know if any configuration files are shipped with the live cd that are not pulled in by apt, and I will link to them here, so that those who want to can reconstitute a complete install. This is not Windows, we should not need to perform fresh reinstalls to keep up-to-date and consistent!

Method

Open a terminal and run 'sudo bash' to get a root terminal
Using a text editor (as root), replace the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list with the following sources list: http://pastebin.com/wVGb13y3 (extracted from Linux Mint 9)
Run 'apt-get update'
Run 'apt-get dist-upgrade'
Follow the instructions issued, don't worry about overwriting configuration files dpkg will keep a copy in the same directory with the string ".dpkg-old" appended to the filename
Run 'apt-get upgrade'
Reboot

Explanation

By changing the contents of sources.list we have instructed mint to use the latest linux mint repositories. Since the mint distribution is (at least should be) the sum of its packages then perfoming an upgrade against the new repositories should pull in all the new features and applications. Notwithstanding major changes in how mint is structured the meta packages (packages of packages) should take care of applications added. Configuration ought to be imported this way too, but I cannot vouch for that.

Known Issues

No colour/Linux Mint customisations in terminals You may have overwritten /etc/bash.bashrc with a vanilla configuration. Simply copy /etc/bash.bashrc.dpkg-old to /etc/bash.bashrc as root, and reload the terminal. Failing that, here's the Linux Mint 8 version of /etc/bash.bashrc: http://pastebin.com/Kd3a1QJe

Tags: isadora mint 9 package upgrade existing installation apt
Created: 3 years ago.
Last edited: 3 years ago.
Read 50495 times.

