[plug] Two questions about Debian system and upgrading

[Bret Busby]

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007, Shannon Carver wrote:

> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:47:32 +0900
> From: Shannon Carver <shannon.carver at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: plug at plug.org.au
> To: plug at plug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [plug] Two questions about Debian system and upgrading
> 
> Hi Bret,
>
> Okey, firstly, if you're referencing "Stable" repositories in your
> /etc/apt/sources.list, I'm pretty sure that's the only thing you have to
> change to switch between stable/unstable/testing.  The message you see
> at login prompt will merely be the message stored in /etc/profile, or
> /etc/motd, or /etc/welcome (I can't remember for the life of me where
> it's kept).  It may even be in /etc/defaults/version or something like
> that, a google should provide an answer.
>
> Doing a synaptic update should do everything apart from the latest
> kernel module, you'll have a -kernel or similar in your
> /etc/apt/apt.conf which tells it to ignore kernel updates.  I'm not sure
> how good you are with kernel building, but I'd either be getting the
> kernel sources from kernel.org and building it yourself, or remove the
> -kernel directive from apt sources and attempt to update to the latest
> debian kernel.  I remember installing sarge with an early 2.6.x kernel,
> so you should be able to upgrade straight to that tree, the benefits are
> usually noticeable.
>
> Regards
>
> Shannon
>
> Bret Busby wrote:
>>
>> I am running Debian Linux on my desktop computer, as a workstation.
>>
>> At the login prompt, it says
>> "Debian GNU/Linux testing/unstable".
>>
>> In the /etc/apt/sources.list file, is
>> "
>> deb http://ftp.uwa.edu.au/mirrors/linux/debian/ stable main contrib
>> non-free
>> deb http://ftp.wa.au.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
>>
>> deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
>> ".
>>
>> ls -l shows that the file is as it is, since 2007-01-01.
>>
>> Updates have been performed, using Synaptic.
>>
>> The first question is, how do I convert the system to Debian stable
>> (sarge)? As the sources are from stable, the installed packages should
>> now be mostly packages that would be in the stable version.
>>
>> The second issue relates to the kernel. The kernel version appears to
>> be 2.4.18-bf2.4 .The CPU is a Duron 1100, for which I believe that the
>> installed kernel is not the latest version.
>>
>> Is it possible to update the kernel, without having to build a kernel
>> package? If so, how? I cannot find how to update the kernel, without
>> having to build a kernel package, in any of the documentation. When I
>> previously used Red Hat 7.2 (which was from before Red Hat went like
>> Microsoft), the update facility would update the kernel (although,
>> each time, I would have to manually update the file that pointed to
>> the kernel), but Synaptic won't do it.
>>
>> Thanks in anticipation.
>>
>> --
>> Bret Busby
>> Armadale
>> West Australia
>> ..............
>>
>

Hello, Shannon.

Thank you for your response above.

However....

"
bret:~# cat /etc/apt/apt.conf
cat: /etc/apt/apt.conf: No such file or directory
"
(logged in as root)

Sources file is listed above.

I wouldn't be game to try kernel building - it would be a bit like 
giving a primary school kid a screwdriver and a soldering iron, and 
saying "Now go and rewire that Stealth Bomber" (or, allowing the USA 
president to control the USA military :)  ) - devastating .

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
  you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
   Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
   "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
   A Trilogy In Four Parts",
   written by Douglas Adams,
   published by Pan Books, 1992

....................................................