The upgrade again, 9.10

The proactive challenge of upgrade from [Kubuntu 8.04 KDE3] to [Kubuntu 9.10 KDE4].

What must be considered?

1. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ 100%
2. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▏SSH keys
3. ▁▃▃▄▅▆ /etc/fstab
4. ▁▃▃▄▅▆ Firefox cookies and keys
5. ▁▃▃▄▅▆ installed development files
6. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ shared nfs
7. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ bookmarks to devices
8. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ restricted drivers
9. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ partition space
10. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ backup
11. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ timing
12. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ configuration files
13. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ .bashrc
14. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ libraries
15. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ versions issues
16. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ ~/bin
17. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ grub configure
18. ▁▃▃▄▅▆▇█▉ cleaning and removing old partitions
19. What else?

I will investigate. Here is a link to TLDP on upgrade ( I didn't use ) . I have upgraded one of the network machines and I suppose the best thing is to get a fully functional backup of everything there running as it is here and then I have a duplicate system complete that mirrors the state of this machine and I can do anything and be safe. I will backup to DVD for critical information and create a thumb drive Linux and a distribution disk for 9.10 Kubuntu and 9.10 Ubuntu so I can just boot to that if grub gets tangled. That is where I will start, a DVD with both ISO versions of Ubuntu and Kubuntu 9.10

Download ISO Ubuntu 9.10 32 bit. It says 690MB and so it will take a while.

Upgrade help.

There is 10.04 available and I am considering what to do there. I think I should at least have a copy of that and a partition where I can test it as it unfolds. I will maintain this post as a place where I report what I encounter and what things that I fail to take into account when the process is done. It is always something I forget.

Wikipedia reference for releases is very informative on what names mean and what to expect. Fewer paper cuts is a good idea. I might as well go Lucid 10.04 with LTS and deal with a few bugs and help out with testing before the official release. I am looking forward to seeing what new features are available with 10.04 as all the utilities I use have new version there and gimp, blender, and others have new tools to use, so I must.

uname -a
cat /etc/issue
lsb_release -a

For the sake of reference the above commands on K/Ubuntu terminal will tell you the kernel information and version name as it is referenced at canonical. In general what you will see is below.

 Sat Jan 16 11:11 AM$ uname -a
Linux username-desktop 2.6.24-24-generic #1 
SMP Fri Sep 18 16:16:18 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux
 Sat Jan 16 02:01 PM$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS \n \l