Upgrading to Linux Mint 7 Gloria, a How-to Guide
After going through a Release Candidate and a final testing phase, the development of Linux Mint 7, codename Gloria, was finally completed late last month. Now that the stable and final version of Linux Mint 7 is available for download, some of you might be wondering what the easiest way of upgrading from Linux Mint 6, codename Felicia, to Gloria is. Here is a detailed guide, as showcased by Linux Mint Lead Developer, Clem Lefebvre.
Before we move on to the “how to upgrade from Felicia to Gloria” guide, you need to be made aware of one thing: upgrading from one package to another is not exactly a piece of cake. According to Clem Lefebvre, the upgrade path presented below is “tested and works well, but upgrading from one base to another is still very risky, and you should feel lucky if after you’re done, everything works as it used to.” What you are advised to do is perform a fresh install – keep in mind that installing Linux Mint 7 Gloria is “relatively easy,” added Lefebvre.
How to upgrade from Linux Mint 6 Felicia to Linux Mint 7 Gloria
The convenient and easy method (upgrading graphically):
- Open a terminal -> type in “apt update” and “apt install mintupgrader-felicia-main”
- Open mintMenu -> Menu -> Administration -> Upgrade to Linux Mint 7 -> follow the instructions and pick the default options. You must ignore error messages such as GPG and gtk2-engines-aurora.
The safer method (upgrading from the command line):
Open terminal a terminal and type in the commands listed below
- “gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list” (change all “Felicia” and “Intrepid” occurrences to “Gloria” and “Jaunty”, save file, close editor)
- “apt update”
- “apt remove mintassistant”
- “apt install linuxmint-keyring”
- “apt update”
- “apt install mint-info-main” (choose “Y” or “I” to install the package maintainer’s version)
- “apt install mint-meta-main” (choose “Y” or “I” to install the package maintainer’s version)
Repeat the following commands in the terminal until both show that there are no upgrades available:
- “apt upgrade”
- “apt dist-upgrade”
Now type in these commands:
- “apt install mint-meta-main”
- “sudo rm -rf /boot/gfxmenu/default.message”
- “sudo ln -s /boot/gfxmenu/linuxmint.message /boot/gfxmenu/default.message”
And now we get to the last step: Login Window -> click “Local” tab -> select Arc-Wise theme. Repeat this step if you get an error message upon rebooting.
If you want to get GDM to play the default Linux Mint sound: Login window -> Accessibility -> set the sound for “Login screen ready” to “/usr/share/sounds/linuxmint-gdm.wav”.
Warning provided by Clem Lefebvre: “This upgrade path is for the Main Edition only, from a Mint 6 Felicia to a Mint 7 Gloria system. There is no guarantee that it will work for you. In fact this is quite a risky process. If you’re experienced and if you know how to troubleshoot and solve common Linux problems (in particular X11, kernel modules and APT problems) then you’re probably OK. If you’re a novice user we recommend you perform a fresh installation of Linux Mint 7 instead. You should make backups of all your data before upgrading.”
Just to make upgrading a bit more enticing, here are some Linux Mint 7 highlights:
- Based on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
- Linux kernel 2.6.28, X.Org 7.4, GNOME 2.26
- New artwork and new mintWelcome.
- Improved everything: boot speed, mintMenu, mintInstall, mintUpload, mintUpdate
- RTFM is now a command line, a proper one.
- apt version command line; new Inxi command line.
- Xchat instead of Xchat-Gnome.
- mint-info virtual package.
- Firefox comes with Silverlight 1.x support and Moonlight plugin.
- All Mint tools can be launched from the command line; all Mint tools with an “About” dialog show their version number.
- Signed repositories.
- Simplified mintDesktop.
- Support for a total of 37 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese/Br, Portuguese/Pt, Arabic, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Galician, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Norwegian, Japanese, Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovenian, Catalan, Greek, Czech, Slovak, Marathi, Norwegian [nynorsk], Croatian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Hindi, Finnish, Hebrew, Serbian and Belarusian. Basque and Bosnian support is only partial.
