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Upgrade Lubuntu 18.04 to 20.04

Asked by Gordon Hay

According to the Lubuntu 20.04 Release Notes at https://lubuntu.me/focal-released, Lubuntu 18.04 cannot be upgraded to 20.04.

But suddenly 18.04 software updater offers an upgrade to 20.04, and (on a test system at least) it appears to work pretty well. Has there been a change of plan at Lubuntu, or is this a glitch?

Also, I have a 32-bit Ubuntu 18.04 Server system which is now offering to upgrade to 20.04. Surely that can't be right, can it - or is there suddenly a 32-bit 20.04 version?

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Bernard Stafford (bernard010) said : 		#1

https://discourse.lubuntu.me/t/how-to-upgrade-from-18-10-to-20-x/1420/2
skipping releases (ie. 18.10 to 20.04) isn’t recommended.
The next alternative is to
    backup all your data & software
    write a Lubuntu 20.04 LTS ISO to media, and install the new system. I’d use Manual Partitioning, selecting your existing partition(s), and ensure you don’t have format ticked.
This is FAR faster and will skip the missed releases. If you don’t format, it’ll note your added packages, wipe system directories, install, add back your additional packages (if available in your new 20.04 release) then ask to reboot. It won’t erase data unless you had ‘format’ checked, but as that’s easily missed, ensure you’ve backed up your data anyway.
Not recommended.. Backup ... Backup ...
Ubuntu Server 18.04 to 20.04 upgrade.
https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/upgrade-introduction
https://ubuntu.com/server/docs

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Gordon Hay (gordon-haywired) said : 		#2

Trying again...

Does Lubuntu now support upgrading from 18.04 to 20.04? Or is the 18.04 Software Updater wrong to propose it?

Since there is no upgrade from 32-bit Ubuntu Server 18.04 to 64-bit Ubuntu Server 20.04, is APT UPDATE wrong to suggest that I run do-release-upgrade?

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Bernard Stafford (bernard010) said : 		#3

"skipping releases (ie. 18.10 to 20.04) isn’t recommended." By Me: I stand corrected because of this:
https://ubuntu.com/blog/how-to-upgrade-from-ubuntu-18-04-lts-to-20-04-lts-today
Lubuntu is a flavor of Ubuntu the instructions should be the same. Backup..Backup..Your files.

Their is no upgrade from any 32bit OS to any 64bit OS at all they are two different architectures. Yes may be an error.

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Gordon Hay (gordon-haywired) said : 		#4

That link refers to Ubuntu, which has always said there'd be an upgrade
from 64-bit 18.04 to 20.04.  My question refers to Lubuntu, which has
hitherto said there would not be an upgrade from 18.04 to 20.04 (because
of the change from LXDE to LXQT).

On 05/10/2020 12:30, Bernard Stafford wrote:
> Your question #693232 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/693232
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Bernard Stafford proposed the following answer:
> "skipping releases (ie. 18.10 to 20.04) isn’t recommended." By Me: I stand corrected because of this:
> https://ubuntu.com/blog/how-to-upgrade-from-ubuntu-18-04-lts-to-20-04-lts-today
> Lubuntu is a flavor of Ubuntu the instructions should be the same. Backup..Backup..Your files.
>
> Their is no upgrade from any 32bit OS to any 64bit OS at all they are
> two different architectures. Yes may be an error.
>

Revision history for this message
Bernard Stafford (bernard010) said : 		#5

My bad I will stick to my original post. Not Recommended : Note, due to the extensive changes required for the shift in desktop environments, the Lubuntu team does not support upgrading from 18.04 or below to any greater release. Doing so will result in a broken system. If you are on 18.04 or below and would like to upgrade, please do a fresh install.
The change in DE does matter. https://lubuntu.me/focal-1-released/

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Bernard Stafford (bernard010) said : 		#6

https://lubuntu.me/downloads/
https://manual.lubuntu.me/stable/

Revision history for this message
Gordon Hay (gordon-haywired) said : 		#7

Again: if Lubuntu does not support upgrading from 18.04 to 20.04, why
does the software updater offer to do that upgrade for me (and BTW it
appears to work fine).  Has there been a change of policy or is this a
glitch?

On 05/10/2020 13:45, Bernard Stafford wrote:
> Your question #693232 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/693232
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Bernard Stafford proposed the following answer:
> My bad I will stick to my original post. Not Recommended : Note, due to the extensive changes required for the shift in desktop environments, the Lubuntu team does not support upgrading from 18.04 or below to any greater release. Doing so will result in a broken system. If you are on 18.04 or below and would like to upgrade, please do a fresh install.
> The change in DE does matter. https://lubuntu.me/focal-1-released/
>

Revision history for this message
Gordon Hay (gordon-haywired) said : 		#8

Yes, I know what the Release Notes say - that's why I'm asking this question....

Revision history for this message
Best Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#12

My guess is that the release upgrader does not check whether it is Ubuntu/Lubuntu/Xubuntu and 32/64bit, but just sees that the packages for a release upgrade are there, and thus tell that you can upgrade.

If you are adventurous enough (and if the test system has worked well), you can try the upgrade, but you do that within your own responsibility. Don't blame anybody else if you run into problems.

And the suggested upgrade on the i386 system (32bit):
Where do you see that message?
This might deserve a bug report (if such report doesn't already exists).

Revision history for this message
Gordon Hay (gordon-haywired) said : 		#13

On Lubuntu 64-bit: what you say makes sense - I'll assume it's a glitch in the software updater, and that I was just lucky that the upgrade worked on my test system,

On Ubuntu Server 32-bit: I saw the message in the output of APT UPDATE/UPGRADE, but only once, and I haven't seen it again. If it reappears, I'll file a bug report.

Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Bernard Stafford (bernard010) said : 		#14

In my virtual box I installed Lubuntu 18.04,5 LXDE installed it, updated it. Upgraded the install to Lubuntu 20.04.
It works fine upgrading took a lengthy 4 hours, 1800 + files to change for the upgrade.