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I wanted to update Ubuntu manually, because I used CDMA USB modem and connected using wvdial, but it won't able to update Ubuntu via Update Manager, because my Ubuntu won't showing "Connected" message via network-manager.

Can I update Ubuntu manually? Am I should download separate files, or use terminal instead?

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  • All answers seems similar. I'll try when I connected on Ubuntu.
    – Aryo Adhi
    May 29, 2013 at 12:44

3 Answers 3

66

You can manually update via terminal by running:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Additionally you can run:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

From the apt-get manpage:

dist-upgrade in addition to performing the function of upgrade, also intelligently handles changing dependencies with new versions of packages; apt-get has a "smart" conflict resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary. The dist-upgrade command may therefore remove some packages.

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  • 1
    Which one? update or upgrade? Because I think both of them is different
    – Aryo Adhi
    May 29, 2013 at 12:27
  • 2
    Why not dist-upgrade? A regular upgrade could hold back some stuff. (It won't upgrade the Ubuntu version unless you alter your sources, though.)
    – gertvdijk
    May 29, 2013 at 12:29
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    @AryoAdhi You need both. update will update the package lists (to be able to tell what packages are available) and upgrade/dist-upgrade will perform the actual updating.
    – gertvdijk
    May 29, 2013 at 12:30
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    @AryoAdhi upgrade upgrades only the already installed packages. dist-upgrade upgrades packages AND also install/remove packages if some package dependency list has changed. If you run apt-get dist-upgrade make sure to review the changes apt-get will perform before confirming the operation. dist-upgrade will NOT upgrade Ubuntu version (e.g. 12.10 -> 13.04). May 29, 2013 at 12:40
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    sudo do-release-upgrade will upgrade to a newer major version (12 => 14).
    – Chloe
    Feb 9, 2016 at 18:27
11

Do this:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

in a terminal. Re-boot if it asks.

Hope this helps!!!

0

If you want to upgrade the Ubuntu version (eg... 12.04 to 12.10 or 13.04) you can just pop in the LiveCD/LiveUSB and it has an option to allow you to upgrade.

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  • "much safer than an Internet connection" How would this be safer than using an internet connection? Besides, the released ISOs contain an older non-updated set of packages after the release (well, LTS has point-releases). So I'd say, updating using the internet is essentially safer, because you'll get the latest security patches as well.
    – gertvdijk
    May 29, 2013 at 14:01
  • Yes, Security-wise it is, but as for running the risk of having your internet cut out on you in the middle of a crucial file could be pretty disastrous. And, once you upgrade via that device, you can run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade to make sure you have the latest updates. May 29, 2013 at 14:11
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    "having your internet cut out on you in the middle of a crucial file could be pretty disastrous" No. Because it will first download before processing the updates. "once you upgrade via that device, you can run [...]" That will run updates of packages upgraded in the step before, exactly my point of being inefficient.
    – gertvdijk
    May 29, 2013 at 14:13

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