From Linux Mint 17.3 to 18

Linux Mint 18 has been out for the last few months, and I finally found the time to upgrade my computer.

The upgrade

As suggested, I started by using the Mint 18 ISO as a live USB, simply to make sure that every piece of equipment was supported. My biggest concern was my video card (NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT, purchased eight years ago). The Live USB went without a hitch and the nouveau driver perfectly managed the card. However, I did not plan to use it: I had too much issues under Fedora and Linux Mint 17.2. Though it was good to know that, if need be, I could use that driver while shopping for a new video card.

The test with the Live USB being okay, I proceeded with the instructions provided by the Linux Mint team. Starting with the "take a backup." That step is often overlooked, but I really recommend it, especially that a TB external hard drive costs less than 100€. As a matter of fact, I have the habit of taking a weekly backup - usually on Friday evening, and whenever I import pictures from my camera. 

The check phase went fine, then the download - which I let run overnight. In the morning, I only had to go for the mintupgrade upgrade command, which performs the actual upgrade.

There, things were a bit less clear cut: several errors and tracebacks appeared related to mono, but it seems okay and can be ignored. However, when the process finished, several packages were reported has not being upgraded due to errors. I reran the upgrade process and the same result appeared. Here are the packages that were not updated:

• cron
• cups-browsed
• cups-daemon
• samba
• rsyslog
• ubuntu-minimal
• irqbalance
• acpid
• avahi-daemon
• avahi-utils
• bluez
• bluetooth
• cups-core-drivers
• cups
• printer-driver-hpcups
• hplip
• printer-driver-postscript-hp
• bluez-cups
• gnome-bluetooth
• gnome-user-share
• libnss-mdns:amd64
• nvidia-340
• nvidia-340-uvm
• printer-driver-gutenprint
• printer-driver-splix
• pulseaudio-module-bluetooth

Looking at the messages, it was pretty much the same for each: either the service could not be/was not restarted and the dpkg --configure failed (for example bluez), or the package depended on such a package (for example bluetooth). I manually ran the corresponding service xx stop / dpkg --configure and everything went fine.

Lastly, when I restarted, I had an issue when I logged in, with the following error message, before disconnecting me.

GLib-CRITICAL: g_key_file_free: assertion 'key_file != NULL' failed

After a few searches, it seems this is a known issue, and a "sudo apt-get purge cinnamon nemo && sudo apt-get install cinnamon" at the console later, I was back in business.

The first half-day

So far, so good. After the first restart, I reapplied the intel-microcode proprietary driver, and I re-added all my repositories and PPA (Google Chrome, Julia, Sagemath and Darktable), which were lost during the upgrade. This is not a major issue, and this was quickly corrected, but a minor annoyance, especially if you have a lot of PPAs and repositories. There is also a pro in not porting over the PPAs: some of the applications may be linked against the older versions of the libraries and might not work anymore after the upgrade, possibly resulting in broken dependencies and other errors.

I had to reboot once, to apply both the microcode driver, but also a kernel update that popped up and was not taken during the upgrade process. Not too bad.

Visually, this version is very clear, and the Mint-X theme is very readable. It is pleasant and easy on the eyes, and while this is something that never struck me as an issue with the 17.3, going to 18 makes a ton of difference.

During my first use, I was surprised: the active application appears highlighted in green in the task bar, which I thought was to request the user's attention. After a minute or so, I got used to it.

From a performance standpoint, I feel it is about the same as my previous Linux Mint 17.3 install. However, my machine is about eight years old and probably not the snappiest thing on earth. 

The aim of my upgrading was to be able to install some more recent applications, especially Julia and Jupyter. For the former, I opted to re-install the PPA instead. For Jupyter, unfortunately, still nothing in the official package. PIP install it is then.

Overall

Everything considered, I am very pleased: while there were a few hiccups, the upgrade went without any major issues and the few kinks I had after reboot were easily fixed. This new version is way clearer and visually easier on the eyes.