If you would like to get Linux Mint 7 Gloria, a download location is available here.
Before we move on to the “how to upgrade from Felicia to Gloria” guide, you need to be made aware of one thing: upgrading from one package to another is not exactly a piece of cake. According to Clem Lefebvre, the upgrade path presented below is “tested and works well, but upgrading from one base to another is still very risky, and you should feel lucky if after you’re done, everything works as it used to.” What you are advised to do is perform a fresh install – keep in mind that installing Linux Mint 7 Gloria is “relatively easy,” added Lefebvre.
How to upgrade from Linux Mint 6 Felicia to Linux Mint 7 Gloria
The convenient and easy method (upgrading graphically):
- Open a terminal -> type in “apt update” and “apt install mintupgrader-felicia-main”
- Open mintMenu -> Menu -> Administration -> Upgrade to Linux Mint 7 -> follow the instructions and pick the default options. You must ignore error messages such as GPG and gtk2-engines-aurora.
The safer method (upgrading from the command line):
Open terminal a terminal and type in the commands listed below
- “gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list” (change all “Felicia” and “Intrepid” occurrences to “Gloria” and “Jaunty”, save file, close editor)
- “apt update”
- “apt remove mintassistant”
- “apt install linuxmint-keyring”
- “apt update”
- “apt install mint-info-main” (choose “Y” or “I” to install the package maintainer’s version)
- “apt install mint-meta-main” (choose “Y” or “I” to install the package maintainer’s version)
Repeat the following commands in the terminal until both show that there are no upgrades available:
- “apt upgrade”
- “apt dist-upgrade”
Now type in these commands:
- “apt install mint-meta-main”
- “sudo rm -rf /boot/gfxmenu/default.message”
- “sudo ln -s /boot/gfxmenu/linuxmint.message /boot/gfxmenu/default.message”
And now we get to the last step: Login Window -> click “Local” tab -> select Arc-Wise theme. Repeat this step if you get an error message upon rebooting.
If you want to get GDM to play the default Linux Mint sound: Login window -> Accessibility -> set the sound for “Login screen ready” to “/usr/share/sounds/linuxmint-gdm.wav”.
Warning provided by Clem Lefebvre: “This upgrade path is for the Main Edition only, from a Mint 6 Felicia to a Mint 7 Gloria system. There is no guarantee that it will work for you. In fact this is quite a risky process. If you’re experienced and if you know how to troubleshoot and solve common Linux problems (in particular X11, kernel modules and APT problems) then you’re probably OK. If you’re a novice user we recommend you perform a fresh installation of Linux Mint 7 instead. You should make backups of all your data before upgrading.”
Just to make upgrading a bit more enticing, here are some Linux Mint 7 highlights:
- Based on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
- Linux kernel 2.6.28, X.Org 7.4, GNOME 2.26
- New artwork and new mintWelcome.
- Improved everything: boot speed, mintMenu, mintInstall, mintUpload, mintUpdate
- RTFM is now a command line, a proper one.
- apt version command line; new Inxi command line.
- Xchat instead of Xchat-Gnome.
- mint-info virtual package.
- Firefox comes with Silverlight 1.x support and Moonlight plugin.
- All Mint tools can be launched from the command line; all Mint tools with an “About” dialog show their version number.
- Signed repositories.
- Simplified mintDesktop.
- Support for a total of 37 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese/Br, Portuguese/Pt, Arabic, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Galician, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Norwegian, Japanese, Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovenian, Catalan, Greek, Czech, Slovak, Marathi, Norwegian [nynorsk], Croatian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Hindi, Finnish, Hebrew, Serbian and Belarusian. Basque and Bosnian support is only partial.
If you would like to get Linux Mint 7 Gloria, a download location is available here.
