Is it safe to dist-upgrade?

Support
1

Hello,

First thing I did once I was able to ssh to my freedombox was
# apt-get update
# apt-get dist-upgrade

I did change the app page in Plinth. And probably installed or configured cockpit.
I do not know was else it could have changed.
Was it alright to dist-upgrade ?
should I go on configuring the freedombox or start afresh a new intall ?

Thanks,

Best regards,
Hetgyl

2

It sounds like you figured it out, but you almost never want to run apt-get dist-upgrade.
The common command is “apt-get upgrade” or just “apt upgrade”

You probably didn’t mess anything up. If apt upgrade runs without errors I wouldn’t worry, but also don’t run apt dist-upgrade unless you have a very deliberate reason to do so (like when Debian 11 comes out, if the freedombox/Debian websites say this is necessary.)

3

Hello,

Thanks for your answer.
Maybe I should upgrade my way to upgrade.
I apt-get dist-upgrade on all my debian computers…
Thanks again,

Best regards,

Hetgyl.

4

FreedomBox upgrades the system automatically on a schedule. You usually don’t have to do manual upgrades.

You’d only need a dist-upgrade if upgrading the system from stable to testing or unstable. Please note that upgrade from one stable Debian version to the next will also be handled by FreedomBox.

1 Like
5

my freedombox is stuck on 20.14

the package “freedombox” is being held back.

any way to update the system (autoupdates, etc… enabled but not working)

~$ time sudo apt upgrade
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
Calculating upgrade… Done
The following packages have been kept back:
freedombox
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

6

Can you try this?

sudo apt update
sudo apt install freedombox
7

I was only able to manually upgrade with another workaround: