Error updating 18.04 LTS to 20.04 LTS

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SysRq346

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Hi Everybody!!!!!

Just looking for some guidance, whilst upgrading to 20.04 LTS the other day, the upgrade errored out right near the end, whilst applying the updates, this has resulted in some rather annoying errors;

networking is down and cannot be bought up, so cannot try to fix the broken packages to resume the install. cannot open any folders, to copy files off HDD so can clean install it and be done with this crap, well over its sh!t.

libnettle6, libcups are some of the dependencies its wigging out on...

I cant even copy outputs from terminal to show where its having a bad day, its that messed up

I can open firefox, UXterm, System monitor. and they seem to function properly, besides the lack of network connection.

So my question is; Is there anyway to copy my files out to portable hdd so i can clean install... I have my login and HDD passphrases
 


to clarify you said you can't copy from command line but is command line working ?For instance what does :
Code: 
$ rsync  --help

output ?
 
captain-sensible said:
to clarify you said you can't copy from command line but is command line working ?For instance what does :
Code: 
$ rsync  --help

output ?
Click to expand...
Yeah command line is working, I just cannot copy any of the output and put into text file to upload, won't open anything than what I listed, its becoming very testing!

Yes that generates output, with no errors
 
ok here is an example of copying contents of a directory to an external medium.
in my case an sd card mounted at : /run/media/andrew/extra/

I have a codeigniter4 project called "appstarter" located at :

/var/www/htdocs/
i have just used git clone and then keep up dating but i used rsync


so i :
Code: 
$ cd /var/www/htdocs 
$  rsync appstarter -r  /run/media/andrew/extra/
that gave me :

appstarter
├── PHPMailer
├── README.md
├── app
├── builds
├── composer.json
├── composer.lock
├── env
├── fontawesome
├── gulpfile.js
etc etc
so hopefull you might be able to get most of what you want.

There are other apparoaches ddrescue fsarchiver and i'm sure cli ninja will come up with a lot more
 
Nice input, Andy & G'day @SysRq346 and welcome to linux.org, under extenuating circumstances. :)

0cd7RxV.gif


(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke, stumbles over a bricked hard drive, kicks it out the door - scores bullseye on the stray cat which has been using his lawn as a toilet)

Upgrading from within an existing Distro can be fraught with drama, as you have found.

Brian @Condobloke whom you will likely meet if you stay around - Brian and I had similar difficulties with Linux Mint some years ago, upgrading from 17 to 18.

It seems like a good idea at the time, to be able to carry through with you your personal data and settings, but in the end, it can be better just to back them up and do a fresh install of the upgraded version.

In your case, you say

SysRq346 said:
...been using it for last 7 or so years, smooth sailing til now....
Click to expand...

Had you upgraded to 18.04 from a previous version, and likewise further back?

An idea I find favour with, if you don't mind dualbooting/multibooting for a little while, is that you can carve back some space for a new install, install a clean 20.04 on it, which will take Primary Partition and boot from it in a Grub Menu, and then at your leisure, you can identify and save data from the "carcass" of 18.04 and deploy it as you wish.

Then when the exercise is complete, blow away 18.04 and redeem the space.

Worth a thought or two.

Andy has alluded to the fact that I am a Timeshift nut, which I am.

When you have the new 20.04 in place, it has Timeshift available in its Software Centre.

Any questions you have on Timeshift, you can swing over to my Thread here

https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241/

... and ask away.


Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
G'day Chris,

Reinforcements have arrived! :) Cheers for the welcome, extenuating to say the least :D

It seems like a good idea at the time, to be able to carry through with you your personal data and settings, but in the end, it can be better just to back them up and do a fresh install of the upgraded version.
Click to expand...

Yeah rolled the dice on it and usually comes up trumps, alas this time snake eyes for me!

Had you upgraded to 18.04 from a previous version, and likewise further back?
Click to expand...

Yes I've upgraded over the top of previous builds for the whole time, got 6 or so kernels in the grub list haha, and I had just finished the 18.04 from 16.04 directly before starting the 20.04

if you don't mind dualbooting/multibooting for a little while, is that you can carve back some space for a new install, install a clean 20.04 on it, which will take Primary Partition and boot from it in a Grub Menu, and then at your leisure, you can identify and save data from the "carcass" of 18.04 and deploy it as you wish.
Click to expand...

I did think along these lines last night in my further efforts to work it out, even found most programs open from the search bar, such as VLC and Amarok, tried to drag and drop from their open file dialogs, but it wasn't having a bar of it... I have a run a dual boot with W on the other, so that doesn't faze me adding another to get it sorted, and luckily the linux partition is about 280gb and the current install is only using about 70gb, will fire up some pmagic and get it shrunk to allow the new install along side the old... although it should be mentioned as I haven't already, the home drive is encrypted, not the whole drive thankfully, probably will give Andy's tips a go to just to expand the knowledge and have a back up plan

Oh don't you worry mate Ill be getting Timeshift as soon as this ordeal is over! :D ill be sure to check out the thread mentioned...

Cheers to you and Andy, Ill be around...

Jack
 
Well I'm happy to report, all is sorted!!!

Managed to shrink partition and install fresh copy, tried using rsync and cp to copy over items, some of them did, others wouldn't open as they didn't have permission....

Although I was able to open home directory after a sample of this;

Code: 
sudo ecryptfs-recover-private /media/UUID/home/.ecryptfs/USERNAME/.Private

Everything was there and copied over with a minimum of fuss!

Timeshift is now on the system! haha


Cheers again for the assistance!!!

Jack
 
That's legend, Jack - well done :)

If you get a chance, outside the time spent "playing with the new baby", consider swinging over to

https://www.linux.org/forums/member-introductions.141/

and tell us a bit about yourself and your Linux journey, and meet a few of The Gang, lol.

Enjoy

Wiz
 
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