HOWTO: Upgrade to Debian Unstable

**MilesDeus** · 03-26-2004, 07:46 AM

Thankyou for an invaluable thread. This has proven most useful.

**beforewisdom** · 03-26-2004, 02:54 PM

Over the last month several hard core Debian people have told me that apt-get dist-upgrade poses a real risk of screwinging up your packages, several even told me it is better to use apt-get upgrade.

"Unstable" is also labeled as such for a reason. I have gotten some pretty buggy stuff.

Steve

**Durand Hicks** · 03-27-2004, 04:03 PM

Based on my recent experiences, they're right. I have done a dist-upgrade just last week and found mozilla, pcmcia_cs, init_ mod_utils broken. I've fixed all of them on my own, but if you're a newbie, there's not an easy way to fix the problems especially if you're not a part-time hacker/developer. I routinely take apart things so I can fix it, and for the most part have been able to do so without having to resort to reinstalling Knoppix. Do a search on Google for apt-pinning and that should help a lot, especially with upgrades/dist-upgrades. I used it to keep my system mostly testing with a few unstable apps. Knoppix is more unstable (SID) than testing (SARGE), but with apt-pinning you can change the ratio to any degree you prefer. However, this is best realized with a fresh install, if you've already done any upgrades/dist-upgrades, you can still realize some benefits, but not as much as if you had done it at the beginning. FYI, apt.conf only works if there are no more than two sources for your repositories. More than 2 sources without apt-pinning results in unspecified/undesired effects.

HTH,

Durand

**MilesDeus** · 03-30-2004, 10:18 PM

Hmm. The only problems I've had so far was trying to apt-get install Konverse, which in turn wanted kdelibs3, which in turn caused apt-get to uninstall a large chunk of KDE.

Whoops.

Obivously I recovered, but it was a bit unexpected to say the least. From what I've been able to find out about the matter it looks like unstable has some dodgy dependancies.

Don't take my word for it - go hunting for answers of your own.

**Stephen** · 03-30-2004, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by MilesDeus

Hmm. The only problems I've had so far was trying to apt-get install Konverse, which in turn wanted kdelibs3, which in turn caused apt-get to uninstall a large chunk of KDE.

Whoops.

Obivously I recovered, but it was a bit unexpected to say the least. From what I've been able to find out about the matter it looks like unstable has some dodgy dependancies.

If you were actually installing a package from unstable it may be true but you were installing a package from stable no wonder it removed half the system. You may want to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list and put a # character in front of the lines for stable to comment them out to save further mix ups in the future.

Code:

HappyTux:/home/stephen# apt-cache policy konverse
konverse:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.2-9
  Version Table:
     0.2-9 0
        500 http://ftp2.de.debian.org stable/main Packages

**debian_dummy** · 04-14-2004, 03:13 AM

Installed Knoppix 3.2 and upgraded to Debian unstable as per the instructions. I followed the instructions to the letter and am almost there except for 3 packages that can't be upgraded. My system works but it seems I cannot install new packages until I fix these errors. I googled for an answer but no joy.

root@coffer:~# apt-get install
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 842 not upgraded.
3 packages not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
Setting up libpam-runtime (0.76-18) ...
dpkg: error processing libpam-runtime (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpam0g:
libpam0g depends on libpam-runtime; however:
Package libpam-runtime is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libpam0g (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpam0g-dev:
libpam0g-dev depends on libpam0g (= 0.76-18); however:
Package libpam0g is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libpam0g-dev (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
libpam-runtime
libpam0g
libpam0g-dev
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

**Durand Hicks** · 04-14-2004, 03:57 AM

You can do one of two things of your choice: in the console as root, type dpkg remove --purge libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev or you can type dpkg --force-overwrite libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev. One will remove the faulty packages and the other will force it in. Personally, I'd rather remove the packages and then apt-get -s -t unstable libpam-runtime to see if it takes first before going thru with the install.

