Debian sid is the permanent unstable development version of Debian. It is where the latest versions of programs being considered for inclusion in a Debian release are uploaded and tested. Because it has no official install media, and the few netboot images that are built often don't work, even people who are willing to risk using a development version may have trouble installing it.
Upgrade from Debian Stable
Download and install the stable version of Debian
Open a terminal window or TTY console.
Because this is a major upgrade, you should not attempt this with SSH unless you have physical access to the computer or an alternative method of gaining shell access.
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Use the following commands:sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.oldsudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list.d /etc/apt/sources.list.d.oldsudo mkdir /etc/apt/sources.list.d
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Run the command and add the following: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian sid main contrib non-freedeb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian sid main contrib non-free
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apt will attempt to download new versions of any programs you have installed. You will very likely encounter dependency issues or broken packages, and you’ll need to fix these manually. Sometimes, running and and then again will be enough; other times you may have to remove a package with to make the upgrade progress.
Reboot your computer.
This will load the latest kernel.
Use a cloud image
Download and install balenaEtcher.
It is a free, cross-platform tool for safely writing disk images to USB Flash drives.
Download the “nocloud” image for AMD64.
It is located at http://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/sid/daily/latest/debian-sid-nocloud-amd64-daily.raw
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Click , and select the raw image.
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Choose your Flash drive, and then click “Select.”
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balenaEtcher will begin writing the image to your Flash drive. You may see messages warning that the drive needs to be formatted. This is normal, as Windows doesn’t support most Linux file systems.
Reboot your computer, with your Flash drive plugged in.
You may need to tell your computer to boot from it, by pressing a specific key, or changing the boot order in your BIOS. After Debian finishes booting, log in. The default username is ; there is no password.
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The cloud image doesn’t contain a swap file or partition. Adding one is a good idea if your computer doesn’t have a lot of RAM, as it will prevent Debian from crashing under heavy load. If it is used, it will reduce the lifespan of your Flash drive, though. Use the following commands (as root, or with sudo):fallocate -l 512M /swapfilechmod 600 /swapfilemkswap /swapfileswapon /swapfilesh -c ‘echo /swapfile none swap sw 0 0 >> /etc/fstab’ Be careful when entering the last command. If you enter it incorrectly, you could overwrite your fstab file. If you are at all unsure, edit it with nano instead.
grml-debootstrap
Download a recent Live version of Debian, Ubuntu, or most derivatives.
Write the image to a CD, DVD, or a Flash drive.
You can use balenaEtcher (mentioned previously) to write it to a Flash drive. Windows users can burn ISO images to CD/DVD by right-clicking the ISO image and selecting .
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You may need to press a specific key or change the boot order in UEFI/BIOS setup to use a different boot device.
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You can do this in most desktops by pressing Alt+F2 and entering .
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For distributions based directly on Debian, there should be a in each line (excluding the CD). For Ubuntu-based distributions, there should be a in each line. You can edit this file by entering . When you have made the changes, press Ctrl+O to save, and then Ctrl+X to exit.
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Enter the following commands:sudo apt updatesudo apt install gparted grml-debootstrap
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Enter into your terminal.
Select your hard drive from the menu in the top right-hand corner.
If you booted from a CD/DVD and you only have one hard drive, there should only be one listed. If you booted from a Flash drive, it will be listed as well.
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Click the menu, and select
- If you are using a computer with UEFI, choose gpt as the partition table type
- If you are using a computer with a legacy BIOS, or need to boot in legacy mode on a modern computer, choose msdos as the partition table type.
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You will need to create at least three partitions. For each of these, go to the Partition menu, and select . Adjust the size and type as follows:When you have finished creating the partition layout, click the checkbox.
- A FAT32 partition at the beginning of the drive. 100 MB is sufficient.
- A “linux-swap” partition second. At least 512 MB is a good idea, but you may need more.
- An ext4 partition for the remainder of the drive. You can create additional partitions, but you will have to set them up manually in order for Debian to use them.
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Right-click the FAT32 partition and select . Check the box marked then click .
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You will need to create at least two partitions. For each of these, go to the Partition menu, and select . Adjust the size and type as follows:When you have finished creating the partition layout, click the checkbox.
- A “linux-swap” partition first. At least 512 MB is a good idea, but you may need more.
- An ext4 partition for the remainder of the drive. You can create additional partitions, but you will have to set them up manually in order for Debian to use them.
Write down the partition information.
You will need to know where each type of partition is, so that you can accurately mount it later. For example:/dev/sdX1 fat32/dev/sdX2 swap/dev/sdX3 ext4When you have written everything down, close GParted.
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Enter in your terminal and add to the bottom. You can add other packages here if you know the name. For example, if you want an Xfce desktop, add , , , and .
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In your terminal, enter If you are installing on a computer with a legacy BIOS, you may omit the –efi /dev/sdX# parameter. Enter y or yes when warned about formatting and deleting data.
- -t /dev/sdX# should point to the ext4 partition.
- –efi /dev/sdX# should point to the FAT32 partition
- –grub /dev/sdX should be the drive, without any numbers after it.
- should be what you want the name of the computer to be.
Enter a root password when prompted.
grml-debootstrap will perform a couple more steps, and then announce that it is complete.
Reboot your computer.
Be sure to remove your CD/DVD/Flash drive or change the boot order in your BIOS, so that the hard drive is loaded. You should see the GRUB boot menu appear, and an option to boot Debian.
Tips
- If you have just installed Debian stable, /etc/apt/sources.list.d is likely empty, and you do not need to back up or move it. You will still need to move or edit /etc/apt/sources.list.
- Starting with a minimal stable installation, instead of a full desktop, will decrease the time it takes to update and reduce the number of broken packages. You can install them afterward.
- non-free refers to the lack of source code or right to modify the programs (freedom), not monetary cost.