Upgrading Debian distributions to latest & sources.list files..

[Rock]

Note : This is for Debian OS distributions only !

Have you ever thought of having the latest packages on your local or remote Debian server ?
Or have you tried to update/upgrade/switch the current, existing OS to the new/different one ?

Read on further to get this done quickly & easily...

The Debian distribution is controlled by /etc/apt/sources.list file. In this file, you need to specify whether you wish to have stable, testing or unstable distribution. Every time you modify this file, you have to run the following command to rebuild the package database reflecting your newest sources.list:

debian:~# apt-get update

Once this is done, if you run the following command, everything on your system will get upgraded to the latest versions.

debian:~# apt-get dist-upgrade

Eg: If you want to switch from stable to testing, just modify the sources.list file, and run the commands..

debian:~# apt-get update
debian:~# apt-get dist-upgrade

OR

debian:~# apt-get update
debian:~# apt-get install aptitude
debian:~# aptitude -f --with-recommends dist-upgrade

Voila ! You've just upgraded to a brand new Debian distribution !

Here's a sample sources.list file you may want to try.. [ more attached below, uncomment them as necessary...]

# official Debian archives
deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free