Upgrade to Lithium tut

damo · 2020-08-13 21:45:59

Suggestion for a Helium to Lithium upgrade tutorial...

Upgrading to Bunsenlabs Lithium

Bunsenlabs is built on Debian Stable, and at this time is Lithium(Debian 10 Buster). The Bunsenlabs and Debian repositories provide new programs and upgrading of installed packages. You can upgrade from the old version to the new by changing the sources for packages, and then doing an update/upgrade.

Debian's Buster upgrading page: Upgrades from Debian 9 (stretch)
Debian Handbook's generic advice on upgrading: Upgrading from One Stable Distribution to the Next

As always, it is recommended that you back up your data before doing a major upgrade; and take particular note about checking if you have enough disk space to cope with the upgrade process.

Debian's repos are listed in /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d
The default file for the Bunsenlabs repo is /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunsen.list

1: Update all packages to latest version

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade

2: Edit Bunsenlabs and Debian sources

https://www.bunsenlabs.org/repositories.html has the URLs of the Bunsenlabs repos.

The following procedure requires root privileges.

For updating from Helium to Lithium, change /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunsen.list from:

deb https://pkg.bunsenlabs.org/debian helium main

to

deb https://pkg.bunsenlabs.org/debian lithium main

To edit the Debian repos, edit /etc/apt/sources.list. Depending on which mirror (https://www.debian.org/mirror/list) you use, change the sources from:

deb https://deb.debian.org/debian stretch main contrib non-free
deb https://deb.debian.org/debian stretch-updates main contrib non-free
deb https://deb.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main contrib non-free

to

deb https://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
deb https://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
deb https://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free

If you have enabled Debian backports, then copy /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stretch-backports.list to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-buster-backports.list and change
```
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main contrib non-free
```
to
```
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main contrib non-free
```
And if you have enabled Bunsenlabs backports, also copy /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunsen-stretch-backports.list to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunsen-buster-backports.list and change
```
deb http://pkg.bunsenlabs.org/debian stretch-backports main
```
to
```
deb http://pkg.bunsenlabs.org/debian buster-backports main
```
If you are using third party repos, do not forget to edit them too.

3: Update/upgrade

Run in terminal:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade
$ sudo apt dist-upgrade

For more information on what Lithium provides, see [STABLE RELEASE] Bunsenlabs Lithium Official ISOs. This includes package lists, What's New, and some details of changes to default config files.

4: Post-Upgrade

Logout to the new Login screen. This provides a default X-session, which at this point is still an Openbox session. You can change to the new Bunsenlabs session, which doesn't use your current Openbox configs, from the dropdown at top-right (wrench icon).

The new bl-user-setup script will now check for changed user config files, and offer the choice to update them to new default versions. From 'man bl-user-setup':

...
This script is run non-interactively on a user's first login, and on  subsequent  logins
       to  check  for  new  default configurations in /usr/share/bunsen/skel that may have come
       from a package upgrade.  User set configurations will not be  modified  without  permis‐
       sion.

       It  can also be run manually with custom options....

For configuration of a Lithium Bunsenlabs session, have a look at Getting Started > Introduction to the Bunsenlabs Lithium Desktop. The main changes are that the menu and application keybinds are now set by jgmenu and xbindkeys, and autostart is now ~/.config/bunsen/autostart.

An extract from the Release Announcement:

hhh wrote:

Bunsenlabs Linux is pleased to announce Lithium, the latest release of our Debian stable (currently Buster) derivative. Core components include the Openbox window manager, tint2, a highly configurable panel, and jgmenu, a menu replacement for the Openbox menu, featuring menu auto-updating when new applications are installed and type-to-search for finding apps in the menu.
Some major features of Bunsenlabs Lithium:
New dark default theme, featuring custom-colored Papirus icons.
More modularity and flexibility, eg the BL session can coexist with a default Openbox or XFCE session.
Openbox can be replaced with another window manager but keep BL's autostarted apps, menu and keybinds.
The Bunsenlabs session now uses jgmenu by default, with many new features.
New init-agnostic, simplified bl-exit script.
Many improvements to BLOB themes manager, and conky and tint2 managers.
Improvements to our first-boot 'Welcome!' setup script, newly streamlined and now offering Bluetooth support.
Some default applications have been changed, and new ones added.
Installer now supports Secure Boot.
And many other small tweaks, improvements and bug-fixes. Please see the detailed release notes.
Release Notes
Package Lists

Last edited by damo (2020-08-15 02:50:07)

johnraff · 2020-08-14 00:39:42

Has anyone on the team done this yet? It might bring out any obvious glitches, though I suppose most of the issues/irritations that come up are likely to be specific to each user's setup.

