Debian
Release cycles
The Ubuntu release cycle is at a glance pretty straight forward, but when on the 18.04 release and running sudo do-release-upgrade produces unexpected results like the below, it raises some questions.
Checking for a new Ubuntu release
There is no development version of an LTS available.
To upgrade to the latest non-LTS develoment release
set Prompt=normal in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.
Below, running lsb_release -a verifies our version, and looking at the release cycles on the Ubuntu website we appear to be behind on the LTS release upgrade..
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic
Why wouldn't Ubuntu pick the 20.04 upgrade to install on our system? This is not by mistake, but due to the planning of Ubuntu releases. While 20.04 is a LTS release, and we are on the previous LTS release, do-release-upgrade will not detect an upgrade until Ubuntu 20.04.1 is released. This is by design, but can be overidden with sudo do-release-upgrade -d, which switches you to the next development release.
As the output states from do-release-upgrade above, we can specify within /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades how we want to handle the upgrades on our system, and this setting should always be considered before attempting a system upgrade. An example of the file's contents can be seen below
# Default behavior for the release upgrader.
[DEFAULT]
# Default prompting and upgrade behavior, valid options:
#
# never - Never check for, or allow upgrading to, a new release.
# normal - Check to see if a new release is available. If more than one new
# release is found, the release upgrader will attempt to upgrade to
# the supported release that immediately succeeds the
# currently-running release.
# lts - Check to see if a new LTS release is available. The upgrader
# will attempt to upgrade to the first LTS release available after
# the currently-running one. Note that if this option is used and
# the currently-running release is not itself an LTS release the
# upgrader will assume prompt was meant to be normal.
Prompt=lts
Apt
The apt package manager is fairly straightforward to work with in terms of its usage and help text, so I'll leave the basics up to apt -h -
apt 1.6.12 (amd64)
Usage: apt [options] command
apt is a commandline package manager and provides commands for
searching and managing as well as querying information about packages.
It provides the same functionality as the specialized APT tools,
like apt-get and apt-cache, but enables options more suitable for
interactive use by default.
Most used commands:
list - list packages based on package names
search - search in package descriptions
show - show package details
install - install packages
remove - remove packages
autoremove - Remove automatically all unused packages
update - update list of available packages
upgrade - upgrade the system by installing/upgrading packages
full-upgrade - upgrade the system by removing/installing/upgrading packages
edit-sources - edit the source information file
See apt(8) for more information about the available commands.
Configuration options and syntax is detailed in apt.conf(5).
Information about how to configure sources can be found in sources.list(5).
Package and version choices can be expressed via apt_preferences(5).
Security details are available in apt-secure(8).
This APT has Super Cow Powers.
If any of the above confuses you, see man apt
For most, the default repositories that come with ubuntu or the distro of your choice would be enough, but some may choose to add more trusted sources who may have packages or drivers that would otherwise be unsupported. These sources are gneerally stored in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and we'll see how to back them up later.
Adding PPAs
Managing adding and removing ppas to your sources is seen below
# Add ppa
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:user/ppa
# Remove ppa
sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:user/ppa
If you want to remove a ppa and all its related packages to ensure you don't create a conflic between dependencies, run the below commands
# Remove a ppa and its associated software
sudo ppa-purge user/ppa
# Alternatively we can use -o and -p to specify owner and ppa respectively
sudo ppa-purge -o user -p ppa
PPA Release Discrepancies
Sometimes, you may add a ppa and realize it is not using the same release as you, so to continue using it we will need to make some changes, below we see a 404 from adding a bionic ppa using Ubuntu focal
Kapper@kubuntu:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kgilmer/speed-ricer
Vanilla packages for fast ricing.
More info: https://launchpad.net/~kgilmer/+archive/ubuntu/speed-ricer
Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel adding it.
Hit:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Ign:2 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease [107 kB]
Get:8 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease [107 kB]
Hit:9 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease [98.3 kB]
Ign:11 http://ppa.launchpad.net/kgilmer/speed-ricer/ubuntu focal InRelease
Err:14 http://ppa.launchpad.net/kgilmer/speed-ricer/ubuntu focal Release
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/kgilmer/speed-ricer/ubuntu focal Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
To fix this, we simply run sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kgilmer-ubuntu-speed-ricer-focal.list and change focal to bionic in the line below
# Commented line below is what Ubuntu created using add-apt-repository
#deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kgilmer/speed-ricer/ubuntu bionic main
# Change it to our release (focal) to fix the release file error described above
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kgilmer/speed-ricer/ubuntu focal main
Now, running sudo apt-get update should result in no 404's and you'll be able to grab and packages you were after
within the ppa with sudo apt install.
To see your current release, run lsb_release -a -
kapper@kubuntu:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
Installing from another release
Even more, you could face an issue like the below, where I upgraded to focal, which at the time was a very new and fresh lts.
kapper@kubuntu:~$ sudo apt install polybar [0/0]
[sudo] password for kapper:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
polybar : Depends: python-xcbgen but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
kapper@kubuntu:~$ sudo apt install python-xcbgen
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package python-xcbgen is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package 'python-xcbgen' has no installation candidate
kapper@kubuntu:~$
A package I use, polybar, required some dependency that no longer exists on focal. So, since I've used this package just fine previously on bionic, I simply add the following line to my /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://cz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic main universe
Then, we run the following
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -t bionic python-xcbgen
# Just to be sure, I don't want to install anything outside of focal if I don't have to. I'd rather not use polybar
sudo apt install -t focal polybar
To backup all current sources
To restore a backup of previous sources
Mess something up or lose your sources.list? See below for the default settings on various ubuntu releases
Ubuntu bionic 18.04
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 18.04 _Bionic_ - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20190418-12:10]/ bionic main
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted
## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates universe
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates multiverse
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse
Ubuntu Focal Fossa 20.04
Following a sudo do-release-upgrade -d -f DistUpgradeViewGtk3 on Ubuntu 18.04 with the option Prompt=lts set within /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades the sources are the following
# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 18.04 _Bionic_ - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20190418-12:10]/ bionic main
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted
## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates universe
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates multiverse
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse
To change default terminal emulator
sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator
# Backup gnome tweaks and settings
cd ~
dconf dump / > saved_settings.dconf
# Restore your gnome settings
cd ~
dconf load / < saved_settings.dconf
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