Upgrading Ubuntu on my Dell XPS-13-9360

[rudy5]

Hi Friends,

I've been struggling with this for a few years now: I'm stuck on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on my laptop, must have missed the last-chance-to-upgrade window a few years ago, but can't do it.

I've searched the web, incl. this forum, & went down numerous rabbit holes before encountering a new obstacle, usually, the " .. . now THIS will happen, and then you .. ." didn't match what was happening on my computer. I'm probably out of my depth.

So .. . I'm wondering if THIS approach might work:

1. Copy the contents of my home directory onto an external medium.

2. Do a fresh install of 24.04. [ Will that be compatible with my slightly older XPS-13? ]

3. Copy the backed up home directory onto the new install.

4. Proceed to cleaning up the problems, anticipated & otherwise, on the new install.

Am I insane? Is there a better way?

--- Rudy

[Dennis N]

It may still upgrade without needing a new OS installation. On my 18.04 LTS, I get an offer to upgrade:

dmn@Tyana:~$ do-release-upgrade -c
Checking for a new Ubuntu release
New release '20.04.6 LTS' available.
Run 'do-release-upgrade' to upgrade to it.

Run the same command as above, and do you get the same message? If so, try the command suggested in the output with sudo and see if it works.

Note: I am running an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with Ubuntu Pro support, which lasts until 2028. I have no plans to upgrade. That is another option.

[rudy5]

Thanks, Dennis. Entering the command you suggested, I got "New release 20.04.05 is available," but when I ran do-release-upgrade, this error message was generated:

"Please install all available updates for your release before upgrading."

Suggestion?

[rudy5]

I should have mentioned that the path of installing available updates led down another series of rabbit holes, generating such error messages as:

"Error: Broken Count >0. This usually means that your installed packages have unmet dependencies." and

"xxx is configured multiple times." and

"The package system is broken." and

"Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend" and (running apt-get install -f)

"Unable to fetch, try running apt-get or apt-get --fix-missing" and (running sudo do-release-upgrade -c, & finding 20.04.05 LTS on a repository)

"Run do-release upgrade to upgrade to it" (which I do, and which generates)

"Please install all available updates for your release before upgrading."

Sounds like my old install is messy, & in fact so messy it can't be upgraded .. .? Anyway, I'm trying to cut across all this trial and error that keeps bringing me back to the Universal Error Message 000000001 : "**** ain't working."

So back to my original question in this thread: Can I leave this Groundhog Day troubleshooting behind, save my data as described, and do a fresh Linux install?

[rudy5]

Well, I'm gonna try it anyway. Wish me luck.

I have been using Linux systems continuously since 2004 (home) / 2005 (work), and have almost all my data, including e-mail history, saved. I want to stay on that path. But my formerly bullet-proof Ubuntu installs (since ca 2008) have become more unstable since 2018, and various websites and streaming services I would like to subscribe to aren't working.

My hesitation is that I tried this approach on my work Ubuntu machine, and now the upgrade path on that one is (differently) bricked!

[rudy5]

I've now spend the last 4 days struggling to implement this plan, which is to do a completely fresh install of Ubuntu 24.04 on this Dell XPS-13-9360. I would like however to be able to keep my data.

True or false: I can copy my entire HOME folder to an external drive; install the new OS; copy my saved HOME folder onto the new installation; and have my historical data. Yes? No?

A critical piece of data that I would very much like to keep is my e-mail history. In the past, I've been able to copy my Thunderbird profile onto an external drive, and copy that profile onto a new instance of Thunderbird. However, I can't seem to do that this time, for the following reason:

Unable to copy the profile folder. Instead, an error message: "Error while copying "lock" "
- Filesystem does not support symbolic links.

Neither dragging & dropping; cut-and-paste to the external drive; nor the command line cp command is able to copy my files.

What am I looking at here? I'd rather not have to throw away 13 years of e-mail history.

My Thunderbird is version 91.5.0. It lacks an export filter. I am not able to upgrade my Thunderbird to a version that does. This is one of the reasons I'd like to get off this broken 18.04 install.

[oldfred]

New installs now use snaps for Firefox & Thunderbird.
I uninstall snaps & install the .debs. Then structure is same as it was.
Often a lock is from system being open, or shutdown incorrectly when open so lock file still there.

You also have to reset priorities as shown or it will reinstall the Firefox or Thunderbird snap. 22.04 instructions same for 24.04
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/...t-ubuntu-22-04
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/08/...n-ubuntu-24-04

apt info thunderbird
https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php...b-ubuntu-2404/
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1280...uninstall-snap

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1399...p-in-ubuntu-22

[rudy5]

Thanks. oldfred. I've now looked at the links you provided. They are all about upgrading Thunderbird *on* 22.04. But I'm not on 22.04, I'm running 18.04. I don't know what snap is, I don't know what DEB is, I don't know what the difference is, and I don't know what the effect on my over-all installation is if I change the upgrade method. It also feels like an overly complicated way of dealing with this problem, which at this point is just an obstacle that I'm more interested in MOVING PAST, than I am in understanding & repairing.

Is it possible to

(a) make a copy of my home directory to an external drive;
(b) install a fresh instance of 22.04; and
(c) copy my saved home directly back onto the hard drive?

[oldfred]

Backup should include /home, list of installed apps to make it easier to reinstall any you have added, and perhaps /etc, if you have modified any system files. I edit grub, but copy into /home so that is backed up & easily restored.
If you installed any server type apps like database, web etc, you need to back those up separately.

Backup should be a regular process and to multiple places.
discussion of alternatives/strategy backups
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2465713
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2368992[[://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2368992&p=13677224#post13677224|& p=13677224#post13677224]]
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BackupYourSystem &
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ca...BackupRecovery


.deb is the standard was an app is distributed for Debian based systems like Ubuntu.
But Ubuntu now also uses snaps for some apps and is converting more to snaps with every release.

Older but has some info on snaps
https://itsfoss.com/use-snap-packages-ubuntu-16-04/

[rudy5]

Hi Oldfred,

Thank you for your detailed and help-filled response to my question. I am using only a limited number of apps here, & all of them pretty basic / part of the installation (e.g., Libre Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Gimp). Never mod'd any system-level files, nor GRUB, & I don't run any cloud-based stuff. So it should be fairly straightforward, eh?

Wish me luck! Probably won't be until the weekend now before I can block out the time to do this with the proper care &c. And I will report back to the forum.