133

I am currently using Ubuntu 10.04. I know there is a 10.10 release, but can I upgrade directly to 11.04? Could you walk me through the steps please?

2

18 Answers 18

97

Ubuntu only supports upgrading from one version to the next version, or from one LTS version to the next LTS version. So you need to upgrade from 10.04 to 10.10, and only then to 11.04.

There are technical reasons for this restriction. When a new version of an existing package is installed it sometimes has to perform conversions, e.g., it may have to import existing settings into a new database format. In performing such conversions the packaging scripts have to make assumptions about the old format. If upgrades from all previous versions of Ubuntu were supported then this would quickly become a maintenance nightmare, as packaging scripts would have to be able to convert from all previously used formats to the current format. To avoid the nightmare, packaging scripts only in general support upgrading from the version of the package included in the previous Ubuntu release (and from the previous LTS release, in the case of a package included in an LTS release).

Upgrading directly from the penultimate, or earlier, version to the current version (called a "skip upgrade) is possible, but is liable to result in a misconfigured system.

3
  • 3
    Do you know of an official statement from Canonical/Ubuntu on this subject? Seems strange to me that they don't officially support this. Otherwise, why would the update-manager from Ubuntu 12.10 even give me the option to only upgrade to LTS releases if that will never be a possibility?
    – Avian00
    Apr 23, 2014 at 13:37
  • 1
    @Avian00 Somehow, when you upgrade to an LTS, they force the Prompt variable in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades to lts. You have to change it back to normal to get upgrades to work normally again. At least, that's my experience. Aug 31, 2015 at 21:55
  • When I installed 14.04 it offered me 16.04 as part of the process. I did it and have found I can rely on 16.04 LTS. But there are some internals that changed at 15 so my system has those files as well as the 16.04 files for the boot process. It can be confusing to find good advice on a hybrid system, even though most of the 14.04 files are simply ignored. To me this means I need to be very careful to follow advice specific to 16.04 LTS, only. Not a big deal, but something to consider. 14.04 advice may look correct yet not implement the changes you want (such as cron log levels).
    – SDsolar
    Mar 12, 2018 at 5:32
45

To update from an older version (very old in this case) than the previous version to the current version is highly not recommended. You are better off downloading the new release, doing a backup and then installing the new release.

If you are using Ubuntu 10.04 and REALLY REALLY want to update from that version up to the latest version then keep reading, if you are using Ubuntu 10.10 and also want to update from that version up to the latest version go to the second part. I should warn at least users from 10.10 that this involves downloading more than 2GB of data and will take you around a whole day. And even at the end it might be slower, give you errors, your connection will drop at some point or the computer will go crazy. This means that I do not give a guarantee that it will work flawlessly on every PC. So really think about it if you want to upgrade this way. I recommend reading this link: How do I upgrade to a newer version of Ubuntu?

Here is an image that shows what 10.04 users should see after 12.04 was released:

enter image description here

UPDATE - if you are reading this after 12.04 came out, there should be an option in the Update Manager in 10.04 that says to upgrade from 10.04 to 12.04. This is the way to go since 12.04 came out.

For historical reasons I will leave the information below for users that wanted to know how to do it before 12.04 came out but if you are still in 10.04 please read here: How do I upgrade to a newer version of Ubuntu? since fossfreedom created a very good and complete answer about upgrading from 10.04 to 12.04.

  • FIRST PART (For Ubuntu 10.04 Users BEFORE 12.04 came out)

If you are in Ubuntu 10.04 first you need to upgrade from 10.04 to 10.10 then from 10.10 to 11.04.The reason is that 10.04 is a LTS Version (Long Term Support) and as such it upgrades itself from one LTS to the other. So the next LTS would be 12.04. When 12.04 comes you will see an upgrade noticed on your 10.04. But if you still want to upgrade to 11.04 then do the following:

Ubuntu 10.04 to 10.10

Menu Way
1a. Using the menu go to System -> Administration -> Update Manager .