The upgrade process is still a bit too chaotic, and the hiccups along the way can be issues for people new to Linux. It is to be noted that upgrading a live system is not the way recommended by the Mint team, which favors using a fresh install. 

Upgrade to Linux Fedora 17

Fedora 17 was released on May 29, 2012. As a regular user of Fedora Linux since version 12 (after a long past with Redhat until version 6.2, followed by a trip to FreeBSD, Debian and Ubuntu), I try to stay abreast of the new versions.

My computer is nothing extravagant, neither bleeding edge nor old crap: it is a decent quad core, with 8GB of RAM, an Asus Motherboard purchased in 2008 and a NVIDIA GeForce 9600 video card. Concerning this last item, I know this forces me to either use the buggy nouveau driver (nv) or use the binary installer provided by NVIDIA.

So I decided to upgrade my Fedora 16 to a shiny new 17. Looking at the support forums, I found that there is a method called preupgrade to perform an upgrade without downloading and burning a media. So I decided to give it a shot.

Unfortunately, I missed the not so fine prints: my /boot partition is around 128MB, and after spending almost an afternoon downloading all the packages, the installer told me that unfortunately, there are things that are not supposed to be. In this case, using preupgrade. DVD it is, downloaded and burned.

The first issue is related to my video card. From a few pages and messages found on Google, it seems that the nv driver shipped with the install has a few issues. Mine is that my screen goes completely dark and nothing reacts short of a hard power off. The solution is quite easy: chose to edit the boot line and add "xmode=vesa nomodeset". This will force a compatible mode to be selected, with the detriment that the screen are larger than the display and will scroll.

For the quick and observant, two error messages flashes: the first one concerning the floppy - the installer loads the module but I do not have a floppy drive anymore, and the second one that I can't even read. Not important and the installer boots just fine.

The install (1422 packages in my case) seems to stall with SELinux. On my machine, it took about 10 minutes to go through that package, during which restorecon was using 100% of a core. Going from one virtual terminal to another gives you some information, the 2nd VT even gives you a shell. But if you do that, your upgrade screen will be completely white, except for the mouse pointer. Passed SELinux, the install continues at a decent rate and goes to the reboot. There, I was a bit surprised as the installer did not eject the DVD. Also, there was no offer to add a repository to do all the upgrades during the install phase.

First boot, the Fedora logo fills and ... nothing. It hangs. Pressing num lock shows that the machine is not frozen, but nothing seems to happen. So reboot and edit of the boot line: at the "linux" line, I removed the "quiet" and added "single" to force Linux to stop at runlevel 1. As soon as the Fedora Logo appeared, I also pressed ESC to continue seeing the messages. It boots OK and drops me at a shell. It, however, took a very long time with a message informing that the lp module was loaded, but no device was found. I do not know if that module is the actual cause of the temporary freeze or if the next module is.  Let's head for runlevel 3, to compile a new NVIDIA driver and do some upgrades.

The NVIDIA script died as the version used to compile the kernel (4.6) is different from the installed version (4.7). Surprising. So, I decided to upgrade the whole system.

The first "yum update" failed with "Cannot retrieve metalink for repository", which I solved using "yum makecache". The following "yum update" succeeded, with the minor exception of a timeout while trying to retrieve the information from a mirror hosted at the Princeton University. But boy! The upgrade totals 1048 packages summing 1.8GB! I accept and look at the first messages. After a while, this gets old and I decide to leave the machine alone. My alarm clock is set to ring in two hours, approximately the time needed to transfer the upgrades.

Two hours later, back to the computer. It displays an invite asking whether I want to accept the PGP key using in two repositories. Okay, that's good. From there, two things:

• Several packages are marked as duplicate of the same version ... for Fedora 16!
• Several packages failed the install due to a missing required: xserver-abi(videodrv-11) >= ('0','0',None) (This is an actual bug)

A quick rpm -qa tells me that almost half of my packages are actually Fedora 16 (2251 packages installed, of which 1456 packages are marked as Fedora 17). Worse, I also found packages belonging to Fedora 15, 14, 13, 12 and even 11!

