Updated about 3 years ago by Jamila Khan

• Table of contents
• Debian 10 to 11
  • Pre update check
    • Stretch check
    • Metapackage check
    • Purged package check
    • Hold check
  • Update sources list
  • Upgrade the system
    • Check for Necessary Disk Space
    • Update the sources
    • Minimal Upgrade
    • Full Upgrade
    • Upgrade MySQL databases (if MySQL/MariaDB installed)
    • Check that things are up
    • Check what packages were removed
  • Common problems

Debian 10 to 11¶

Pre update check¶

Stretch check¶

Check if any sources still point to stretch

cd /etc/apt
grep -nr stretch .

If so, bring those up to buster and run updates first
https://redmine.palantetech.coop/projects/commons/wiki/Debian_9_to_10

Metapackage check¶

Check to make sure kernel metapackage is installed, not just specific kernel

dpkg -l "linux-image*" | grep ^ii | grep -i meta should have results
If not, install metapackage
https://www.debian.org/releases/bullseye/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html#kernel-metapackage

Purged package check¶

List and purge removed packages with config files remaining
https://www.debian.org/releases/bullseye/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html#purge-removed-packages

aptitude search '~c'
aptitude purge '~c'

Hold check¶

These commands should have no results

aptitude search "~ahold" 
dpkg --get-selections | grep 'hold$'

Update sources list¶

Check which sources exist that point to buster

cd /etc/apt
grep -nr buster .

Edit the main list, and any others that come up

vim /etc/apt/sources.list

:%s/buster/bullseye/g

Upgrade the system¶

Check for Necessary Disk Space¶

apt-get -o APT::Get::Trivial-Only=true dist-upgrade

Update the sources¶

apt-get update

Minimal Upgrade¶

 apt-get upgrade

• if it asks whether to change /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/debian-archive-jessie-security-automatic.gpg, say yes
• other things it asks to change, say no, keep the existing file

Full Upgrade¶

apt-get dist-upgrade

Upgrade MySQL databases (if MySQL/MariaDB installed)¶

mysql_upgrade

Check that things are up¶

• if a web server, make sure websites are up
• if an infrastructure server, test and make sure all parts of the infrastructure are working properly
• if a PTC server check the recovery plan entry for that server to make sure everything has recovered

Check what packages were removed¶

• cat /var/log/apt/history.log | grep Remove
• make sure there was nothing important in there

Common problems¶

tbd