[clug] Advice request on upgrade to Debian Squeeze local - mirrors?

[Scott Ferguson]

On Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:01:51 +0000 (UTC) Felix Karpfen wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:42:54 +1100, Scott Ferguson wrote:
>  
<snipped>

> After reading all the helpful advice that has been offered, I fear that 
> there has been a major communication failure.  
> 

<nod>

> The feature that made Debian my preferred OS is that "installing a newly-
> released version" and "upgrading an existing installed version to convert 
> it to the newly-released version" are two totally different animals that 
> have little in common.

yes, and, (redundantly), yes.

> 
> Full instructions for both routines are always present on the first disk 
> (CD or DVD).  The (English) "install" routine - called "Debian GNU/Linux 
> Installation Guide" can be found in "/doc/manual/en"; the (English) 
> upgrade routine is described in "/doc/release-notes/en.

The first two DVDs are normally bootable too - ie if you can't boot off
the first (new hybrid build) try the second (there have been install
problems reported with the first release).
For future reference you might find jigdo useful.

> 
> The end-result of the two strategies will ultimately to be the same; but 
> the time taken to get to that point is very different on any system that 
> deviates from the suggested "default preferences".  
> 
> My system is *very* lean and deviates markedly from the defaults supplied 
> by a "clean install"; e.g. 
> 
> - I have dispensed with "Open Office" and "samba" (red-face; shame!);
> - I have only a minimal install of "Gnome" and "KDE" (because I sometimes 
>   use some of their packages);
> - my "Windows Manager" is JWM; I never use either Gnome or KDE;

I suspect you mean gdm/kdm/kwin - you will still find that some of the
packages from both desktops do not exist in Squeeze.

> - etc, etc.
> 
> It would take a lot of personal input to start with a clean "new install" 
> and get back to my preferred packages/configurations; 

Not really, Squeeze is much more respectful of "recommends" than Lenny.
Just apt-get the main packages, apt will pull the rest in.
Given what little you tell of your system (servers? architecture? etc)
it's hard to tell if there *is* an upgrade path - hence the parallel
install suggestion. If that gets you an upgraded version of your
existing system - then try upgrading your Lenny, at least you'll know
what issues you're facing ie. customizations you'd forgotten about,
packages that no longer exist etc. A quick scan of the release notes for
the current DVDs (later than yours) may give you some ideas.

If you've ever mixed repositories esp. debian-multimedia.... :-/

> the upgrade routine
> - as described in the "release notes" - makes this input unnecessary.