The other day I thought I’d give the Ubuntu 6.06 LTS to 8.04 LTS direct upgrade path a try on my Ubuntu 6.06 server. It ran smoothly (over ssh no less), until I ran into one bug at the end. I reported it, with a reply back the next day. Two days later it has been fixed and I tried an upgrade again. I’m happy to say that the direct upgrade path worked perfectly on a fresh install of Ubuntu 6.06 Server. Here is how I did it:
Ubuntu 6.06 to Ubuntu 8.04 Upgrade (Server)
I verified that my current install was completely up to date:
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude upgrade
sudo aptitude dist-upgrade
Also, to be thorough, this is what my sources.list looked like (each ‘deb’ entry should be one single line):
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-proposed main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse
Once I had applied all updates (if you’re already up to date, you don’t need a reboot) I then installed the server-based update utility:
sudo aptitude install update-manager-core
Once this is installed you’re ready to begin the upgrade process. You can start the upgrade using:
sudo do-release-upgrade -d
note: once Ubuntu 8.04 final is released the -d option will no longer be needed.
At this point it’ll do some checking, verify and update the newer repository and ask you a few questions along the lines of “There is no going back from here, are you sure you want to upgrade?” After that its smooth sailing.
If you do run into any issues during the upgrade please report them against the update-manager-core package in Launchpad.