Comments
5 months ago	rtXX	I'd really like to see a good apt upgrade route added. The fresh install route may be recommended, but it fails to point out its own biggest weaknesses - that not all settings (like users accounts) are restored and that your software is not reinstated fully either if it is not available from the standard repositories, because alternative repositories are not re-instated either... Also, the software 're-installation' it does do is all downloaded from the net in any event. We should just backup the whole system using Clonezilla or similar and then be allowed to upgrade like Ubuntu if we want. If the upgrade fails then reinstate to previous system state from the Clonezilla back up.
5 months ago	chuckythegeek	Quite old.
5 months ago	jackmg	These instructions are more than two years old. Let's put information to do and APT upgrade to Linux Mint 14. Even better is to provide a script to do this without all the confusion.
5 months ago	Zaxor	I now get this after updating can some one help with this Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/bimsebasse/cinnamonextras/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/bimsebasse/cinnamonextras/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/bimsebasse/cinnamonextras/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
5 months ago	helpmepls	The hosts file was blank after the in-place upgrade, so I entered thw hosts information and this fixed the USB mounting issue. I edited the resolv.conf file so that it matched the one from the live CD and this fixed the internet connectivity. :) As an opinion, backing up and doing a clean install is great in theory, but it is not practical for most people. The 500gb+ capacity of today's hard drives has far outsripped the means of backing up all that data, considering the slow speed of USB transfer and the small capacity of optical disks. The last time I backed up my hard drive, it required the better part of a week. I am not willing to do this every six months, nor are most people. Therefore I think it is extremely important to make the in-place upgrade process as easy and bulletproof as possible. On step in this direction might be to automate the addition of the new repositories since this can be a little scary for the unknowledgeable and inexperienced.
5 months ago	helpmepls	I did an in place upgrade from Maya to Nadia, and everything appeared to go flawlessly, but appearances were deceiving - so far I have encountered two problems. The first is that a usb flash drive doesn't mount. I think I need to address this one first (the second issue is I can't connect to the internet). Does anyone know how to get usb drives to automount like they did before the upgrade?
5 months ago	dreamlogix	deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ nadia main upstream import deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-security main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ quantal partner deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ quantal free non-free # deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu quantal-getdeb apps # deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu quantal-getdeb games ^ offical linux mint 14 servers for etc/apt/sources.list just replace whats in there with gedit apt dist-upgrade and your good
5 months ago	frantsch	@kadama: I followed exactly your instructions using 'nadia' and 'precise' when editing the sources.list file. Everything seemed to go well, apt-get update, apt-get dist-upgrade, as well as apt-get upgrade executed without error messages. After reboot however, the desktop environment does not start showing a black screen only. May somebody help?
5 months ago	kadama	Answering to my own question: To update Linux Mint 13 to 14 follow the steps as shown above. In step 2 "2. Using a text editor (as root), replace the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list with the following sources list: http://pastebin.com/wVGb13y3 (extracted from Linux Mint 9)" replace the word "maya" with "nadia" and the word "precise" with "quantal" in the .list file. Nadia and Quantal are the names of the new Linux mint and Ubuntu version respectively.
8 months ago	guyr	I'd like to add my vote for the easy-upgrade option. Following the text here and in the related forum thread, I was able to do an in-place upgrade from 12 to 13. I hit the same snags as others reported, and fortunately the posted solutions worked for me. However, the final step package-by-package upgrade took about 2 days with several failures that required manual (but easy) intervention. This is on my development workstation with two fast processors and 16 GB of memory. I have two different (large) database systems installed, and did not want to go through the agony of reinstalling them. So in-place upgrade was my only real option. I also have an Ubuntu server. I used their one-button upgrade a couple months ago, and the whole thing was done in under an hour. I encountered no issues. I switched to Mint on my workstation because I didn't want to be forced to use Unity. So, please reconsider a one-button upgrade option. You can display a pop-up disclaimer that such a path is not recommended. Thanks.
11 months ago	psylem	I had success with this method going from 12 -> 13, though with just a few dramas. Used these sources: http://hajimu.org/?p=3201 Lots of this kind of behaviour: # dpkg --clear-avail # dpkg --configure -a # apt-get -f dist-upgrade Manually upgraded 2 broken libc packages (used synaptic). A little bit of this: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=103237&p=586538 ...then finally updated all of these by hand: http://community.linuxmint.com/iso/reports/21/44
1 year ago	TonyM	Upgrading from one release to the next release of Mint is something that is bound to happen to most of us from time to time as mint evolves. Unfortunately this is by far the weakest part of Mint if you want to upgrade mint in-place using apt. If you wish for a new fresh install then that is great, but if you want to to follow the 'Apt' route then you're simply out of luck. The article 'Upgrading Linux mint in-place using apt' appears to be insufficient and out of date. I have followed this article to upgrade from mint 10, and nothing happened!!. It simply doesn't work. Mint developers need to realise that not all of us are 'enthusiasts', but just prefer it to Windows. Therefore we want an easy upgrade path that doesn't involve backing up and starting from scratch. I'm simply not going to do this, therefore the 'back up and apt' route seems to make sense to me. Therefore I'd like to vote for a lot more effort being put into the area of easy upgrading without the need to go back to a clean install. Your thoughts?
1 year ago	cpnick	As per one of the options on the Mint12 iso was to upgrade my Ubuntu 10.04. I filled in Name, my same password etc. However upon rebooting, the password is returning incorrect!?? Files etc transferred but unable to access the system. I was also running Wubi on the XP as a back up linux system but the boot has ceased to function in XP now. Clearly GOOD advice in your other tutorial....Should you wish to upgrade...go for a FRESH install. These are great tutorials. I have been a Linux user since 2007. Still learning,so thanks a lot.
1 year ago	mintedreel	To update sources.list from Linux Mint 11 to 12, do the following: # cd /etc/apt # sed -i 's/katya/lisa/g' sources.list # sed -i 's/natty/oneiric/g' sources.list This updates any third party sources you may have as well. Keep in mind, this only works on sources that are currently available.
1 year ago	Cybeet	I'm updating my Linux Mint that way, because Linux Mint 11 never worked correctly on my laptop, and now it didn't even burn .iso files correctly. :( 12 works, anyway. ^^
1 year ago	bartonlp	For Lisa try: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ lisa main upstream import backport deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-security main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ oneiric partner deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ oneiric free non-free
1 year ago	ckosloff	HP Pavilion DV8000. In software sources changed all instances of julia to katya and maverick to natty. Entered commands, and after a long while I obtained a hopelessly broken system unable to boot, had to restore from Clonezilla image. Moving to Debian edition, I hate the loss of time of upgrades.
1 year ago	tecknomage	The ref above to "sources list: http://pastebin.com/wVGb13y3 (extracted from Linux Mint 9)" I note that one is... deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ isadora main upstream import ... "isadora" does NOT sound correct. If andrewswebb is correct, the package list should be: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ katya main upstream import deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ katya-kde main upstream import deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-security main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ natty partner deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ natty free non-free
1 year ago	andrewswebb	For Upgrade from Mint 10 to Mint 11 change all instances of "julia" to "katya", and "maverick" to "natty"
2 years ago	OS2-User	To upgrade via apt, don't additionally to adjusting sources.list all those *.list files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d have to be modified accordingly, before starting the upgrade process?
2 years ago	mikefreeman	It's really too bad we haven't found a safe, reliable, error-free way of upgrading in-place by now. That would make this distro absolutely perfect!
2 years ago	richardcain	Thanks for the help SilasDavis and CokeDude, I have now successfully upgraded to Mint 10. A couple of small niggles though: 1 - I use XFCE desktop, and this was removed during the upgrade. I couldn't get into Mint at all, so I had to go into a recovery mode shell and re-install XFCE. 2 - some of the packages that I'd installed before (i.e. skype, googleearth and a couple of others) were missing from the new system. All in all though, not so much to rectify as installing from scratch! Thanks again!
2 years ago	COKEDUDE	I'm pretty sure this is a correct sources.list for Linux Mint Julia. This explains all of the information. http://community.linuxmint.com/iso/reports/32/22 Here is the code. http://pastebin.com/Z2ARZTVR
2 years ago	COKEDUDE	When you have some time could you please update your sources.list for Linux Mint Julia?
2 years ago	pellekatteri	As today, GRUB linuxmint theme package 1.3.0 was broken preventing upgade going smoothly. Recovered with dpkg and was then able to startup to Mint 10.
2 years ago	Aeyrin	It's not working. It seems that Aptituse doesn't find the sources of Julia. Maybe I did something wrong ? Has the sources list a different link? Thanks !
2 years ago	cogsmos	You may wish to use 'aptitude full-upgrade' instead of 'apt-get dist-upgrade'. I'd recommend reading the differences and deciding for yourself. http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch02.en.html#_basic_package_management_operations
2 years ago	astahl78	I also would like the sources to be updated for Linux Mint 10
2 years ago	OneDragon	Hey there, what about an update regarding mint10? I'm too lazy to reinstall my whole Ruby/Rails environment so 'd appreciate if you'd post a new sources.lst I'd be happy. If it fails, well than I will have to do it my self but at least I have to try ;-) cheers!
2 years ago	martletandco	I've just upgraded my main machine via apt, everything seems to be in order.
2 years ago	tqk5	I just tried this on my sandbox, and it appears to have worked nicely so far. This's an old P-IV Compaq Evo installed from linuxmint-9-fluxbox-rc-i386 LiveCD. I love this distro. Works great on a couple of boxes I'm building. Thanks all.
2 years ago	13thSlayer	To do it all with one command: cat /etc/apt/sources.list\|sed 's/helena/isadora/'\|sed 's/karmic/lucid/'\|sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo reboot
2 years ago	thx1138	There's a good chance you break up your system and having the same issues many Ubuntu users have. Take a look on topics (there are many) concerning upgrades or updates in any Ubuntu forum. There are less problems using Mint the way it is. Following this tutorial you turn a stable system into an experimental one. This procedure is not recommended.
2 years ago	chattr	Thank you for the tutorial. I have a minor point. I'm not sure what you mean by 'reloading the terminal', but the minor point about bashrc: once /etc/bash.bashrc.dpkg-old is copied to /etc/bash.bashrc, you can use whatever is now in /etc/bash.bashrc by 'sourcing' /etc/bash.bashrc. You source the file by doing in terminal ' source /etc/bash.bashrc ' (no quotes) or by doing in terminal ' . /etc/bash.bashrc ' (likewise, no quotes).
2 years ago	kneekoo	Thank you for the tutorial. I was curious if Mint 9 would have an upgrade tool this time, but it's been a while since Isadora was released and still nothing. If there won't be an upgrade tool in the following 2 weeks I might upgrade to Isadora this way. :) Believe it or not, I survived 3 Mint upgrades - from Elyssa to Felicia, from Felicia to Gloria and then to Helena. :)
3 years ago	remoulder	Note to anyone contemplating using this method - unless you know what you are doing, you could end up with a broken system and have to do a fresh install anyway. Upgrading in place will leave all your configuration files and settings in place which may cause many things not to work properly if at all in the upgraded system. Whilst you may think it better to do it this way rather than a fresh install, you could be letting yourself in for a lot of grief and additional work to rectify things. Clem's backup and restore approach is the least painful way to upgrade.
3 years ago	divad	Thank you for the tutorial!
3 years ago	clem	Thanks for this tutorial, a few comments: - Copy the content of the files in the article instead of linking to an external pastebin. - You can use the available apt shortcuts ("apt update", "apt dist-upgrade"..etc) as they're made to simplify things, especially in the context of a tutorial. - Don't launch a shell as root, just become root using "su -". I'd expect the known issues section to grow over time... especially when it comes to conflicting packages and dependencies.