Etch Is Stable...

[Netopia]

Etch is stable, so what's the next step?

Joe

[mr88talent]

Thanks for the heads up. I will have to start revising my docs. It looks like security.debian.org has not made the transformation yet, so for the time being I would not change anything on an etch system. If you are using my
http://www200.pair.com/mecham/spam/spamfilter20061118.html etch document then you could change from 'etch' to 'stable' on these two lines in /etc/apt/sources.list if you like (but it is not necessary - and there may be good reasons not to), but leave the two security.debian.org lines pointing to etch (your mirror may differ):

Code: Select all

deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ stable main

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

Then I would run 'apt-get update' and then simulate upgrading packges to the newest releases: 'apt-get -s upgrade'. If everything looks OK, I would run 'apt-get upgrade'.

Those who are running Sarge will want to read the release notes for upgrade instructions:
http://www.debian.org/releases/etch/releasenotes
and this should also be informative:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-h ... st-upgrade

For those running Sarge, note that there may be issues upgrading to udev - and there may be issues for those running RAID too.

Over the next few weeks I will experiment with some different scenarios to see if there is anything alarming as far as sarge to etch upgrades are concerned.

Some people who followed my earlier etch documents may have 'testing' as the highest priority in /etc/apt/preferences. They must now choose whether to continue on that path (and allow new packages to upgrade to 'lenny' packages) or whether to freeze their system at etch. Freezing at etch can be accomplished by giving 'stable' the highest priority in /etc/apt/preferences.

Joe, since you are using the etch document, you really don't have to do anything different. BUT, in the future you may want to install a package from 'testing'. In about a month I would add this to /etc/apt/preferences:

Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 450

and then add a testing source to /etc/apt-sources.list:

deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
deb-src http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ testing main

[Netopia]

Mr88, as always, THANKS for the complete and informative post!

Joe

[mr88talent]

Those running sarge who wish to remain running sarge should change 'stable' to 'oldstable' in /etc/apt/sources.list and then give oldstable top priority. Also, if they are using testing and/or unstable sources, in /etc/apt/preferences they should make sure testing and unstable sources have a pin priority less than 500 (which is the default for the currently installed system), e.g.:

Package: *
Pin: release a=oldstable
Pin-Priority: 600

Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 450

Package: *
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 400

They could also have a stable source (etch) in /etc/apt/sources.list and grab packages from that when desired:

Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 475

Please read the release notes. As I said earlier and as the release notes also say:

Because of the many changes in the kernel between sarge and etch regarding drivers, hardware discovery and the naming and ordering of device files, there is a real risk that you may experience problems rebooting your system after the upgrade.

I also talk about potential problems here:
http://www200.pair.com/mecham/spam/kernel.html

###################################

If you plan on upgrading from sarge to etch there is also something else to consider (if you installed amavisd-new per one of my docs). If you still have the Debian amavisd-new 20030616p10 package installed (even if it's on hold) you will get upgraded to the Debian 2.4.2 version of amavisd-new when you upgrade to etch. Therefore, unless you want to use the Debian version, you will have to remove the Debian amavisd-new 20030616p10 package (These instructions do NOT apply to 2.4.2). Of course we still want to have an operational amavisd-new, so one way to accomplish this would be to:

See if the Debian amavisd-new 20030616p10 package is installed:
apt-cache policy amavisd-new

If it is, test that when you remove amavisd-new, only amavisd-new will be removed:
apt-get -s remove amavisd-new

If it is the only thing that will be removed, continue on:
mkdir /etc/ambackup
cp -R /etc/amavis/ /etc/ambackup/amavis-backup
cp /usr/sbin/amavisd-new /usr/sbin/amavisd-new-temp
amavisd-new stop
apt-get remove amavisd-new

cp /usr/sbin/amavisd-new-temp /usr/sbin/amavisd-new
chmod +x /etc/init.d/amavis
/etc/init.d/amavis start

(use at your own risk)

################################

I also got a note from someone that after they ran dist-upgrade to upgrade from sarge to etch that clamav-daemon did not get upgraded. They had to manually upgrade.

[mr88talent]

For those needing to upgrade their spamfilter from sarge to etch (like me), I have been working on a doc that may give you some ideas:
http://www200.pair.com/mecham/spam/upgrade_etch.html

[Netopia]

You sir, are a spam fighing, doc writing, software learning MACHINE!

Thanks...

Joe