About LTS, upgrade, dist-upgrade, do-release-upgrade

[darkod]

In any case, why would anyone execute do-release-upgrade just to hit N right after. Makes no point and you can only get into trouble.

As far as I see, the OP questions are already answered. And I definitely wouldn't run do-release-upgrade if I don't want an upgrade, regardless whether you can hit No or not.

[Cavsfan]

In any case, why would anyone execute do-release-upgrade just to hit N right after. Makes no point and you can only get into trouble.

As far as I see, the OP questions are already answered. And I definitely wouldn't run do-release-upgrade if I don't want an upgrade, regardless whether you can hit No or not.

I tried with the -s option:

-s, --sandbox               
      Test upgrade with a sandbox aufs overlay

That did not work. Ibjsb4 tried it on his system and it gave him a Y/N option.
So, I figured that I should get the same results.
But, thanks for the hindsight advice.

[darkod]

I tried with the -s option:
So, I figured that I should get the same results.

I agree. But we all know technology sometimes fails. I try to stick to the basics. If you don't want to upgrade, don't run do-release-upgrade, regardless of -s option, Yes/No questions, etc.

Better safe than sorry.

[ibjsb4]

Well, Im just glad it all worked out for you

Good luck in the future.

[Cavsfan]

I agree. But we all know technology sometimes fails. I try to stick to the basics. If you don't want to upgrade, don't run do-release-upgrade, regardless of -s option, Yes/No questions, etc.

Better safe than sorry.

I totally agree! I guess curiosity got me that time. I had been following this thread as I need to upgrade as well eventually.
Making mistakes is part of the learning process. I guess I can chalk this up to a "learning experience".
Others can also see from my mistake that things don't always work like they should.

Well, I'm just glad it all worked out for you

Good luck in the future.

Thanks! At least it stopped and let me kill the terminal before it became irreversible!

[grahammechanical]

LTS is a special version released every 2 years offering 5 years of support, meaning the won't be any major or structural changes to the packages in the repositories for that release.

This statement is inaccurate. If you look at the LTS release schedule you will see that there are planned upgrades to 12.04 LTS other than security fixes. In fact 12.04 has already had one upgrade and is about to get another.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PrecisePangolin/ReleaseSchedule

Release date: 28th April 2012 Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Release date: 23rd August 2012 Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
Release date: 14th February 2013 Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS
Release date: 15th August 2013 Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS
Release date: 24th January 2014 Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS.

Ubuntu 12.04 is no longer available. We now have Ubuntu 12.04.1 and in a few days we will get 12.04.2.

This will bring a change from the Linux kernel 3.2.0 series currently in Ubuntu 12.04 to Linux kernel 3.5.0 series that is in Ubuntu 12.10. I have tested this ungrade.

Ubuntu 12.04.2 will also change from Grub 1.99 to Grub 2.0. This will change the look of the boot loader menu. There will be sub-menu of Advanced Options that contain those earlier Linux kernels and Recovery Mode.

You most likely will get later versions of application like Libreoffice and Firefox. Ubuntu 13.04 is about to gret Libreoffice 4. It already has Firefox 19. Should LTS users not also benefit from the latest applications?

The promise of five support should not be taken to mean no improvements to the distribution. In fact, we should expect improvements over the five year period.

Work is being done on the Ubuntu mobile phone OS to reduce memory usage. This will benefit the Ubuntu desktop version. In fact these benfits are already coming through.

Memory usage on my machine with 12.04 is about 70% of 1GB but with 13.04 it is about 50% of 1GB. These improvements must be brought into the LTS release for the benefit of all users.

At the moment Ubuntu 12.10 is the only Ubuntu that can install on a secure boot enabled computer. This means that anyone choosing to use LTS cannot install Ubuntu on the newest hardware. Should things stay that way until 14.04 LTS is released? So, expect Ubuntu 12.04 to get the signed kernel that 12.10 has and 13.04 will have.

Also expect 12.04 to get the vastly improved Unity user interface that is now in 13.04 at some point in the future. I would not be surprised if Ubuntu 12.04.04 looks very similar to Ubuntu 13.10.

Regards.

[Cavsfan]

Just an FYI.
I was still getting an error upon entering sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade about a Medibuntu key signature being invalid.

I tried deleting the Medibuntu key and re-adding it but, still the error persisted.

I found an old post with this on it and it fixed my problem:

$ sudo -i
 # apt-get clean
 # cd /var/lib/apt
 # mv lists lists.old
 # mkdir -p lists/partial
 # apt-get clean
 # apt-get update

I just copied the commands one at a time into terminal and viola the error went away.

Earlier I was getting an error on Quantal Quetzal 12.10 trying to update it. It could not connect to the Medibuntu repositories,
which after some time finally connected and thought the problems were related.
But, they were not.

[Cavsfan]

Well, Im just glad it all worked out for you

Good luck in the future.

Well, I seen that the 12.04.2 upgrade was available and so I went for it.
I perhaps jumped the gun when I attempted a "test" the other day as when it requested me to hit enter, it then offered the (y,N) D -details options.

I panicked and killed the terminal when it said press enter to continue.

If I would have continued on until then and then pressed N it probably would have reverted my sources. I don't know.
But, it looks like it went pretty well. I have some work to do. But, I like it.