Linux Mint’s upcoming upgrade tool makes upgrades a lot easier

The Linux Mint development team has been working on a new upgrade tool for some time. The new tool will greatly simplify upgrades between major versions of Linux distributions for many of its users.

New major versions of Linux Mint are released every two years. Each major version gets three point releases, and updates to any one of the point releases are easy because they don’t require using the command line.

Upgrading to new major versions of Linux Mint is complex because it takes more time and requires using the command line. The new Linux Mint upgrade tool significantly changes the major release upgrade process.

One of the core improvements of the new upgrade tool is that it is fully graphical and does not have to use the command line. Another improvement is the integrated handling of problems detected by the upgrade checker. According to the Linux Mint development team, many problems can be fixed with just one click of the “Fix” button in the user interface.

But there is more:

• The new upgrade tool is fully localized.
• The tool performs further checks to ensure that all prerequisites are met; This includes checking whether there is enough free storage space or whether the device is connected to a power supply.
• Some options are configurable. The team notes that most shouldn’t be skipped, but the option to do so is provided.
• The user’s choice of distribution mirrors is retained and used, provided that the mirrors are “compatible, responsive and up-to-date”.
• Custom repositories and PPAs do not need to be removed. However, it is checked whether they support the new version.
• Orphaned packages can also be kept.

closing words

The new upgrade tool improves the major version upgrade process for many users, especially users who have only recently switched to Linux Mint. The development team plans to release the upgrade tool first for LMDE 4 to LMDE 5 upgrade and later for Linux Mint 20.3 to Linux Mint 21.0 upgrade.

The upgrade tool is currently available as an alpha version. A short beta release cycle is planned before the final release of the new application.

For more details, see the latest blog post on the official Linux Mint blog.

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summary

item name

Linux Mint’s upcoming upgrade tool makes upgrades a lot easier

description

The new Linux Mint upgrade tool greatly improves Linux distribution upgrades to major new releases for many users.

author

Martin Brinkmann

editor

Ghacks technology news

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