Keyboard Way
1b. ALT+F2 and Type gksu update-manager

When the Update manager opens and it does NOT show the "New Ubuntu Release Available" message in the upper part do the following steps:

2- Click on the SETTINGS button in the Update Manager on the lower left part of it. After the Software Sources Windows opens it should have you in the Update Tab where you will change the option Release Upgrade at the bottom. Change it from the one that it has to Normal Releases then close. What you did here was tell Ubuntu not to check for LTS versions but to check for normal version instead. Normal versions are the ones that come out every 6 months. LTS come out every 2 years. For example 8.04, 10.04, 12.04..

enter image description here

2.1 Open The Update Manager again following the Steps in 1a or 1b.

enter image description here 2.2. Click on the UPGRADE button that should appear there in the upper part. After finishing the upgrade reboot the PC and you should be in 10.10. Test it a little and then if you are 100% sure to go to 11.04 do the following:

  • SECOND PART (For Ubuntu 10.10 Users)

Ubuntu 10.10 to 11.04

  1. ALT+F2 and Type 'gksu update-manager -d' to open the update-manager. The -d is to check if there is a Developing Version. Since 11.04 is still in development it will appear in the upper part of the Update Manager saying New Ubuntu Version 11.04 with a button to UPGRADE

enter image description here

  1. Click on the UPGRADE button and follow it through.

IMPORTANT - Make sure you have ALREADY updated everything in Ubuntu 10.10. So you are ready for a clean upgrade to 11.04.

NOTE - From LTS to LTS you can actually update. For example 10.04 LTS to 12.04 LTS. But for any other like 10.10 you need to actually update from one release to the other until you get to the final one. In your case, before 12.04 came out you could update from 10.04 to 10.10 and then 10.10 to 11.04 and so on until 11.10. After 12.04 came out you can update directly to 12.04 since it is the next LTS released.

5
  • 2
    Downvoted, as this no longer answers the question. It got canonicalized...
    – Jjed
    May 9, 2012 at 6:55
  • 4
    Actually Jacob, this still answers the question even if you edited. The user is using 10.x and I am giving him an answer based on that. I will however add a "note" at the end making a point about the old to new upgrades. May 9, 2012 at 15:07
  • 1
    Answers on SE sites are not for the asker alone, or even primarily. This answer already answers a partially irrelevant question (who wants to upgrade 10.04 -> 11.04 at this point?). Could you make your instructions more general? If so I will change to upvote.
    – Jjed
    May 9, 2012 at 15:13
  • 2
    Actually I disagree partially. The answer is for the asker and the general users. When my answer was created it was so the user could update step by step as he was asking back then. This complies with the rules and answers the user. I also do not see how more general you would want it since it goes step by step and the note at the end mentions the 2 ways to update after 12.04 came out. May 9, 2012 at 15:19
  • After looking for the word "canonicalized" (Did not know that one) I got your point. I thought you were somehow talking about Canonical and it got "canonicalized". Like it got Ubuntuzied or something. Anyhow will do the changes in the beginning so to not confuse readers. May 10, 2012 at 6:52
28

No it's not possible.

using standard upgrade methods.

The only "point to point" release upgrades which work outside of the standard release to release upgrades, are LTS release upgrades. In other words you can upgrade from 8.04 -> 10.04 and 10.04 -> 12.04 without having to upgrade to each of the three other non-LTS versions in between. Otherwise you'll need to go next to 10.10 then to 11.04. Since you're not too far behind it shouldn't take long. Simply run the update manager as you normally would and follow the chain to 11.04.

If you were to try, you could simply pop in an 11.04 disk and install over the 10.10 installation. This should keep all of your home folder contents intact but will result in you having to re-install all of the software you had prior to the "re-installation"

26

You cannot skip versions between upgrades. The version between Jaunty and Lucid is Karmic. I suggest you do backup important data and do a complete reinstall as many things has changed, including the boot loader.

If you do not like a fresh install, you can upgrade using an Alternate CD.

