Upgrades ​

Upgrade can mean different things in different contexts.

If you just want to apply the latest versions of packages to your system, apt will call this upgrade

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

/boot ​

When sudo apt-get upgrade includes a kernel update, sometimes /boot runs out of room

sudo dpkg --list 'linux-image*' | grep ^ii
sudo apt-get remove linux-image-VERSION
sudo apt-get autoremove

#may not be necessary, but harmless
#sudo update-grub

sudo dpkg --list 'linux-image*' | grep ^ii
sudo apt-get remove linux-image-VERSION
sudo apt-get autoremove

#may not be necessary, but harmless
#sudo update-grub

via: http://askubuntu.com/questions/345588/what-is-the-safest-way-to-clean-up-boot-partition

e.g.: sudo apt-get remove linux-image-4.2.0-16-generic

Repair /boot partition ​

Occasionally, cleaning up old kernels can result in a system that won't boot. In that case, boot into a live instance of the OS to repair the system.

https://linuxconfig.org/ubuntu-boot-repair

Tried boot-repair utility

It helped in identifying encrypted partitions to mount

Stale repository ​

Sometimes a source repository for apt changes location. This situation can cause "Software Updater" to report scary messages like "Could not retrieve updates at this time..."

To remove the offending repository, run sudo apt-get update from the command line to see which one fails:

Err:9 http://ppa.launchpad.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu focal Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.85 80]

Err:9 http://ppa.launchpad.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu focal Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.85 80]

Then, to remove it:

sudo add-apt-repository -r http://ppa.launchpad.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu

via

Backup existing system ​

Export settings for Remmina and OBS. After updating the versions, may not be able to use the same configs? (Did not work for Remmina, did not try for OBS)

Move out large media files. Use Disk Analyzer to locate it. e.g.

mv ~/Pictures /media/account/path/to/external/drive

mv ~/Pictures /media/account/path/to/external/drive

Ideally, get rid of any Spotify cached files. These are encrypted and only take up space.

rm -R ~/snap/spotify

rm -R ~/snap/spotify

or

rm -R ~/.config/spotify

rm -R ~/.config/spotify

When backing things up to an external drive, it's better to make a tar file of everything so that permissions are preserved correctly (otherwise scripts get reset as not executable... a hassle) and you don't end up with a large number of inodes getting used on the destination drive.

Close everything first? (e.g. browsers)

tar -zcvf /media/account/externaldrive/ ~/

tar -zcvf /media/account/externaldrive/ ~/

mkdir -p /media/account/T7/out-system/
sudo tar -zcvf /media/account/T7/out-system/20221008-ubuntu-20.04-home-directory.tgz ~/
sudo chown account: /media/account/T7/out-system/20221003-ubuntu-20.04-home-directory.tgz

mkdir -p /media/account/T7/out-system/
sudo tar -zcvf /media/account/T7/out-system/20221008-ubuntu-20.04-home-directory.tgz ~/
sudo chown account: /media/account/T7/out-system/20221003-ubuntu-20.04-home-directory.tgz

Ideally get the system too, especially if wiping an existing system clean. This helps if there are cron configurations, git repos, etc

sudo tar -zcvf /media/account/T7/out-system/20221003-ubuntu-20.04-system.tgz --exclude=/media --exclude=/home/account /
sudo chown account: /media/account/T7/out-system/20221003-ubuntu-20.04-system.tgz

sudo tar -zcvf /media/account/T7/out-system/20221003-ubuntu-20.04-system.tgz --exclude=/media --exclude=/home/account /
sudo chown account: /media/account/T7/out-system/20221003-ubuntu-20.04-system.tgz

Ideally don't make changes to anything if this is a live system.

Creating a bootable USB ​

Download the latest version of the image you want to install:

https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Etcher ​

Balena Etcher is an easy to use utility that works the same on most OSes:

https://www.balena.io/etcher/

usb-creator ​

On Ubuntu, usb-creator-gtk is a built in.
XUbuntu does not run on Gnome, so usb-creator is not available for it.

unetbootin ​

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

sudo apt-get install unetbootin

sudo apt-get install unetbootin

Manual ​

You can make the USB manually:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-xubuntu-804-persistent-install-from-linux/

(see also bootable_usb.txt)

Setting up a new partition layout for a new system ​

See also partitions or general drive notes

I'm always tempted to let the OS decide what scheme to use

Especially for advanced features like an encrypted drive -- sometimes it's challenging to choose the right configuration.

However, it's worth making a few good intentional choices now.

Some things I like to change

• EFI partition
  I've been going with 512MB here -- has been sufficient so far

• A bigger /boot partition
  This can be an ext4 filesystem I know it's important to clean out old kernel images
  But I prefer to have some room to grow here
  Giving 4GB a try. Should be better than the default 768MB.
  Can increase more if problems still crop up.

• Encrypted filesystem
  for portable machines this is more important than for desktops or data drives.
  Create a new partition
  Use the rest of the space
  Choose "physical volume for encryption"
  You'll be prompted to enter your encryption key

Future considerations

• If hibernation is necessary, just use a file based scratch drive. Easier to allocate, and prevents storage from getting allocated in a way that is sub optimal. Swap

• Separate /var ???
  I like this idea in theory -- prevent an ailing service that generates a lot of log files from filling up the main partition.
  /var/lib/docker is also in here -- that can be pretty big too
  The trick is knowing how much space is enough to allocate without tying up space that doesn't get used. 512