How to safely upgrade from an older Ubuntu version to a newer

Question

How can I safely upgrade an Ubuntu installation from 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) to 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal)? What should I do before upgrading to ensure it goes smoothly, and is there any clean-up I need to do afterwards?

In particular, do I need to do anything special if I am using packages from PPAs, if I have a graphics card that needs drivers, or if I'm running a custom Linux kernel?

This is a general question , but as example we take Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu 12.10

Answer 1

Here is my advice as a tutorial-like answer, based on my experience upgrading.

This procedure was tested by me, and it worked as it should. Hopefully this will help others to upgrade without problems.

This is not an official guide.

Friendly advice

There is no reason to rush. There is no reason to upgrade from day one. The new Ubuntu version is not going away. It will still be there the next week and the next month... Leave the servers to calm down. It will be very frustrating and painful if the server goes down during the upgrade.

Starting off

First of all we have to check if the new version is available. Open a terminal Ctrl+Alt+T and give this command:

do-release-upgrade -c

This command will check if the new version is available from the servers and will return the result.

If the version is available we can proceed.

If the version is not available then check one more thing. Open this file:

gksudo gedit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

and see if Prompt is equal to normal Prompt=normal. If it is not, then change it; after you have saved the file, run the commands below in the terminal:

sudo apt-get update 
do-release-upgrade -c

Before Upgrade

Remove all the external PPAs

You have to remove all the PPAs you have added in the past. Some of them may not work, some of them may be unsupported or even deprecated in the new version.

Open the Ubuntu Software Center and click Edit > Software sources > Other Software and then click and remove all the PPAs one by one.

Be careful

Some PPAs, such as Ubuntu X-team, “xorg crack pushers” team or “GNOME3 Team” team, upgrade some essential packages of the system.

You have to remove these PPAs using another method: install ppa-purge. This script will allow you to downgrade all the essential packages to the original (official) Ubuntu version. Execute the commands below in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa-name

Replace ppa-name with the actual name of the repository. After the purge you can run

sudo apt-get update

to update the sources.

Housekeeping

It is a good idea to do a little housekeeping before an upgrade to a new version. Open a terminal and execute the commands below, in order:

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get purge $(dpkg -l | awk '/^rc/ { print $2 }')

Search for Bugs

The most common and usual problem is graphics card driver issues. Search for bugs before upgrading. Go to the Launchpad page, use the search box to find your graphics card model (even better, the id) and browse the bugs. If you find some, consider waiting to upgrade until later, when the bug(s) have been fixed. If the bug is specific to the additional driver (restricted) then remove the driver before upgrading.

Custom Kernel (Unofficial)

If you have a custom kernel, either from compile or from a .deb package (e.g. mainline), then it is a good idea to boot from the official Ubuntu kernel when upgrading, else the upgrade may fail.

Release Upgrade

From terminal

Most users upgrade from the Update-manager. It is not that I don't trust it, but I trust the terminal more.

Close all the applications and open only a terminal (full-screen). Give this command and the upgrade will begin:

sudo do-release-upgrade

During upgrade

• Do not open any applications, leave this until after the reboot.
• Do not navigate into the Desktop environment, you will have the time to do this later. Get a cup of coffee, relax and wait, be patient until the upgrade finishes.
• If you have to intervene during the upgrade (from within the terminal), you can do so with Tab and Enter. For example, if you have two Display Managers (e.g LightDM and GDM), the upgrade will ask you which you want to use; press Tab until the one you want is highlighted, then press Enter.

Enjoy!

Feel free to edit this answer and make it more understandable (language correction) or/and improve it (additions).

Answer 2

There's a very easy guide to follow here:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/10/how-to-upgrade-ubuntu-12-04-to-ubuntu-12-10

In short...

1. Open Update Manager
2. Click Settings
3. Click the menu next to Notify me of a new Ubuntu version and select For Any New Version.

This is mostly just to get you off of a locked LTS version and up to the latest. Also this is specific to the desktop version.

Answer 3

Here's an easy step by step screenshot-guide that can make your upgrade from 12.04 to 12.10 super easy, hope it helps!

http://www.maknesium.de/guide-upgrade-ubuntu-from-12-04-lts-precise-pangolin-to-12-10-quantal-quetzal