Preparations:

  • Backup the system (if possible a disk image)
  • Backup your personal files (the home directory) so you can easily copy the files
  • Remove all PPA's and non-standard repositories, including their packages
  • Be prepared for failure, have a Live CD available so you can still boot even if the disk is dead

The upgrade using the alternate CD is described below:

  1. Download ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso from http://releases.ubuntu.com/karmic/ to your home directory (replace i386 with amd64 if you've a 64-bit system and ubuntu with kubuntu for KDE)
  2. Open a terminal and run:

    sudo mount -o loop ~/ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso /media/cdrom
    
  3. Start the upgrade by executing:

    gksu "sh /media/cdrom/cdromupgrade"
    

    If you're using KDE (Kubuntu):

    kdesudo "sh /media/cdrom/cdromupgrade"
    
  4. Reboot

After this upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10, proceed with the upgrade to 10.04 using:

sudo do-release-upgrade -d
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  • sounds great !! il give it a try....!
    – Yadnesh
    Jun 9, 2011 at 10:55
  • @Yadnesh: be sure to make a backup, preferably with a disk imaging tool like Clonezilla so you can restore your disk if the upgrade goes wrong.
    – Lekensteyn
    Jun 9, 2011 at 10:57
  • is there any chance of getting upgrade messed up??
    – Yadnesh
    Jun 9, 2011 at 11:00
  • @Yadnesh: well, new settings do not always work well with old settings. In my upgrade from Jaunty to Karmic, many desktop widgets were moved. If possible, do a fresh install. Besides software issues, there are other issues too: the power can cut off, the hard drive can fail or the human throws coffee over the machine.
    – Lekensteyn
    Jun 9, 2011 at 11:03
  • 1
    @Yadnesh, @Lekensteyn, I'd suggest you remove all PPAs and other non-official repositories before starting the upgrade, and maybe also remove packages from those PPAs (e.g. using ppa-purge). And it's probably also a good idea to make sure 9.10 is up-to-date before doing the release-upgrade to 10.04...
    – JanC
    Jun 9, 2011 at 12:27
14

Yes and No!

Yes it is possible - and I've seen a few people try a force upgrade via sudo do-release-upgrade/or manually changing their sources.list - But...

dont do it...

Canonical only support an upgrade from LTS to LTS (i.e. 10.04 to 12.04), or from each intermediate version (10.04 - 10.10 - 11.04 - 11.10 - 12.04 - 12.10 etc.)

If you try to force an upgrade you could most likely break your system - files may not be upgraded or updated and most likely you will have a very strangely behaving system or even a system that wont boot.

I've also seen various people try to backup the /home and restore it on a fresh install. This does usually work - however - I personally prefer to do a clean fresh install a copy specific files from backup. The advantage of just copying specific files is that you clean out all the rubbish you've accumulated over the years.

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  • +1 for the rubbish cleaning, which I haven't done since 2009... Luckily drives are huge now. Note also that only backing up /home is okay on an end user desktop, but on a server, you are likely to have tons of settings in /etc/... which need to be reinstalled and that takes forever to do if you install a fresh OS. Aug 31, 2015 at 21:59
7

You'll need to upgrade to 10.10 and then to 11.04. You can use update-manager, but you can also use do-release-upgrade from the command line.

You might need to upgrade update-manager-core first, in which case the entire sequence will look like this :

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core
do-release-upgrade

You can repeat the upgrade process to get to 11.04.

6

You can do the method above without having to install apache or changing /etc/hosts. Just save the meta-release file from wget somewhere (except on top of /etc/update-manager/meta-release) and edit it as described. Then, in /etc/update-manager/meta-release, change the "URI = http://....." line to "URI = file:///path/to/my/edited/meta-release/file"

Also, for do_release_upgrade to work, in your edited meta-release file, you have to change the archive in the URLs for Release-File, Upgrade-Tool and UpgradeToolSignature from http://archive.... to http://old-releases...

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  • Which "method above" exaclty are you refering to?
    – rubo77
    Jul 25, 2014 at 9:20
6

Thanks this solved problems I was having with upgrading an old system. However, there one enhancement that I used that will make this a lot easier - you don't need to install apache.

Simply use a file:// URI instead of an http:// URI.

So the process is thus (my username is fozzy):

fozzy@hostname:~$ wget -O - http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release | sed '/lucid/,$d' > meta-release

Edit meta-release file in your home directory with your favourite editor so that the "Supported: 0" line in the karmic block now reads: "Supported: 1".

Edit /etc/update-manager/meta-release and make the URIs thus (note the three slashes in a row):

URI = file:///home/fozzy/meta-release
URI_LTS = file:///home/fozzy/meta-release

Perform the release upgrade.