HTH,

Durand

**debian_dummy** · 04-14-2004, 04:53 AM

Thanks Durand for the help and the prompt reply,

I think this might be a bug ? Or, more likely me ! I had to change some of the commands you gave me as they didn't work on my machine (syntax errors such as no action) Also, I couldn't figure out how to force the unstable option as in your reply. Here's what I did and it alll seemed to work until install time came. 3 commands and outputs are below. TIA

root@coffer:~# dpkg --purge --force- libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev
(Reading database ... 111824 files and directories currently installed.) Removing libpam-runtime ... Purging configuration files for libpam-runtime ... dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove libpam0g-dev which isn't installed.
dpkg: libpam0g: dependency problems, but removing anyway as you request: sudo depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). partimage depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). screen depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). cvs depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). login depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). ssh depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). cupsys depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). kdebase-bin depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). kdm depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). partimage-server depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). squid depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). dante-client depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). php4 depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). ftpd depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). libpam-modules depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). libsasl7 depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). passwd depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). xdm depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). cron depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76). samba depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76); however:
Package libpam0g is to be removed.
ppp depends on libpam0g (>= 0.76).
Removing libpam0g ...
Purging configuration files for libpam0g ...

Quick test to ensure all packages are gone

root@coffer:~# dpkg --purge --force- libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev
dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove libpam-runtime which isn't installed. dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove libpam0g which isn't installed. dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove libpam0g-dev which isn't installed.

