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Please don't close as "duplicate" because: I know there are very similar questions of fact (see below) but I am considerably less Linux literate and am seeking instructions for my skill level and specific matters of ignorance. Frustration has led to considerable testiness about this :)

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First an observation that may explain my difficulties and frustration: it strikes me as insane to make it impossible to perform an upgrade without first performing all previous updates AND making those updates generally inacessible.

Sitrep & specific ignorances:

  • I know Impish is EOL and that the repositories are ~renamed/moved
  • I have referred to the Ubuntu help linked in referenced questions
  • I was about to try amending the sources.list file but apparently it's read only if I'm not root and I don't even know how to "sudo" an editor to get around that...
    • The alternative of doing sudo sed (per ServerFault) makes me worry about not knowing if I should even do that because I'm too dumb re linux to know what's good and what's not, how do I protect myself in case I make a mistake, etc.
    • Where there are instructions to replace CODENAME does that mean use "IMPISH" - likewise all caps, or "Impish" or just "impish"?
  • and What do I have to do to keep my Cinnamon desktop etc?

Question Can anyone provide instructions or link to such for someone who needs instructions that assume far less Linux knowledge? Better still - is there a script for this??

NB I am pretty technically competent but I don't want to spend the next two days researching this. A script to take care of all of this would be ideal... (and wouldn't it have been nice if that sort of thing were provided at EOL by those who have made the updates unavailable?)

PS The error messages arising from EOL are also completely unhelpful - I have been having internet & VPN issues so the inaccessibility and advice to check my internet connection prevented me from learning quickly that the repositories can't be found because they had been hidden... because I had to restart my who system to eliminate the "internet" connectivity possibility, etc. etc. etc.

Julian Moore
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    Does this answer your question? How to install software or upgrade from an old unsupported release?. I'm sorry, but this is a duplicate. Users are expected to upgrade before EOL. After the EOL date, the release upgrade to the next release becomes unsupported. If, by your own description, you are Linux illiterate, then I suggest that you reinstall a supported release. If you are not able to fix these problems, that is the easiest path forward. – Nmath Aug 08 '22 at 17:48
  • CODENAME is the release name in lowercase. You can see this from the example given: "with CODENAME being your release, e.g. quantal." substitute for 'focal' or 'jammy' or 'impish', whatever – Esther Aug 08 '22 at 17:55
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    You don't seem to understand what error messages are trying to tell you, you haven't figured out how to use a terminal-based text-editor using sudo, and you missed the 3-month long upgrade window. That pattern suggests that you are going to somehow lose your Cinnamon desktop regardless of any help we offer. So back up your data and be prepared for a full reinstall before you begin any attempts to release-upgrade. And better luck in six months when you are perhaps more skilled and experienced. – user535733 Aug 08 '22 at 17:58
  • @Esther - thanks for the clarification – Julian Moore Aug 08 '22 at 20:47
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    @Nmath - I don't recall any warnings that upgrade would be "unsupported"; reinstall does seem easiest. Thx. – Julian Moore Aug 08 '22 at 20:50
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    @user535733 - the error messages are misleading - their intent and their content are mismatched (the connection was good, but the directory didn't exist - it should know the difference), but fair enough... now I know. Thx. – Julian Moore Aug 08 '22 at 20:50
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    There is a new release every six months; one in April and the other in October. On even numbered years, the April release is a major "LTS" release which gets 5 years of support (3 for flavours). The non-LTS releases are "Interim" releases and only have 9 months of support until they reach EOL (end of life). You shouldn't ever allow a release to go past the EOL date because that is the end of support (including support for upgrading to a new release) You need to upgrade every 6-9 months if you use interim releases, or you can use LTS releases and only have to upgrade every 2-5 years. – Nmath Aug 08 '22 at 21:16
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    The system should provide a notification to let you know when a new release is available at which point you should upgrade promptly if you're using an interim release. You can also sign up for the ubuntu-announce mailing list to get an email letting you know about new releases and upcoming EOL dates. Here's an example of one of those emails: announcing the EOL of 21.10. Hope this helps clear up the release and EOL schedule. – Nmath Aug 08 '22 at 21:23
  • Your system does provide a warning; but it's easy to dismiss including with the option to not tell you again (which it does; ie. it doesn't tell you again if you direct it that way). 21.10 tells you it was the 2021-October release; the 9 months pretty easy to calculate from that detail alone (even if you didn't read the release notes which spelled it out clearly), also notices are propagated, eg. https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2022/06/01/ubuntu-21-10-impish-indri-reaches-end-of-life-on-july-14-2022/ (~six weeks before; that goes to ubuntu-news on google; planet ubuntu etc) & again on EOL .. – guiverc Aug 09 '22 at 00:22
  • If you don't want the manual process you're not stuck with, perform the release-upgrade before the EOL is reached, or in the hours/day after it, as extra steps are required after this.. Best is to plan ahead... ie. 21.10 is 2021-October release.. add 9 months & you know it's July 2022 it'll reach EOL. Releases are always on a Thursday, 2nd or 3rd thursday of the month (unless delayed) so at worst with this calculation you'll miss it by a week; go see release notes and you'll see it was 2nd Thursday of month if you need the precise day, or read notes (ML @Nmath suggested is best idea!) – guiverc Aug 09 '22 at 00:26
  • If you note; the fridge notice I provided (there are others for 21.10 too) is really just a nicely formatted copy of the ML announce anyway, subscribing to the fridge will get notices along with a weekly newsletter summarizing news etc. There are many ways you can subscribe to news (same news really), but 21.10 as per prior comment is all you really need in my opinion. All releases are 9 months except LTS; the LTS being the first release on an even year, ie. 18.04, 20.04, 22.04 were LTS releases, next will be 24.04 – guiverc Aug 09 '22 at 00:30
  • Because of the way Ubuntu manages releases and upgrades, it's a really bad idea for casual users to install non-LTS releases (even though that means you're not always installing the latest version). I got a chuckle out of this vague snip from the linked article "with sufficient time provided for users to update". – Brent Bradburn Jan 04 '23 at 22:33

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