The nice thing about this is that there's no need to install apache and everything it pulls in - I was using it on a minimal system and I didn't want all those things pulled in. It also means you can edit the meta-release file without being root.

You only need root for editing the /etc/update-manager/meta-release file and then running do-release-upgrade.

1
  • for years I was looking for this information. Found it :-) and want to say THANK YOU!! May 4, 2021 at 21:41
5

You can not skip a release when upgrading Ubuntu. So you will need to first upgrade to 9.10 and then from 9.10 to 10.04.

3
  • but how should i choose 9.10 when 10.04 is the only option i see on the screen? is there any way to do it??
    – Yadnesh
    Jun 9, 2011 at 10:48
  • The reason it is not shown is that 9.10 is out of support, so it was removed from the main download server & the mirrors...
    – JanC
    Jun 9, 2011 at 10:56
  • @Yadnesh: I think you can still download 9.10 alternate cd and upgrade using it.
    – binW
    Jun 9, 2011 at 12:36
5

Jaunty went out of support sometime back. The next version up from Jaunty (Karmic) is also out of support.

You also, cannot jump intermediate versions i.e. not 9.04 to 10.4 - you have to go via 9.10.

Since both Jaunty and Karmic have been removed from the main repositories, you best upgrade route is to download the desktop ISO of 10.04 and do a fresh install.

You should of course, backup any non-hidden files in /home before the install. You can restore these after.

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  • can i do upgrade through a CD??
    – Yadnesh
    Jun 9, 2011 at 10:50
  • 2
    yes - see @lekensteyn answer. My advice though - take this as an opportunity to start afresh - you will be surprised as to how much crud you collect over the years. Also you avoid any "upgrade" issues that you sometimes get such as incorrectly installed packages/conflicting packages from stuff you might have compiled/manually installed.
    – fossfreedom
    Jun 9, 2011 at 10:54
  • I suggest copying all hidden files too, because they might contain useful information (I doubt Yadnesh wants to lose his mail for example).
    – JanC
    Jun 9, 2011 at 12:08
  • 1
    @JanC - exporting his mailbox is a better answer. The key problem with copying the hidden files is that the structure of the config files could & probably have changed. If you replace new config files with old, you'll get non functioning apps/theme problems and other issues.
    – fossfreedom
    Jun 9, 2011 at 12:17
  • 1
    @fossfreedom @JanC: export if possible and copy everything. Even if applications can convert old config files, it's not flawless (new features do not get integrated and take strange defaults)
    – Lekensteyn
    Jun 9, 2011 at 12:47
5

Almost universally the answers here say NO you can't but in reality you can if you do it right. This article describes how:

The full article from the link is included below but check the link for new comments from users. I would point out that you can successfully upgrade directly from 16.04 to 19.04 but I had a few hiccups:


Full article below:

Upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 19.04 Directly From Command Line

You have been informed that you must upgrade to Ubuntu 18.10 first in order to upgrade from 18.04 to 19.04. This is due to the fact that Ubuntu 18.10 is still being supported by Canonical and hasn’t reached end-of-life yet. After Ubuntu 18.10 reaches end-of-life in July 2019, Ubuntu 18.04 users can upgrade to 19.04 directly, following the standard upgrade procedure. If you don’t want to wait 3 months and don’t like upgrading twice, you can follow the instructions below to upgrade to 19.04 directly.

Note: Before doing the upgrade, you can use the systemback program to create a bootable ISO image from your current OS. If the upgrade fails, you can easily restore your OS with the bootable ISO. Everything on your OS including software and files will be intact. If you are using a laptop, please connect your power source.

Upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 19.04 directly from the terminal

The method I’m going to show you is how the Ubuntu distribution upgrade manager works under the hood. The only difference is that we are going to change to upgrade path that Canonical gives us.

First, run the following command to upgrade existing software. (Please note that if a new kernel is installed while running the following command, you need to reboot system in order to continue the upgrade process.)

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade

Then make sure you have update-manager-core package installed.

sudo apt install update-manager-core

Next, edit a configuration file using nano or your preferred command line text editor.

sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

At the bottom of this file, change the value of Prompt from lts to normal.