Now try the test install of the 3 packages

root@coffer:~# apt-get -s -f install
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
apache apache-common apache-utils bonobo-activation gconf2 gnumeric
gnumeric-common kdelibs-bin kdelibs-data kdelibs4 koffice-data koffice-libs
libarts1 libasound2 libasound2-dev libatk1.0-0 libbonobo-activation4
libbonobo2-0 libbonobo2-common libbonoboui2-0 libbonoboui2-common libcomerr2
libdb3-dev libdb3-util libdb4.2 libfreetype6 libfreetype6-dev libgconf2-4
libgda2-1 libgda2-common libgnome2-0 libgnome2-common libgnomecanvas2-0
libgnomeprint2.2-0 libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomevfs2-0
libgnomevfs2-common libgnutls7 libgsf-1 libkeynote0 libncursesw5 libogg-dev
libogg0 liborbit2 libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev libpcre3 libpcre3-dev
libqt3-compat-headers libqt3-headers libqt3-mt-dev libqt3c102-mt libsasl-dev
libsasl7 libvorbis-dev libvorbis0a libvorbisenc2 libvorbisfile3 libx11-dev
libxcursor-dev libxcursor1 libxml2 libxrender-dev libxrender1 libxslt1.1
php4 php4-mysql qt3-dev-tools render-dev samba samba-common smbclient smbfs
squid squid-common ucf x-dev zlib1g zlib1g-dev
The following packages will be REMOVED:
libdb2-dev libxslt1 pppdcapiplugin
The following NEW packages will be installed:
apache-utils gnumeric-common libcomerr2 libdb3-dev libdb3-util libdb4.2
libkeynote0 libncursesw5 libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev libx11-dev
libxcursor-dev libxcursor1 libxrender-dev libxslt1.1 render-dev squid-common
ucf x-dev
61 packages upgraded, 20 newly installed, 3 to remove and 778 not upgraded. Inst libpam-runtime (0.76-18 Debian:unstable) [login on libpam0g] [libsasl7 libpam-modules php4 dante-client screen login passwd cvs sudo libsasl-dev kdebase-bin kdm cron partimage samba ppp ssh xdm squid partimage-server ftpd cupsys ] Inst libpam0g (0.76-18 Debian:unstable) [libsasl-dev ] Conf libpam-runtime (0.76-18 Debian:unstable) [libsasl-dev ] Conf libpam0g (0.76-18 Debian:unstable) [libsasl-dev ] Inst libdb3-util (3.2.9-19 Debian:testing) [libsasl-dev ] Inst libsasl-dev (1.5.28-6.1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libsasl7 (1.5.28-6.1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libpam0g-dev (0.76-18 Debian:unstable) [] Remv libdb2-dev (2:2.7.7.0-8.1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libdb3-dev (3.2.9-19 Debian:testing) Inst libbonobo-activation4 (1:2.4.0-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst bonobo-activation (1:2.4.0-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst liborbit2 (1:2.8.3-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst zlib1g-dev (1:1.2.1-5 Debian:testing) [] Inst zlib1g (1:1.2.1-5 Debian:testing) [] Inst libxml2 (2.6.8-1 Debian:unstable) [] Inst libbonobo2-common (2.4.3-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libbonobo2-0 (2.4.3-1 Debian:testing) Inst libatk1.0-0 (1.4.1-1 Debian:testing) Inst gconf2 (2.4.0.1-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst libgconf2-4 (2.4.0.1-4 Debian:testing) Inst libgnutls7 (0.8.12-5 Debian:testing) Inst libgnomevfs2-common (2.4.1-5 Debian:testing) [] Inst libgnomevfs2-0 (2.4.1-5 Debian:testing) Inst libgnome2-0 (2.4.0-10 Debian:unstable) [] Inst libgnome2-common (2.4.0-10 Debian:unstable) Inst libgda2-common (1.0.3-2 Debian:unstable) [] Inst koffice-data (1:1.3.0-2 Debian:unstable) [koffice-libs ] Inst koffice-libs (1:1.3.0-2 Debian:unstable) [] Inst gnumeric (1.2.10-1 Debian:unstable) [] Inst kdelibs4 (4:3.2.2-1 Debian:unstable) [] Inst libgda2-1 (1.0.3-2 Debian:unstable) [] Inst kdelibs-bin (4:3.2.2-1 Debian:unstable) [] Remv libxslt1 (1.1.5-1 Debian:unstable) [] Inst libxslt1.1 (1.1.5-1 Debian:unstable) [] Inst libasound2-dev (1.0.3b-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libasound2 (1.0.3b-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libogg-dev (1.1.0-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libogg0 (1.1.0-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libfreetype6-dev (2.1.7-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libfreetype6 (2.1.7-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libqt3-compat-headers (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libqt3-mt-dev (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libqt3-headers (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libxrender1 (0.8.3-7 Debian:testing) [] Inst libxcursor1 (1.0.2-5 Debian:testing) [] Inst qt3-dev-tools (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst x-dev (4.3.0-7 Debian:testing) [] Inst libx11-dev (4.3.0-7 Debian:testing) [] Inst render-dev (0.8-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst libxrender-dev (0.8.3-7 Debian:testing) [] Inst libxcursor-dev (1.0.2-5 Debian:testing) [] Inst libqt3c102-mt (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libvorbis-dev (1.0.1-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libvorbisenc2 (1.0.1-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libvorbisfile3 (1.0.1-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libvorbis0a (1.0.1-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libarts1 (1.2.2-1 Debian:unstable) [] Inst libpcre3-dev (4.5-1.1 Debian:testing) [] Inst libpcre3 (4.5-1.1 Debian:testing) [] Inst kdelibs-data (4:3.2.2-1 Debian:unstable) [] Inst libgnomecanvas2-0 (2.4.0-3 Debian:testing) [] Inst libbonoboui2-0 (2.4.3-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libbonoboui2-common (2.4.3-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libgnomeprint2.2-data (2.4.2-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst libgnomeprint2.2-0 (2.4.2-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst libgnomeprintui2.2-0 (2.4.2-2 Debian:testing) [] Inst libgsf-1 (1.8.2-6 Debian:testing) [] Inst gnumeric-common (1.2.10-1 Debian:unstable) Remv pppdcapiplugin (1:3.3-8 Debian:testing) Inst squid (2.5.5-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst squid-common (2.5.5-1 Debian:testing) Inst libcomerr2 (1.35-4 Debian:testing) Inst libdb4.2 (4.2.52-16 Debian:testing) Inst libncursesw5 (5.4-3 Debian:testing) Inst libkeynote0 (2.3-10 Debian:testing) Inst apache (1.3.29.0.2-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst apache-common (1.3.29.0.2-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst apache-utils (1.3.29.0.2-4 Debian:testing) [] Inst ucf (1.02 Debian:unstable) Inst php4-mysql (4:4.3.4-4 Debian:unstable) [] Inst php4 (4:4.3.4-4 Debian:unstable) Inst smbfs (3.0.2a-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst smbclient (3.0.2a-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst samba (3.0.2a-1 Debian:testing) [] Inst samba-common (3.0.2a-1 Debian:testing) Conf libdb3-util (3.2.9-19 Debian:testing) Conf libsasl7 (1.5.28-6.1 Debian:testing) Conf libpam0g-dev (0.76-18 Debian:unstable) Conf libdb3-dev (3.2.9-19 Debian:testing) Conf libsasl-dev (1.5.28-6.1 Debian:testing) Conf liborbit2 (1:2.8.3-2 Debian:testing) Conf zlib1g (1:1.2.1-5 Debian:testing) Conf libxml2 (2.6.8-1 Debian:unstable) Conf libbonobo2-common (2.4.3-1 Debian:testing) Conf libbonobo2-0 (2.4.3-1 Debian:testing) Conf libbonobo-activation4 (1:2.4.0-4 Debian:testing) Conf bonobo-activation (1:2.4.0-4 Debian:testing) Conf zlib1g-dev (1:1.2.1-5 Debian:testing) Conf libatk1.0-0 (1.4.1-1 Debian:testing) Conf libgconf2-4 (2.4.0.1-4 Debian:testing) Conf gconf2 (2.4.0.1-4 Debian:testing) Conf libgnutls7 (0.8.12-5 Debian:testing) Conf libgnomevfs2-0 (2.4.1-5 Debian:testing) Conf libgnomevfs2-common (2.4.1-5 Debian:testing) Conf libgnome2-common (2.4.0-10 Debian:unstable) Conf libgnome2-0 (2.4.0-10 Debian:unstable) Conf libxslt1.1 (1.1.5-1 Debian:unstable) Conf libgda2-1 (1.0.3-2 Debian:unstable) Conf libgda2-common (1.0.3-2 Debian:unstable) Conf libasound2 (1.0.3b-1 Debian:testing) Conf libogg0 (1.1.0-1 Debian:testing) Conf libfreetype6 (2.1.7-2 Debian:testing) Conf libxrender1 (0.8.3-7 Debian:testing) Conf libxcursor1 (1.0.2-5 Debian:testing) Conf libqt3c102-mt (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) Conf libvorbis0a (1.0.1-1 Debian:testing) Conf libvorbisfile3 (1.0.1-1 Debian:testing) Conf libarts1 (1.2.2-1 Debian:unstable) Conf libpcre3 (4.5-1.1 Debian:testing) Conf kdelibs-bin (4:3.2.2-1 Debian:unstable) Conf kdelibs-data (4:3.2.2-1 Debian:unstable) Conf kdelibs4 (4:3.2.2-1 Debian:unstable) Conf koffice-libs (1:1.3.0-2 Debian:unstable) Conf koffice-data (1:1.3.0-2 Debian:unstable) Conf libgnomecanvas2-0 (2.4.0-3 Debian:testing) Conf libbonoboui2-common (2.4.3-2 Debian:testing) Conf libbonoboui2-0 (2.4.3-2 Debian:testing) Conf libgnomeprint2.2-data (2.4.2-4 Debian:testing) Conf libgnomeprint2.2-0 (2.4.2-4 Debian:testing) Conf libgnomeprintui2.2-0 (2.4.2-2 Debian:testing) Conf libgsf-1 (1.8.2-6 Debian:testing) Conf gnumeric-common (1.2.10-1 Debian:unstable) Conf gnumeric (1.2.10-1 Debian:unstable) Conf libasound2-dev (1.0.3b-1 Debian:testing) Conf libogg-dev (1.1.0-1 Debian:testing) Conf libfreetype6-dev (2.1.7-2 Debian:testing) Conf libqt3-headers (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) Conf libqt3-compat-headers (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) Conf qt3-dev-tools (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) Conf x-dev (4.3.0-7 Debian:testing) Conf libx11-dev (4.3.0-7 Debian:testing) Conf render-dev (0.8-4 Debian:testing) Conf libxrender-dev (0.8.3-7 Debian:testing) Conf libxcursor-dev (1.0.2-5 Debian:testing) Conf libqt3-mt-dev (3:3.2.3-2 Debian:testing) Conf libvorbisenc2 (1.0.1-1 Debian:testing) Conf libvorbis-dev (1.0.1-1 Debian:testing) Conf libpcre3-dev (4.5-1.1 Debian:testing) Conf squid-common (2.5.5-1 Debian:testing) Conf squid (2.5.5-1 Debian:testing) Conf libcomerr2 (1.35-4 Debian:testing) Conf libdb4.2 (4.2.52-16 Debian:testing) Conf libncursesw5 (5.4-3 Debian:testing) Conf libkeynote0 (2.3-10 Debian:testing) Conf apache-utils (1.3.29.0.2-4 Debian:testing) Conf ucf (1.02 Debian:unstable) Conf apache-common (1.3.29.0.2-4 Debian:testing) Conf apache (1.3.29.0.2-4 Debian:testing) Conf php4 (4:4.3.4-4 Debian:unstable) Conf php4-mysql (4:4.3.4-4 Debian:unstable) Conf samba-common (3.0.2a-1 Debian:testing) Conf smbfs (3.0.2a-1 Debian:testing) Conf smbclient (3.0.2a-1 Debian:testing) Conf samba (3.0.2a-1 Debian:testing)

