Update Pack 8

Update libpng12-dev first if it is installed

If you have libpng12-dev installed, you need to update it first before proceeding with the upgrade:

apt install libpng12-dev

ATI legacy users: remove the proprietary legacy drivers before the upgrade

UP8 comes with Xorg 1.14 which is not supported by the proprietary legacy drivers (fglrx-legacy-driver). These drivers will stop working after the upgrade. If you use these drivers, it's recommended to remove them and switch to the opensource driver before proceeding with the upgrade.

The following packages need to be removed, if they are installed:

• amd-opencl-icd-legacy
• fglrx-legacy-atieventsd
• fglrx-legacy-control
• fglrx-legacy-driver
• fglrx-legacy-modules-dkms
• fglrx-legacy-source
• libfglrx-legacy
• libfglrx-legacy-amdxvba1
• libgl1-fglrx-legacy-glx

Cinnamon dependencies

If you are using the Cinnamon edition, make sure to install mint-meta-debian-cinnamon. Some dependencies are not explicit between cinnamon packages and missing components might prevent Cinnamon from working corrently.

apt install mint-meta-debian-cinnamon

APT sources handled by MintSources

After the upgrade to UP8 is complete, APT sources are managed by mintsources.

Run mintsources to generate new APT sources for you in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-packages-repositories.list

mintsources

Remove your existing LMDE sources to avoid warnings about duplicated sources:

sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bk

You can also remove the software-properties-gtk and mint-debian-mirrors packages, which are no longer needed.

apt remove --purge software-properties-gtk mint-debian-mirrors

Note: MintSources is not compatible with "incoming" or "Debian Testing". It assumes you are following the official LMDE sources. If you use "incoming" or "Debian Testing" on top of LMDE, do not use this tool.

Gnome packages no longer required by Cinnamon

The following packages are no longer needed in the Cinnamon edition:

• gnome-session-common
• gnome-utils-common
• gnome-colors-common
• gnome-control-center
• nautilus
• gnome-screensaver
• gnome-sushi
• gnome-session-fallback
• gnome-session-bin
• gnome-session-flashback
• gnome-session-fallback
• gnome-themes
• gnome-user-guide
• gnome-control-center-data
• gnome-wise-icon-theme

Update Pack 7

Update Plymouth first

An older version of Plymouth may break the upgrade due to a bug. To avoid this, update Plymouth itself before proceeding with the upgrade:

apt install plymouth

Update debian-system-adjustments first if you have gnome-control-center installed

A bug in debian-system-adjustments older than 2013.09.12.1 may break the upgrade if you have gnome-control-center installed. That means if you have Cinnamon or Gnome Shell.

To avoid it, update debian-system-adjustments before proceeding with the upgrade:

apt install debian-system-adjustments

Warning: Upgrading the Cinnamon edition breaks the screensaver!

Disable the screensaver prior to upgrading to UP7.

In the Cinnamon edition, cinnamon-screensaver replaces and removes gnome-screensaver. If your screensaver activates itself during the upgrade you could get stuck and become unable to unlock your screen. If that happens, drop to console and kill the gnome-screensaver process.

Gnome Shell

Update Pack 7 provides gjs 1.32 which is needed by Cinnamon. Gnome Shell requires gjs 1.36 so it cannot be installed without forcing gjs to upgrade.

You can install Gnome Shell with the following command. Note that this will remove Cinnamon from your system:

apt install -t testing gnome-shell libgjs0c gjs

MintUpdate

MintUpdate shows the following message when upgrading packages: "WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!"

This is a cosmetic bug upstream in Debian testing: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=719263

Update Pack 6

Multiarch

If you are using the 64-bit edition of LMDE you need to enable multiarch in order for your system to be able to install and run 32-bit packages (some of which are required for Wine, Picasa, Google Earth and a few other applications).

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

Questions asked during the upgrade

• Always choose "keep file" (as opposed to "install new version").
• When asked where to set up Grub, make sure to choose your current grub location (for most people that's /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1 or /dev/sda2)

Update Pack 5

Questions asked during the upgrade

• Always choose "keep file" (as opposed to "install new version").
• When asked where to set up Grub, make sure to choose your current grub location (for most people that's /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1 or /dev/sda2)

New metapackages

If you're running MATE, install mint-meta-debian-mate after the upgrade:

apt install mint-meta-debian-mate

If you're running Cinnamon, install mint-meta-debian-cinnamon after the upgrade:

apt install mint-meta-debian-cinnamon

If you're running Xfce, install mint-meta-debian-xfce after the upgrade:

apt install mint-meta-debian-xfce

Maya backgrounds

If you want to add the Linux Mint 14 backgrounds, install the package mint-backgrounds-maya-extra

apt install mint-backgrounds-maya-extra

Cinnamon theme and background

Make sure you install mint-meta-debian-cinnamon after the upgrade to properly set the default theme for Cinnamon

If your background is black, simply right-click on the desktop and set the background again.

Update Pack 4

Gnome 3

If you're using Gnome please be aware that Update Pack 4 will upgrade your desktop to Gnome 3. If you don't like Gnome 3, you have the following options:

• MATE: Gnome 2 was renamed, forked and is now maintained by a new project called MATE. To install MATE install the "mate-desktop-environment" package.
• Cinnamon: The Linux Mint team developed its own desktop called Cinnamon. It uses the same technologies as Gnome Shell but a similar layout than Gnome 2. To install Cinnamon, install the "cinnamon" package.
• Gnome2-frozen: If you want to keep Gnome 2, you can point your APT sources to "gnome2-frozen" instead of "latest" (by doing so you will basically stay at Update Pack 3).

Update Pack 3

Multimedia and Security repositories

Starting with Update Pack 3, your APT sources should not point to the Security and Multimedia repositories directly, as these are now part of the Linux Mint Update Pack.

In /etc/apt/sources.list, make sure to replace:

• security.debian.org with debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security
• debian-multimedia.org with debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia

If you're running a recent version of the Update Manager (1.0.4 or later), you will see an error in this window if your repositories aren't configured properly.

Gstreamer

The package mint-meta-codecs features an update which should prevent you from experiencing this issue. For information, and in case you are faced with a conflict between gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad and gstreamer0.10-plugins-really-bad, simply remove the gstreamer0.10-plugins-really-bad package. It is maintained by debian-multimedia.org and currently conflicts with the Gstreamer packages maintained by Debian.

nVidia/ATI drivers

Update Pack 3 features the new 3.0 kernel. If you are experiencing issues with the new kernel, you might want to purge and reinstall your drivers. For instance, for the nvidia-glx driver:

apt remove nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-glx

then reboot...

apt install nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-glx

then reboot again...

CUPS Printers

After updating CUPS, if your printers (or the PDF printer) no longer work, simply launch Menu->Administration->Printing, remove and re-add your printers.

Gnome 3

The Linux Mint theme is now compatible with GTK3 and the issue present in Update Pack 2 is solved.

Update Pack 2

MESA and nVidia/ATI drivers

The binary drivers are now compatible with MESA and the issue present in Update Pack 1 is solved.

Gnome 3

Gnome 3 continues to replace Gnome 2 in Debian Testing. This results in some applications not following your chosen GTK theme and looking ugly. In Update Pack 2, if you want to avoid upgrading these applications ignore updates for the following packages:

• gdebi
• gdebi-core
• gnome-terminal
• gnome-terminal-data
• gnome-themes-standard
• gnome-system-monitor

Update Pack 1

MESA and nVidia/ATI drivers

If you are using a binary nVidia/ATI driver, be careful when upgrading MESA packages. If the update requires the removal of your driver, ignore it for now and wait for Update Pack 2 to update MESA. In particular, be cautious with the following package updates:

• libgl1-mesa-dri
• libgl1-mesa-glx
• xserver-xorg-core

Gnome 3

Gnome 3 started to replace Gnome 2 in Debian Testing. This results in some applications not following your chosen GTK theme and looking ugly. In Update Pack 1, if you want to avoid upgrading these applications ignore updates for the following packages:

• gnome-terminal
• gnome-terminal-data
• gnome-themes-standard
• gnome-system-monitor

Firefox

After updating Firefox, if some of your add-ons are not working anymore or if you are missing the Linux Mint search enhancements (which provide links to additional search types above the Google results), you need to clean your Firefox configuration. Make a backup of your bookmarks, close Firefox, and in a terminal type:

mv ~/.mozilla/firefox ~/.firefox-backup

Flash

If Flash doesn't work anymore. Simply open a terminal and type:

sudo update-alternatives --auto libflashplayer.so

Kexec

If you're experiencing problems rebooting your computer, remove the package "kexec-tools".