SDB:System upgrade

tagline: From openSUSE

Tested on openSUSE		Recommended articles		Related articles
	12.3 12.2 12.1 11.4 11.3 11.2		Zypper usage YaST Online Update		YaST Software Management

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Contents 1 Summary 2 Supported scenarios 3 Making sure you are up to date 3.1 Command line 3.1.1 1. Check if the update repository already exists and is enabled. 3.1.2 2. Add update-repository. 3.1.3 3. Update system to the latest packages. 3.2 Graphical tool 4 Running the Upgrade 4.1 Command line 5 Links to other openSUSE or SUSE projects 5.1 The openSUSE Forums

[edit] Summary

This page explains how to run a tool or a series of command line steps to upgrade your system to the latest version of openSUSE.

Doing a live-upgrade has advantages but on the flip-side, there are major disadvantages.

Among the advantages are:

• You only download the packages that need to be upgraded, thus using a lot less bandwidth.
• During the upgrade you can still use your workstation (even if this is not recommended); the only downtime will be the reboot after the upgrade.
• You do not have to use a DVD, nor do you need a DVD writer. (You also could boot from the net or a USB key, and install the rest from the net...)

The disadvantages:

• If for any reason the upgrade is interrupted (e.g: power outages, network disconnect) and the process can't continue, you could be left with a broken system (that depends on where the process stopped of course).
• If you have multiple systems to upgrade, you use bandwidth each time, so it might be better to download an ISO image.

Other possibility: Offline upgrade, aka traditional or DVD upgrade. For more information, read offline upgrade.

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[edit] Supported scenarios

Be aware that in principle, this upgrade process is considered “best effort” only. This means that due to some third-party packages and the myriad of possible configurations, it is possible for some combinations to cause failure upon upgrade.

It is very important that all important data is backed up prior to beginning the upgrade process.

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[edit] Making sure you are up to date

The supported starting point is the last openSUSE release with all current updates applied. This does not include arbitrary openSUSE Build Service repositories you may have added. We recommend that you disable all OBS repositories first, perform the upgrade, then reenable them. The following steps show you how to update your openSUSE distribution to the current packages before upgrading to the next version.

[edit] Command line

[edit] 1. Check if the update repository already exists and is enabled.

Check if http://download.opensuse.org/update/12.2/ (replace 12.2 with your version) exists in one of the URI column values, and Yes in column Enabled, like the example below,

#  | Alias           | Name            | Enabled | Refresh | URI
---+-----------------+-----------------+---------+---------+---------------------------------------
1  | repo-update     | repo-update     | Yes     | Yes     | http://download.opensuse.org/update/12.2/

If column Enabled says No, enable it by issuing this command,

where ‘repo-update’ is the name of the update repository.

If it exists and has been enabled, continue to step 3.

[edit] 2. Add update-repository.

Replace 12.2 above with your current openSUSE version

[edit] 3. Update system to the latest packages.

For more information, read Zypper Usage.

[edit] Graphical tool

See YaST Online Update.

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[edit] Running the Upgrade

The following steps will show you how to upgrade your openSUSE distribution to the following release (eg. 12.2 -> 12.3). As already mentioned, any third party or OBS repositories can cause troubles, so it is recommended to disable or remove them before proceeding.

[edit] Command line

As an example, we will be showing upgrade from 12.2 to 12.3 here:

• Take a look at all repos you have

and remove all third party/OBS repos you no longer need

• Change all remaining repo URLs to the new version of the distribution (needs to be run as root)

• If you are upgrading from 12.1 or older, add non-oss-update repo

• Refresh new repositories (you might be asked to accept new gpg key)

If you haven't removed third party/OBS repositories you may encounter some errors as these repositories may not exist yet or they may have different unguessable URL. It is always recommended to remove them and add their newer version after upgrade.

• Now execute the full distribution upgrade. It is strongly recommended that you run this inside GNU screen or tmux to protect the upgrade process in case anything should go wrong with the X session during the upgrade. Packages for both screen and tmux are available in the main openSUSE repositories. tmux is probably a safer bet, because for example if upgrading from 12.1 to 12.2, you would go from a version of GNU screen which uses FIFO pipes to a version which uses UNIX sockets, and GNU screen has a bug which breaks compatibility between these two approaches, which means that you cannot resume a screen session created in 12.1 using the version of screen from 12.2.

With the above command zypper will download all required packages and install them in heaps. To download all packages in advance, use:

• Search for updated openSUSE 12.3 compatible third-party repositories that you used before if you still need them and add them.

Warning: Use with caution. Using third-party repositories may break your system or cause instabilities.

Or, if you have URL of a .repo file:

• After upgrade, reboot is recommended to start new kernel and newer versions of everything.

[edit] Links to other openSUSE or SUSE projects

[edit] The openSUSE Forums

• Threads tagged with zypper dup or upgrade