To try to go further, I followed the instructions in the bug report before trying another "yum update".  Of course, one of the instructions nukes the package cache, which means that all the packages need to be downloaded ... again!

Time for desperate measures.

*** Warning - I this can completely ruin your install  - Don't do it unless you know exactly what you are doing ***

There are two types of issues here -

• Duplicate packages between FC17 and a previous release
• Missing dependencies for a package from a previous release

The duplicates packages is the easiest: rpm -e --nodeps <complete package name>. This removes the packages.

For the missing dependencies, I found that installing the package (without the version) works fine in most of the cases: yum install <package>. For a few package, I had to remove the package first, then add it.

I ended with "yum update" that almost worked, except for a few broken dependencies for a few packages. Nothing is critical, so I removed them (yum erase). After the update, I added them back.

Conclusion -

I am still a fan of Fedora, but I must admit that the upgrade to version 17 stinks. If you know what you are doing and have a day to kill, this is for you, otherwise, stick to FC16 and wait for all the bugs to be corrected!



Edit 1 -

After the reboot, I added "single" in the boot line, to drop to runlevel 1. I moved to runlevel 3, stopped a few services using systemctl (powerful tool!), recompiled my nvidia driver. I then issued "init 5" to move to the graphic interface and voila! Fedora 17.

Updates and upgrades

Upgrades and updates: everybody knows them, but ... when it is time to install them. OK, you get the picture.

What's the main difference between an update and an upgrade? An update brings mostly fixes for vulnerablities, an upgrade new features and fixes.

Both are equally important for the fixes: some of these are application improvements, speed or crashes, but others concern security vulnerabilities, bugs that an attacker may use to execute other programs without being suspected.

Many Operating Systems (Windows, Linux, Mac Os X) have a feature to auto check for updates and upgrades. Be aware that it concerns only the operating system itself and usually the applications from the same vendor. Other applications installed may have to be manually updated or upgraded.

For a long time, Microsoft has been providing a way to automatically update its Operating Systems and key applications. In Windows XP - and if you kept the themes - this function lives under "Control Panel" > "Security Center" > "Automatic Updates"

The default setting of "Turn on Automatic Updates" is to download and install the recommended updates every day at 3AM. However, unless you don't really care about your power consumption, at that time your computer will be off.

I usually edit these settings, accessible at the bottom of the same window under "Automatic Updates". and change them to "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them." As soon as new updates  are available, your computer will notify you with the "little yellow shield."

 As I said, this will install the recommended updates, not all the updates. There are two additional types of updates available from Microsoft: "optional updates", which don't fix anything critical, and "hardware updates", which improve the hardware support and correct driver issues.

These are available through the website "Windows Updates", operated by Microsoft. In IE, go to "Tools" and click on "Windows Updates."

At the screen offering to chose "Express" or "Custom", select "Custom". For each category, you may click on "select all". However, from time to time, you may have to choose between certain patches: for instance you cannot install in the same sweep .net framework 4 and .net framework 1.1. In that case, the system will show you what patches need to be installed independently.

Remains the other applications. Most of us have, in addition to Windows and Office, a browser for the non IE users, adobe reader, adobe flash, various players, possibly iTunes and so forth. All the modern applications have an option to check whether you are up-to-date, and this usually lives under "?" -> "About" or "Help" -> "Check for updates".

Windows 7 has a built-in interface you may invoke by typing "windows update" in the search bar in the Start Menu. There, you can select what to upgrade. By clicking on "Check Upgrade", you will start the detection process.

Optional updates are not selected by default. Click on it to select these additional packages.

In all cases, when upgrading, it is important to close all running applications, to avoid losing data should one be closed.

If an update fails, retry after having disabled your AV: from time to time, an AV may stop the installation of system components thus preventing the correct installation of an update.

To do

• Configure the windows automatic updater to download new updates and notify when they are available;
• Go from time to time (once every month or so) and force all the updates, if possible including the optional updates;
• On a regular basis (once every month or so), for all used applications, check if there are updates, either using the built-in mechanism or by visiting the vendor's website.

Happy surfing.