How to Upgrade from Etch to Lenny

How do I upgrade from Debian Etch to Lenny? The other day, one of our subscribers had asked us just that. Upgrading to a newer version of Debian is actually relatively simple and for the most part, can be done in very short time with just a few quick steps. So if you have Debian Linux installed on your PC and are eager to try out Lenny, go grab yourself a Soda and read on.

Please note that this tutorial assumes that your upgrading from a local hard drive installation of Debian Etch (This wont work on a compressed file-system)

Upgrading from Etch to Lenny:

  1. Open a terminal and type sudo su
  2. Now type cd /etc/apt/ && gedit sources.list
  3. Replace all occurrences of etch with lenny and save the file
  4. Back at the terminal type apt-get update
  5. Once the update has finished type apt-get dist-upgrade (and follow any onscreen instructions)

If all goes well, once finished you should be able to reboot into your new Debian Lenny kernel!