Anyway, agreed let's put this in the tutorial section.
And definitely give credit to rbh (he's doing a lot of work lately).
But I agree with you @damo it might be best to put out a distro-specific guide each time.

Add a link to Debian's Buster release notes?
The upgrading page: https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ … ng.en.html
And the Debian Handbook's generic advice on upgrading: https://debian-handbook.info/browse/sta … grade.html

Last edited by johnraff (2020-08-14 00:49:52)

hhh · 2020-08-14 01:03:42

Looks good at a glance, but I can't test any of it until Saturday.

Leaving it up to you gents for the moment.

johnraff · 2020-08-14 01:19:01

Oh yes, now we have two docs sections, I've got a bit fuzzy on what the difference is between "getting started" and "tutorials"...

Maybe some of the g s topics could move to tuts?

hhh · 2020-08-14 01:42:07

A general forum cleanup for this release is in order.

johnraff · 2020-08-14 02:21:26

^done
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=6893

damo · 2020-08-14 05:03:49

johnraff wrote:

Has anyone on the team done this yet? It might bring out any obvious glitches, though I suppose most of the issues/irritations that come up are likely to be specific to each user's setup.
...

That is what my system is running ATM - changing sources and upgrade/dist-upgrade went without a hitch. But I did an fsarchiver snapshot first!

johnraff · 2020-08-14 06:26:18

^I've just recently started using fsarchiver (thanks to your mentions over the years) and yes, it works pretty well!

Did a great job of transferring my OS to a new ssd drive. All I miss is an "--exclude-from=file" option like rsync's to exclude /dev, /proc and friends without a huge long command line.

Anyway, you didn't need it this time?

damo · 2020-08-14 15:56:42

No, everything went fine. I got into the habit of making a snapshot after previous struggles with nvidia graphics, and the infamous blinking cursor on a black screen. That was down to a particular kernel parameter my hardware seems to need though, and battles with optimus/bumblebee.

I have done this upgrade route several times now, on my hardware.

Can't you use --exclude='pattern' with fsarchiver?

johnraff · 2020-08-14 23:07:02

^atm I'm using this to backup my root filesystem (lvm snapshot in fact):

sudo fsarchiver savefs <options, source, target> -e '/dev/*' -e '/media/*' -e '/mnt/*' -e '/lost+found' -e '/proc/*' -e '/run/*' -e '/sys/*' -e '/tmp/*'

Do you mean all those -e options could be collapsed into a single regex?

(The restored system seems to work fine without copying in the content of all those directories.)

damo · 2020-08-15 03:01:56

^ I've never used exclude, but it seems from the manpage that you are doing what is necessary

I went through the whole process again with a VM install/upgrade, and I've updated the tutorial, and used the default sources file structure (@rbh likes to have everything in sources.list I think). There is nothing left of his generic HowTo now, so I don't see a need for acknowledgement anymore.

Should the backports sources files be copied and edited, as I describe (safer?), or would renaming and editing be OK?

I notice that BL creates the backports files using "deb http://" instead of "deb https://". Is this correct?

damo · 2020-08-17 09:53:03

Any feedback on the updated tutorial?

johnraff · 2020-08-18 06:57:33

^Sorry damo I've been away 3 days, came back to find the band's website was down because of an unannounced config change by my ISP. Had to do some switching around of php include files.

I'll have a look now.

About this:

I notice that BL creates the backports files using "deb http://" instead of "deb https://". Is this correct?

It's supposed to be https. But when I add the backports via bl-welcome that's how it comes out. What I did find, though, was the default BL repo entry in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunsen.list starts with http. That's maybe coming with the iso and needs fixing in the live-build config. Are you sure it's backports where you saw the http?

johnraff · 2020-08-18 07:22:32

Looks great, damo, except for a couple of little things:

damo wrote:

If you have enabled Debian backports, then copy /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stretch-backports.list to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-buster-backports.list and change
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main contrib non-free
to
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main contrib non-free
And if you have enabled Bunsenlabs backports, also copy /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunsen-stretch-backports.list to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunsen-buster-backports.list and change
deb http://pkg.bunsenlabs.org/debian stretch-backports main
to
deb http://pkg.bunsenlabs.org/debian buster-backports main
If you are using third party repos, do not forget to edit them too.

So, yes, let's use https urls for backports too.