Prompt=normal

upgrade to ubuntu 19.04 from command line

To save a file in Nano text editor, press Ctrl+O, then press Enter to confirm. To exit, press Ctrl+X.

After that, we need to run the following command to change all instances of bionic to disco in the source list file (/etc/apt/sources.list). Bionic is the code name for Ubuntu 18.04, whereas disco is the code name for Ubuntu 19.04.

sudo sed -i 's/bionic/disco/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

Then we need to disable third-party repositories (PPAs) with the command below.

sudo sed -i 's/^/#/' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list

After you disable third-party repositories, run the following commands to update software sources and upgrade software to the latest version available in the Ubuntu 19.04 repository. This step is called minimal upgrade.

sudo apt update  
sudo apt upgrade  

If the apt-listchanges shows up during the upgrade, you can press the Q key to return to the main screen.

apt-listchanges  

enter image description here

Once minimal upgrade is finished, run the following command to begin full upgrade.

sudo apt dist-upgrade

If you see this error:

Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?

Then run the following command to fix the error.

sudo apt update

And rerun:

sudo apt dist-upgrade

Now you can remove obsolete/unneeded software packages from your Ubuntu system.

sudo apt autoremove  
sudo apt clean  

Finally, reboot the system.

sudo reboot  

Once restarting, you can open up a terminal window and check your Ubuntu version.

lsb_release  -a

You should see the following text.

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 19.04
Release:        19.04
Codename:       disco

How to re-enable third-party repositories

Third-party repositories are defined in the .list files under /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory. First, re-enable third-party repositories with the following command, which will remove the # character in lines that begin with deb.

sudo sed -i '/deb/s/^#//g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list

Then change all instances of bionic to disco.

sudo sed -i 's/bionic/disco/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list

Update package repository index.

sudo apt update

Some third-party repositories don’t have an entry for Ubuntu 19.04, so you will likely to see errors like:

E: The repository 'http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu disco 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.

You will need to edit these repository files one by one and change disco back to bionic. For example, I edit the Dropbox repository file.

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dropbox.list

Change disco back to bionic. Save and close the file.

1
  • Thanks for linking to my article. I must say that I don't recommended upgrading 16.04 to 19.04. You should upgrade 16.04 to 18.04 first, then upgrade to 19.04.
    – LinuxBabe
    Mar 3, 2020 at 4:00
3

For those who are planning to clean install, follow the steps below.

What you will need: Separate disk, external HDD recommended.

  1. Open a Terminal and define for example:
    your_mount_point_of_external_HDD=/media/USBDRIVE
  2. sudo tar czvf /media/$your_mount_point_of_external_HDD/mybackup.tar.gz /home # Backup your /home folder.
  3. sudo tar czvf /media/$your_mount_point_of_external_HDD/mysources.tar.gz /etc/apt/# Backup your repositories.
  4. sudo dpkg --get-selections > /media/$your_mount_point_of_external_HDD/mypackages # Make a list of installed packages
  5. Shut down, disconnect external HDD, and install the new system, adding the user with the same name.
  6. After the installation finished, replug the external HDD and reenter:
    your_mount_point_of_external_HDD=/media/USBDRIVE
  7. cd /; sudo tar xvzf /media/$your_mount_point_of_external_HDD/mysources.tar.gz
  8. ORIGINAL_DISTRO=grep deb /etc/apt/sources.list | cut -d " " -f 3 | sort | head -n 1; NEW_DISTRO=lsb_release -cs; sudo grep -rl $ORIGINAL_DISTRO /etc/apt | sudo xargs sed -i "s/$ORIGINAL_DISTRO/$NEW_DISTRO/" # This will change the old source's code name to the new one. (You can edit the files in /etc/apt by hand, if you know how to do it)
  9. sudo apt-get update # here probably that you will see missing keys error. To quickly bypass them:
    • sudo apt-add-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
    • sudo apt-get update
    • sudo apt-get install launchpad-getkeys
    • sudo launchpad-getkeys
  10. dpkg --clear-selections && dpkg --set-selections < /media/$your_mount_point_of_external_HDD/mypackages # With this you will reinstall the packages.
  11. cd / && tar xvzf /media/$your_mount_point_of_external_HDD/mybackup.tar.gz # This will unpack your /home directory to his place

This is all. Ofcourse this is not error free and it works just if the system has 1 user, etc.

