Hi. On Sun, Oct 07, 2018 at 09:17:10AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > On 10/07/2018 08:52 AM, Reco wrote: > > Hi. > > > > On Sun, Oct 07, 2018 at 08:14:05AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > > > It was recommended that I update to Buster. > > > I started with Debian 9.1.0 installed from purchased DVD1. > > > [MATE desktop] > > > I edited sources.list to access online repository. > > > I then followed the instructions at > > > [linuxconfig.org/how-to-upgrade-debian-9-stretch-to-debian-10-buster] > > > as it had everything conveniently shown. > > > > That guide misses so crucial details and so barebone that it even feels > > wrong. > > I mean, there's the obligatory "backup your system first"? > > *ROFL* I am a graduate of School of Hard Knocks, Slow Learner division. > I have a system on a flash drive backup. > I have TWO copies of my /home partition.
<Tips hat> > > > I installed stretch to another partition which I'm using now. > > > Is the Buster install repairable? > > > > Depends. I'd start with chrooting into this "another partition" and > > doing like something like this: > > I've never used chroot - I wasn't clear on what happened on current system > and what went on in the system chrooted to. > > Are you saying to boot the "Buster" system and chroot into the known good > Stretch system? No, stay in stretch. 1) Become root. 2) Mount buster installation in, say, /mnt. 3) Classic chroot sequence: mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev chroot /mnt /bin/bash # You're in chroot now # Do not leave until instructed 4) Prevent buster services from running: cat > /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d << EOF echo All rc operations are disabled by policy: \$1 \$2 exit 101 EOF chmod 754 /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d 5) Hard part starts here: dpkg --configure -a apt update apt upgrade -s 6) Cleanup: rm -f /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d exit # You left chroot 7) Finally: umount -l /mnt/proc umount -l /mnt/sys umount -l /mnt/dev umount -l /mnt Reco
