Upgrade openSUSE 10.3 to 11.1 while the system is running using zypper dup

How to upgrade openSUSE 10.3 to openSUSE 11.1 while the system is running.

This document describes the steps necessary to update a running computer with openSUSE 10.3 to openSUSE11.1. You need a working internet connection for this procedure.

So how does it work? The new openSUSE 11.x has the 'zypper dup' (distribution upgrade) option. The version of zypper in openSUSE 10.3 does not have the 'zypper dup' option. We can use this option however, if we first upgrade zypper to the version that does support 'dup'.This method differs from the recommended way of upgrading, which is to boot the PC from the DVD and choose the 'upgrade' option.

Then why is this document written? There are reasons to choose this upgrade method. Possibly the DVD just isn't available. Or, you want to keep your system intact as much as possible, instead of using the official update process with the DVD and all of it's update scripts that might mess up things.......

There are some issues when using this procedure. Take note. There have been some structural changes in package management (zypper, libzypp, rpm, etc.) between versions 10.x and 11.x. Therefore it is not possible to install 11.x rpm's in 10.3 directly. They simply won't unzip, for instance. So it is necessary to upgrade the entire package management system to the version used in openSUSE 11.x first, and when that is done, we can do the rest of the system. However I ran into some (too much dependency) problems going straight to version 11.1, so I upgraded the management stack to 11.0 first, and from there on I went to 11.1. This worked ok.

Here are the steps that worked for me. I can not guarantee that it will work for you. The starting point is a system running openSUSE 10.3, fully up-2-date with the latest patches, so first run 'on-line update' or 'zypper up -t package'. I have included instruction for 32 and 64 bit systems. I tested both.

1. Back up your data.

This is always good advice. Use an external hard disk, an USB stick, or copy the data over the network to another computer or burn it onto a CD/DVD.

2. If you want to be absolutely sure, have the DVD at hand.

This is just in case. If the update fails at a certain point for whatever reason the package management stack might be in a state that you can neither continue nor go back. Then the way to go is: boot from it and choose the upgrade option. This is a good fall-back.

3. Disable the old repositories:

#mv /etc/zypp/repos.d/ /etc/zypp/repos.d.old

4. Delete the repository cache:

#rm /var/cache/zypp/zypp.db

5. Download the RPM from version 11.0:

32 bit:

#rpm -Uhv 'http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/repo/oss/suse/i586/rpm-4.4.2-199.1.i586.rpm' 

64 bit:

#rpm -Uhv 'http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/repo/oss/suse/x86_64/rpm-4.4.2-199.1.x86_64.rpm'

6. Add the main openSUSE 11.0 repository:

#zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/repo/oss openSUSE11.0

7. install the new zypper:

#zypper in zypper

(This was a 50+MB download).

8. Change the repository from 11.0 to 11.1:

#vi /etc/zypp/repos.d/openSUSE11.0.repo
and change all occurrences of 11.0 into 11.1

9. Refresh the cache:

#zypper ref -f

10. Install the zypper from 11.1:

#zypper in zypper

(This was a several MB's download).

11. At his point zypper won't work. We need to manually download some supporting files:

32 bit:

#wget http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/oss/suse/i586/libcurl4-7.19.0-11.1.i586.rpm
#wget http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/oss/suse/i586/libldap-2_4-2-2.4.12-5.3.i586.rpm

64 bit:

#wget http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/oss/suse/x86_64/libcurl4-7.19.0-11.1.x86_64.rpm
#wget http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/oss/suse/x86_64/libldap-2_4-2-2.4.12-5.3.x86_64.rpm

and install these files:

#rpm -Uvh ......

12. At this point zypper should work again. So, if you had Packman and/or 'non-oss' as a repository, add them here:

#zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/non-oss non-oss
#zypper ar http://packman.iu-bremen.de/suse/11.1/ packman

13. When you have arrived here, you can start the actual upgrade: (and get ready for a 1GB+ download)

#zypper ref -f
#zypper dup

14. reboot!

Congratulations! You now have a working openSUSE 11.1 system! If there was an error somewhere in the procedure, and you cannot resolve it, you can always revert to the fall-back routine described earlier using the boot-from-DVD option.

There are some additional steps to do. First,

15. Configure an update repository:

#zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/update/11.1/ updates

Now run:

# zypper up -t package

16. You probably want to install the new KDE4 desktop environment:

goto Yast → Software → Software Management → filter box: select 'Patterns' → check KDE4 Base System and KDE4 Desktop Environment → accept.

17. Add other repositories that are of interest to you: From Yast you can choose: Software Repositories → Add → Community Repositories → next.

That's it. I hope I have helped you upgrading your system to the latest and greatest openSUSE!