Upgrading to Debian 2.0 on x86 machines

To avoid problems in upgrading packages via dpkg, dselect, or dftp (due to possible libc5/libc6 conflicts), a special upgrade procedure is recommended. This document describes that procedure.

There are several ways to upgrade from an earlier version:

  1. autoup.sh
    This is a script that will upgrade the programs in the correct order, and even download the deb's for you. Because of the continuing changes to the archive, a tar archive of the packages that were available at the time autoup.sh was last released is provided. This is available at the following sites:
  2. apt-get
    This is the command line part of Debian's future package manager. It knows how to order packages and will download them from a local archive, http, and ftp sites. It is able to merge the info from several sites, so you can use a CD, an up to date mirror, and a non-us site for the best mix of speed, variety, and latest versions. Just run 'apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade'. The 'Bo' version is at: http://archive.debian.org/dists/hamm/main/upgrade-i386/. The Bo version of apt-get is well tested. apt-get is officially part of the packaging system starting with slink.
  3. By hand
    A HOWTO can be found at: $HOME/releases/hamm/autoup/libc5-libc6-Mini-HOWTO.html but as the autoup.sh simply automates this process this is the least convenient option.

Questions and Answers

Q: Why not just use dselect's ftp method like normal?
A: It will not order the package installation correctly so
   can't guarantee a smooth upgrade. Work is being done on APT,
   a new front-end to dpkg. With apt, all future upgrades will
   be easier than ever and will not suffer from this type of
   inconvenience.

Q: Ok, I did the upgrade, am I safe to do things again?
A: Yes, you can use dselect again.