4: Post-Upgrade
Logout to the new Login screen. This provides a default X-session, which at this point is still an Openbox session. You can change to the new Bunsenlabs session, which doesn't use your current Openbox configs, from the dropdown at top-right (wrench icon).

In fact, the x-session-manager alternative is set to /usr/bin/bunsenlabs-session OOTB so that will call a BL session too. To get the OB session you have to explicitly choose it from the menu.

Of course users can change (via debian alternatives) x-session-manager to point to /usr/bin/openbox-session if they want. Either way, both BL and OB are available from the LightDM login screen menu. The main difference is if you boot to a CLI and then run startx you'll get whichever X-session has been set as default x-session-manager.

damo · 2020-08-18 13:03:03

Presumably the Helium backports created by bl-welcome contained the "http://" entries, so it will need to be emphasized that it should manually be changed to "https://" when editing the files.

damo wrote:

Logout to the new Login screen. This provides a default X-session, which at this point is still an Openbox session....

This is what I found when upgrading He to Li in a VM.

I'll go through the whole process again to double-check I should also probably try a bare-metal install/upgrade as well

EDIT: I repeated the VM install/upgrade process...

The Helium sources.list and bunsen.list do indeed have "https://";
Backports have "http://"
jgmenu and xbindkeys were both installed during the upgrade, but lxterminal wasn't.
To bring the system up-to-date with Lithium the user would need to install inxi lshw haveged (and anything else I've forgotten), and do the replacements for terminator gnumeric mirage.
To get the default Lithium desktop restore the Li BLOB after the bl-user-setup config updates.

Anything else?

Last edited by damo (2020-08-19 00:32:18)

johnraff · 2020-08-19 06:20:04

Yeah, basically I wasn't thinking enough about the special case of upgrading as opposed to installing from an iso or metapackage.

damo wrote:

Presumably the Helium backports created by bl-welcome contained the "http://" entries, so it will need to be emphasized that it should manually be changed to "https://" when editing the files.

Right. I think that's something that got overlooked in Helium, and there's no mechanism for auto-changing the apt sources when upgrading that I know of.

damo wrote:
Logout to the new Login screen. This provides a default X-session, which at this point is still an Openbox session....
This is what I found when upgrading He to Li in a VM.

I wonder why that is? bunsen-configs should set x-session-manager to /usr/bin/bunsenlabs-session during the package upgrade. It's not desperately important, just a bit of polish. Regardless of what "Default X-session" is set to, BL and OB should both be available on the login menu, and LightDM should remember the choice next time.

I'll go through the whole process again to double-check I should also probably try a bare-metal install/upgrade as well

I think one of my old laptops has a Helium install - I'll try an upgrade there too.

*) jgmenu and xbindkeys were both installed during the upgrade, but lxterminal wasn't.
*) To bring the system up-to-date with Lithium the user would need to install inxi lshw haveged (and anything else I've forgotten), and do the replacements for terminator gnumeric mirage.

These are all apps that are in the default install list but aren't in any package's Depends or Recommends. I'm not sure what the ideal behaviour would be - add all the new apps to some packages' Recommends (eg bunsen-configs)? Just put them in the HOWTO? What do you think most users would want?

*) To get the default Lithium desktop restore the Li BLOB after the bl-user-setup config updates.

Ah, good idea!

Anything else?

I can't think of anything else right now. I guess the tutorial can always be edited later if something comes up?

damo · 2020-08-19 07:21:26

I think the reason that the first time I upgraded I didn't realize that jgmenu wasn't installed, so I assumed that it was still an openbox session. I was more careful the second time and checked that x-session-manager was indeed bunsenlabs, as you said.

I think that it may be best to leave the new apps for users to install themselves, apart from jgmenu and xbindkeys of course, which are pretty fundamental to Lithium. I'll just emphasize it in a step-by-step procedure, and let folk install and set alternatives if they want (I still prefer terminator myself!).

hhh · 2020-08-19 18:16:07

I'm trying to install helium to metal and run the tutorial, but I can't find the archive for the ISO...

https://www.bunsenlabs.org/installation.html

Ah, got it...

http://kelaino.bunsenlabs.org/ddl/

Last edited by hhh (2020-08-19 18:16:32)

hhh · 2020-08-19 19:49:36

Tracking error downloading the 64 bit hybrid ISO via transmission, but it downloaded, transferred and installed perfectly...

Proceeding with the tutorial.

damo · 2020-08-19 20:07:08

hhh wrote:

T...
Proceeding with the tutorial.

Which is still a WIP! I'm uploading a "final" version imminently...

#1 2020-08-13 21:45:59