I was a bit concerned there was no Woo Hoo ! success message at the end of the above text but I soldiered on anyway. Now I tried the real install

root@coffer:~# apt-get -f install
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
apache apache-common apache-utils bonobo-activation gconf2 gnumeric
gnumeric-common kdelibs-bin kdelibs-data kdelibs4 koffice-data koffice-libs
libarts1 libasound2 libasound2-dev libatk1.0-0 libbonobo-activation4
libbonobo2-0 libbonobo2-common libbonoboui2-0 libbonoboui2-common libcomerr2
libdb3-dev libdb3-util libdb4.2 libfreetype6 libfreetype6-dev libgconf2-4
libgda2-1 libgda2-common libgnome2-0 libgnome2-common libgnomecanvas2-0
libgnomeprint2.2-0 libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomevfs2-0
libgnomevfs2-common libgnutls7 libgsf-1 libkeynote0 libncursesw5 libogg-dev
libogg0 liborbit2 libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev libpcre3 libpcre3-dev
libqt3-compat-headers libqt3-headers libqt3-mt-dev libqt3c102-mt libsasl-dev
libsasl7 libvorbis-dev libvorbis0a libvorbisenc2 libvorbisfile3 libx11-dev
libxcursor-dev libxcursor1 libxml2 libxrender-dev libxrender1 libxslt1.1
php4 php4-mysql qt3-dev-tools render-dev samba samba-common smbclient smbfs
squid squid-common ucf x-dev zlib1g zlib1g-dev
The following packages will be REMOVED:
libdb2-dev libxslt1 pppdcapiplugin
The following NEW packages will be installed:
apache-utils gnumeric-common libcomerr2 libdb3-dev libdb3-util libdb4.2
libkeynote0 libncursesw5 libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev libx11-dev
libxcursor-dev libxcursor1 libxrender-dev libxslt1.1 render-dev squid-common
ucf x-dev
61 packages upgraded, 20 newly installed, 3 to remove and 778 not upgraded. Need to get 0B/53.9MB of archives. After unpacking 34.2MB will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y Preconfiguring packages ... Selecting previously deselected package libpam-runtime. (Reading database ... 111797 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking libpam-runtime (from .../libpam-runtime_0.76-18_all.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package libpam0g. Unpacking libpam0g (from .../libpam0g_0.76-18_i386.deb) ... Setting up libpam-runtime (0.76-18) ...
dpkg: error processing libpam-runtime (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpam0g: libpam0g depends on libpam-runtime; however:
Package libpam-runtime is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libpam0g (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
libpam-runtime
libpam0g
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

**Stephen** · 04-14-2004, 05:05 AM

Package libpam-runtime is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libpam0g (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
libpam-runtime

Go to http://bugs.debian.org and put libpam-runtime in the search box and under normal bugs you will see your problem The line that has to be changed in in the third post in the patch the file to be changed is /var/lib/dpkg/info/libpam-runtime.postinst, once you have changed the line then use the dpkg --configure command suggested in the first post reporting the bug.

**Durand Hicks** · 04-14-2004, 05:53 AM

Here the problem: You typed:

dpkg --purge --force- libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev

You need to enter one of the following, depending on which action you want to take:
To remove the faulty package type:

Code:

dpkg remove --purge libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev

To force the package in (override errors), type:

Code:

dpkg --force-overwrite libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev

To clean up any strays for any packages that didn't finish installing but were downloaded already, you type:

Code:

dpkg --reconfigure -a

These are separate commands and normally you don't put three very different actions on one line. You can reinstall the missing packages without these three packages for the time being and then come back to clear up these 3 packages. I checked the bug report Stephen referred you to and it looks like the version in unstable is faulty. You'll need to do this to get the good install:

Code:

apt-get -s -t testing libpam-runtime libpam0g libpam0g-dev

If that checks out, eliminate the -s and press enter and you will get those packages (and others dependent on it) installed okay. Finally, to see all packages that needs to be upgraded to testing type:

Code: