I am at step (2) but now it is asking me about config files, and I do not want to make the wrong choice and break my setup.
Any suggestions for what to do when it asks:
Configuration file X
==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
What would you like to do about it ? Your options are:
Y or I : install the package maintainer's version
N or O : keep your currently-installed version
D : show the differences between the versions
Z : start a shell to examine the situation
The default action is to keep your current version.
Note that I ran sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get dist-upgrade and did not expect to be asked about config files.
Edited to add: I see I already asked about the “noninteractive” option here: Unattended-upgrades vs. DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get upgrade vs. apt-get upgrade -y