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9. Keeping Your Debian System Up To Date

9.1 How can I upgrade my Debian 0.93 (or earlier) distribution, based on a.out format binaries, to 1.1, based on ELF binaries?

The directory /debian/upgrades contains files needed by users upgrading from Debian 0.93R6 to Debian 1.1. There are two ways to upgrade:

Note that the version of dpkg in this directory has the a.out binary format. The versions of dpkg in the unstable and stable trees have the ELF format.

9.2 How can I keep my Debian system current?

One could simply execute an anonymous ftp call to a Debian archive, then peruse the directories until he finds the desired file, and then fetch it, and finally install it using dpkg. Note that dpkg will install upgrade files in place, even on a running system. Sometimes, a revised package will require the installation of a newly revised version of another package, in which case the installation will fail until/unless the other package is installed.

Many people find this approach much too time-consuming, since the Debian distribution evolves so quickly---typically, a dozen or more new packages are uploaded every week. This number is larger just before a new major release. To deal with this avalanche, many people prefer to use an automated programs. Three different packages are available for this purpose:

All of the above programs can be set up (using the cron facility) to be executed automatically at specific times.

9.3 Must I go into single user mode in order to upgrade a package?

No. Packages can be upgraded in place, even in running systems. The Debian distribution has a start-stop-daemon that is invoked to stop, then restart running process if necessary duing a package upgrade.

9.4 Do I have to keep all those .deb archive files on my disk?

No. If you've downloaded the files to your disk (which isn't absolutely necessary (see dpkg-ftp or dftp), then after you've installed the packages, you can simply rm them from your system.

9.5 How can I keep a log of the packages I added to the system?

dpkg keeps a record of the packages that have been unpacked, configured, removed, and/or purged, but does not (currently) keep a log of terminal activity that occured while a package was being so manipulated. Some users overcome this simply by using tee:

dpkg -iGROEB stable/binary non-free/binary contrib/binary | \
    tee -a > /root/dpkg.log


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