3
  • Good tip on backing up list of installed packages. Should have known about that one before ...
    – oligofren
    Jun 6, 2013 at 20:50
  • What is the ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8 used for?
    – rubo77
    Jul 25, 2014 at 9:54
  • @rubo77: it was used for launchpad-getkeys. Not sure that still needed. It is an old answer.
    – Frantique
    Jul 25, 2014 at 10:02
3

I've found a simple way to by-pass this problem and still upgrade online without the CD.

Quick Summary

  1. Install Apache
  2. get the file http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release in /var/www
  3. Tweak the downloaded file
  4. Tweak system files to point to your server and downloaded file
  5. activate the default Apache server
  6. Here you go!

Note: (updated 2014-07-25) see also Rubo77 answer here. It avoids installing Apache.

Detailed information

1) Install Apache (skip if its already installed): sudo apt-get install apache2

2) Get the file locally

cd /var/www
sudo wget http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release

3) Update the file

Remove all version after Karmic, and change the line Supported: 0 by replacing 0 by 1 for Karmic.

4) Tweak some system files:

Edit /etc/update-manager/meta-release and modify:

URI = http://127.0.0.1/meta-release
URI_LTS = http://127.0.0.1/meta-release

(yes, drop the '-lts' part for URI_LTS)

5) Activate apache default server: sudo a2ensite default

5.1) Intermediate state, check that this is working

cd /tmp
wget http://127.0.0.1/meta-release

5.2) If error, try restarting Apache2:

`sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart`

6) Upgrade: check the detailed instructions in the Ubuntu Community Doc. Here is a quick summary:

6.1) Please make sure you have the following sources.list (/etc/apt/sources.list).

## EOL upgrade sources.list
# Required
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-security main restricted universe multiverse

# Optional
#deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
#deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-proposed main restricted universe multiverse

6.2) Update the package list and upgrade all the installed packages

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude safe-upgrade

6.3) Perform the release upgrade

sudo do-release-upgrade

Alternative path

For step 4) do the following instead:

URI = http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release
URI_LTS = http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release

And then modify /etc/hosts to change changelogs.ubuntu.com to your own server IP. Add a new line with:

127.0.0.1    changelogs.ubuntu.com

Cleaning-up

After the upgrade, you can remove apache2, restore the system files (/etc/update-manager/meta-release and possibly /etc/hosts).

7
  • I've attempted this, but have found that the various karmic updates usually located at archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists have been removed. do-release-upgrade is failing as a result... Ideas?
    – Pete
    May 11, 2012 at 20:13
  • You still need to follow the guide for End Of Life (EOL) Ubuntu upgrades :) You can find it here: help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades/Jaunty It will advise you to replace archive.ubuntu.com by old-releases.ubuntu.com in your /etc/apt/sources.list This was not mentionned in the question but was implied (seeing the problem Yadnesh encountered)
    – Huygens
    May 12, 2012 at 10:34
  • @Pete did the resource I sent you solved your problem? Did it work for you?
    – Huygens
    May 14, 2012 at 7:41
  • I ended up trying to use a combination of your fix, and the alternative CD approach mentioned in another answer. Sadly, the machine became non-responsive remotely and our IT seems to only be able to mount the partitions, not boot it. Fresh install here I come! Thanks anyways.
    – Pete
    May 14, 2012 at 13:59
  • 1
    You don't need apache, simply use pythons simpleHTTPServer. I reformated your answer here: askubuntu.com/a/502485/34298
    – rubo77
    Jul 25, 2014 at 11:55
2
sudo apt-get install update-manager-core

do-release-upgrade

but based on your error message, I doubt you will get any different results. I've been getting the same error, and I've yet to find a solution.

0
1

You should not skip releases. there is an easy way to upgrade the standard way, even though yakkety is EOL:

First create a copy of the sources.list, and then replace the regular localized archive links with "old-releases":

cp -a /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.old
sed -i -e 's/de.archive/old-releases/' /etc/apt/sources.list

(replace de.archive with your country code) nano /etc/apt/sources.list

If applicable, comment out the entries for "partner" and "security":

#deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu yakkety partner
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-security main restricted
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-security universe
#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu yakkety-security multiverse

apt-get update

Tell the upgrader that the current and next version are still supported - that part is not true, but it is required to make the upgrade work.

nano /var/lib/update-manager/meta-release

and change the entries for "yakkety" and "zesty". Set "Supported" set to "1", and the resource links all to "old-releases".

