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Recently a friend asked me if I could help him with his Ubuntu as he faced some weird problems. Looking up his version made me realize he fell a bit out of time a few years ago: He had Ubuntu 13.04

A few updated-commands later I was bombed by "Ign" and "404" errors and had quite a hard time finding useful information how to move that old software into modern times. In most forums it was suggested to just ditch it and just install a fresh Ubuntu. (The problem was solved after the Live-USB suggested to do the whole upgrade)

What should I have done in that situation and why is it so difficult to bring such old systems up to date?

Edit: No, I am not interested in how to upgrade the old Ubuntu. I just want to know why a simple update/upgrade/dist-upgrade command doesn't work any more (If moving to the archive servers it just remains as it is, but a reasonable update is not happening). Why is also do-release-upgrade not doing any useful job?

Qohelet
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  • From the top answer: "The repositories for older releases that are not supported ... get moved to an archive server" – muru Feb 22 '17 at 09:40
  • @muru - no, the problem is solved already (I actually wrote how I did it in my question). There is no need in telling me how to do it – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 10:00
  • Then why do you ask "What should I have done in that situation"? – muru Feb 22 '17 at 10:02
  • Your answer doesn't even solve that question. Moving to the archive servers just made some minor upgrades but didn't clear the way for an upgrade to a new version of Ubuntu – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 10:07
  • do-release-upgrade works fine after you update sources.list to point to the archive. Looks like you messed up that part. – muru Feb 22 '17 at 10:09
  • I "updated" the sources.list from the 13.04 to the archive-server and not much was happening – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 10:48
  • Doesn't look like you did, if you got 404s after that. :shrug:. Show this can be reproduced. – muru Feb 22 '17 at 10:57
  • I didn't get 404 after the change of the sources.list and I haven't claimed that – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 11:04
  • "A few updated-commands later I was bombed by "Ign" and "404"" – muru Feb 22 '17 at 11:04
  • I was just explaining my workflow. But apparently you still haven't figured out what I actually want to know. – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 11:14
  • Nope. All I see are false claims ("your answer doesn't even solve that question"), evasion (no response to my question about why you asked "What should I have done in that situation"), and a continuously changing story. If you want to rant, post elsewhere. AU is not the place for it. – muru Feb 22 '17 at 11:17
  • I would just like to know why it's so difficult to bring an out-dated Ubuntu to a new version. If you wish to impress someone with a psychology/philosophy-degree you're probably not right here – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 11:22
  • What's so difficult about following the accepted answer in http://askubuntu.com/questions/91815/how-to-install-software-or-upgrade-from-an-old-unsupported-release? – muru Feb 22 '17 at 11:23
  • I don't want to know how, I want to know why – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 11:24
  • Why what? I say it isn't difficult. Then how can there be an answer to why it is difficult? – muru Feb 22 '17 at 11:25
  • I want to improve my understanding of this topic and am not in the need of a solution to the problem – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 11:26

1 Answers1

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Why are out-dated Ubuntus so difficult to upgradeecaude

Because old releases are no longer supported. The software gets moved from the repositories to an archive system.

What should I have done in that situation

Easiest method: Re-install and restore a backup for your personal data.

and why is it so difficult to bring such old systems up to date?

Preparation is key here.

It takes my old machine 29 minutes to get re-installed. I have a separate partition for my data and / and /home/ are safe to remove for me so all I need to do during install is mount my data partition.

But it is also better to upgrade a system when it is that time of the year. Stick to LTS systems if you maintain systems for other users since that means upgrading less often than in 6 months.

Rinzwind
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  • Thx for the answer, I got that the releases lack of support but why are even upgrades to a new version of the distro not possible any more?

    But you haven't answered why it's difficult to bring old systems up to date. So far on the internet most were recommending to do the same - just what stops the system from just installing the newest version?

     – Qohelet Feb 22 '17 at 10:11
  • "why it's difficult to bring old systems up to date" I did... "prepare yourself for an upgrade" and it all becomes easy. " just what stops the system from just installing the newest version?" There is no software to update from. All the software got replaced by newer version that require an new base system. So a reinstall. You can mess with your distribution names (change the ubuntu name for the repos but that pulls in a complete system as is bound to need manual fixing problems... easier to do a reinstall :)). – Rinzwind Feb 22 '17 at 13:49