Since Ubuntu 16.04 long term support has been released, I naturally have been wanting to upgrade to it. However, due to one thing or another, it hasn't been going so well. I decided to put this post together so that you don't make the same mistakes I did. Most of these tips I'm going to share with you in this post can be applied to be major upgrade process, although I found them useful when upgrading my Laptop to Ubuntu 16.04.

Make a backup. Seriously. I can't stress this enough. If the upgrade process gets interrupted or any reason, you'll be left with an unstable system - and a restore will be practically your only option.

Personally I use Timeshift to keep snapshots of my operating system files, and the default Déjà Dup backup program to backup my files. That way I can restore my OS to an earlier state without touching my files at all. Similarly, I can search though the history of my files without the clutter of a bunch of system files getting in the way.

Run the upgrader in either screen or tmux. Screen or Tmux let you run commands in a virtual window, and reattach to that window later if you loose your connection unexpectedly. In my case, I managed to lose access to the upgrader script halfway through the upgrade process, forcing me to kill the process and start over.

Make a checklist of things to do / test after the upgrade. Whilst upgrading, you'll find you start building up a long list of things you want to do and test after the upgrade is finished, such as reactivating extra PPAs, or merging config files. I recommend you write them all down somewhere so that you don't forget something.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. What upgrade are you in the process of doing? Do you have any tips to share? Write a comment below!

Resources

• Backup your system - Ubuntu community wiki
• How to use Linux Screen - Rack aid