Upgrading Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid) to 10.04 (Jaunty).

I just ran into an issue where I had an older Ubuntu box running 8.10 which is not an LTS release and wanted to upgrade it.  Since it's no longer supported even doing simple updates wasn't working.  After searching the web a while I found a number of answers that combined allowed me to upgrade.

I found I was getting these errors when doing the "do-release-upgrade"
  Checking for a new ubuntu release 
  Failed Upgrade tool signature 
  Failed Upgrade tool  
  Done downloading extracting 'jaunty.tar.gz' 
  Failed to extract Extracting the upgrade failed. There may be a problem with the network or with the server.

The following information is from numerous sources.  It worked for me, I cannot guarantee it will work for you.  Try not to do the upgrade over SSH as problems can occur.

Note: Ubuntu has an upgrade guide that goes over upgrading older versions here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades?action=show&redirect=IntrepidUpgrades

Add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list and comment out the old entries:

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-security main restricted universe multiverse
# Optional
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-proposed main restricted universe multiverse

Update with the new repositories, and upgrade packages against the intrepid repository:

run 
 "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade"
 "sudo apt-get install update-manager-core"

Fix the meta-release file:
Copy the old file from http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release to a local file to /etc/meta-release.rvg.   Modify /etc/meta-release.rvg so that "archive" is replaced by "old-releases"

Modify /etc/update-manager/meta-release so that it points to the local file rather than the
incorrect URI on the ubuntu site.

[METARELEASE]
URI = file:///etc/meta-release.rvg
URI_LTS = http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release-lts
URI_UNSTABLE_POSTFIX = -development
URI_PROPOSED_POSTFIX = -proposed

run
  "do-release-upgrade"

Reboot when prompted. 

run
 "lsb_release -a" to check the Ubuntu version. 
 
After this the system upgraded to 9.04 just fine.

The next upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10 was  just as simple.

Fix the meta-release file again:
Copy the file from http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release to a local file to /etc/meta-release.rvg over-writing the existing one.  This time edit out all versions listed after Karmic and edit the line "Supported: 0" by replacing 0 by 1 for the Karmic entry only.
Again, edit the  /etc/apt/sources.list and comment out the old entries.  Add these:

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-security main restricted universe multiverse
# Optional
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-proposed main restricted universe multiverse

Update with the new repositories, and upgrade packages against the intrepid repository:

Run

  "sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude safe-upgrade"

Make sure the  /etc/update-manager/meta-release still points to the local file rather than the
incorrect URI on the ubuntu site as previously noted.

Run
  "do-release-upgrade"

Reboot when prompted.
 
Run
 "lsb_release -a" to check the Ubuntu version. You should now see 9.10 Karmic. 

Lastly we upgrade to 10.04.

Fix the meta-release file again:
Copy the file from http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release to a local file to /etc/meta-release.rvg over-writing the existing one.  This time edit out all versions listed after Lucid and edit the line "Supported: 0" by replacing 0 by 1 for the Lucid entry only.
Edite the  /etc/update-manager/meta-release so that it points to the original URI on the ubuntu site.


Again, edit the  /etc/apt/sources.list and comment out the old entries.  Add these:

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-security main restricted universe multiverse
# Optional
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-proposed main restricted universe multiverse

Update with the new repositories, and upgrade packages against the intrepid repository:

Run

  "sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude safe-upgrade"

Run
  "do-release-upgrade -d"  (my system needed the -d or it would'nt update)

Reboot when prompted. The new logon prompt will show "Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS"

You can also run...
 "lsb_release -a" to check the Ubuntu version. You should now see 10.04 LTS Lucid.

In the beginning....

This is a very late entry into the blogosphere.  I've never had much in the way of time to devote to this sort of thing so I've never tried it.  I figure it's time to put down my thoughts and any pertinent references I need quick access to.  Perhaps it might help a few others out along the way.  We'll see how it goes.

In case you're wondering about the name of the blog, I consider myself a "gearhead".  It's more of an insider term that summarizes "geek", "nerd", "techie", etc. all in one.  I've never liked the term "geek".  That's a carnival performer who eats bugs.  Similarly I've never liked "nerd"  since it has a very specific connotation associated with it. "Gearhead" has always seemed more appropriate so the title seemed appropriate.