Run this once for each release step (from yakkety to zesty, then from zesty to artful, ...).

do-release-upgrade
do-release-upgrade
...

Afterwards enable the "partner" repository again, if it was enabled before:

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

source: https://andreas.scherbaum.la/blog/archives/950-Upgrade-from-Ubuntu-16.10-yakkety-to-17.10-artful.html

1

18.10 to 19.10 Ubuntu upgrade

If you have EOL release and if you do not afraid of reinstalling your system from scratch or just without formatting this older system, than you could try it. It tried only of curiocity and for testing purposes. Not real hardware, but VM have been used for this. DO NOT USE IT ON PROD. But strangely if you have EOL on prod.

Trying to correctly answer the question I've installed Ubuntu 18.10 eol into VirtualBox VM.

  • I changed current /etc/apt/sources.list to 18.04 Ubuntu's version:

    deb http://ua.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted
    deb http://ua.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted
    deb http://ua.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic universe
    deb http://ua.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates universe
    deb http://ua.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic multiverse
    deb http://ua.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates multiverse
    deb http://ua.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner
    deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted
    deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe
    deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse
    
  • Changed /etc/lsb-release to:

    DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
    DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04
    DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic
    DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 18.04 lts"
    
  • sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo do-release-upgrade

During upgrade it failed to restart different services and even rejected to reboot or shutdown correctly. I've powered the VM off and started it again.

It started without issues.

$ cat /etc/lsb-release && uname -a
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=19.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=eoan
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 19.10"
Linux ubuntu18 5.3.0-40-generic #32-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 31 20:24:34 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Testing:
Applications are opened correctly.
/etc/apt/sources.list have been generated with duplicates of eoan repositories, so I've removed excessive records and now it is:

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ eoan main restricted
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ eoan-updates main restricted
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ eoan universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ eoan-updates universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ eoan multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ eoan-updates multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security multiverse

Installed scribus, snap, mariadb-server, docker, openssh-server using sudo apt install without issues.

Installed gimp using snap: snap install gimp --classic (Authentication prompt appeared and after password input installation started)

It looks like a usual stable 19.10 Ubuntu system upgraded correctly as my host is.

0

Automatic, remote, incremental updating to latest version

I will not repeat the answers of others, but I do know how to achieve the effect of going from one old release to the latest. This requires access to another machine with a terminal and ssh installed so that you can automate the process by using ssh and a loop in the shell.

Just to expand on previous answers, here is how to remotely do the same as the accepted answer, using a passwordless upgrade over ssh that will get your box upgraded to the latest version. It is copied off my own blog entry.

All of these steps assume your package repository is working. Meaning if you execute apt-get update you are not presented with lots of 404s due to having an outdated version. You need to fix that first, so see this answer for that.

0. Update all existing packages

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

1. Set up passwordless execution

Add your self to the list of users that can execute do-release-upgrade using sudo without entering a password is achieved by executing

sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/do-release-upgrade.

and adding the following line, substituting my-username for your own of course:

my-username ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/do-release-upgrade

2. Start incremental upgrades

Log out and execute the following command from your computer. It will do an upgrade without prompting you for input (accepting all default answers), wait for the computer to reboot, and then try upgrading again. It runs until you are upgraded to the latest version.

while true; do 
    ssh my-user@my-server sudo do-release-upgrade -f DistUpgradeViewNonInteractive;
    sleep 120; 
done

3. Fix configuration files to their previous state

Afterwards you will have to move the backed up config files to their previous location as the upgrade process has put default configurations in their place.

Not satisfied with the default answers?

This guy has a way to pre-prepare answers for each prompt, but the downside is that you must know how many prompts there are …

-6

Open a terminal, run sudo update-manager -d and you're off!

1
  • 6
    This is incorrect, this upgrades the machine to the delevopment release. Oct 8, 2011 at 21:01

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