Debian 13

To start, read the official release notes.

If your install fits into "vanilla Debian plus maybe a handful of 3rd-party repos", then this guide for a simple upgrade to Debian 13 "trixie" from Debian 12 "bookworm" can be helpful. 3rd-party repos are handled with a find command.

Note upgrade is only supported from Debian 12 to Debian 13. If you are on Debian 11, upgrade to Debian 12 first. Then once on Debian 12, you can upgrade to Debian 13.

This guide is only for the OS itself. Applications are as plentiful as sand on the beach, and they may all require additional steps. Plan for that.

Check free disk space

df -h

5 GiB free is a conservative amount. sudo apt clean and sudo apt autoremove can be used to free some disk space.

On a server with only docker installed, even 1 GiB free was sufficient. Do err on the side of caution here, however.

Identify any 3rd-party repos that may need to be updated. They'll be changed with a find command, below.

ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d

Update current distribution

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade --autoremove -y

If this brought in a new kernel, sudo reboot - otherwise continue

Change repo to trixie, from bookworm.

sudo sed -i 's/bookworm/trixie/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

Change all 3rd-party repos

This assumes the repos have trixie versions. Run sudo apt-get update after the change to trixie to confirm, and deal with any repos that aren't available in trixie.

sudo find /etc/apt/sources.list.d -type f -exec sed -i 's/bookworm/trixie/g' {} \;

Optional: Start a screen session

So that an SSH disconnect doesn't stop your upgrade halfway through, you can run in screen: sudo apt-get install -y screen && screen

Update Debian

For the following, say Yes to restarting services, and keep existing config files when prompted.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade --autoremove -y

And finally, reboot

sudo reboot

Modernize Debian sources

Optional but recommended: Switch to deb822 format for the sources.list. This will write /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.sources

sudo apt modernize-sources

Caveat that trixie-backports might not have a Signed-By on some 3rd-party mirrors. You can fix this by manually setting Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/debian-archive-keyring.gpg in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.sources

Automated by Ansible

Config ansible.cfg:

[defaults]
interpreter_python = /usr/bin/python3

Playbook trixie.yml:

---
- name: Upgrade to Debian trixie
  hosts: all
  serial: 1
  gather_facts: false
  roles:
    - base/upgrade_trixie

Role base/upgrade_trixie/tasks/main.yml:

---
- name: Get distribution version
  setup:
    filter: ansible_distribution*
- name: Skip if not Debian 12
  meta: end_host
  when: ansible_distribution != 'Debian' or ansible_distribution_major_version != '12'
- name: apt clean
  apt:
    clean: yes
  become: yes
- name: Get filesystem facts
  setup:
    filter: ansible_mounts
- name: Fail if free space on / is below 5 GiB
  ansible.builtin.assert:
    that:
      - item.size_available > (5 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024)
    fail_msg: "Free disk space on {{ item.mount }} is below 5 GiB"
  loop: "{{ ansible_mounts }}"
  when: item.mount == "/"
- name: All apt packages up to date
  apt:
    upgrade: dist
    update_cache: yes
  become: yes
- name: apt autoremove
  apt:
    autoremove: yes
  become: yes
- name: apt clean
  apt:
    clean: yes
  become: yes
- name: Check if reboot required
  ansible.builtin.stat:
    path: /run/reboot-required
    get_checksum: no
  register: reboot_required_file
- name: Reboot if required
  ansible.builtin.reboot:
    msg: "Reboot initiated by Ansible"
    connect_timeout: 5
    reboot_timeout: 600
    pre_reboot_delay: 0
    post_reboot_delay: 60
    test_command: whoami
  when: reboot_required_file.stat.exists
  become: true
- name: Switch OS from bookworm to trixie
  ansible.builtin.replace:
    path: /etc/apt/sources.list
    regexp: 'bookworm'
    replace: 'trixie'
  become: yes
- name: Find all 3rd-party repos
  ansible.builtin.find:
    paths: /etc/apt/sources.list.d
    patterns: '*'
    recurse: no
  register: third_party_repos
- name: Switch 3rd-party repos from bookworm to trixie
  ansible.builtin.replace:
    path: "{{ item.path }}"
    regexp: 'bookworm'
    replace: 'trixie'
  loop: "{{ third_party_repos.files }}"
  loop_control:
    label: "{{ item.path }}"
  become: yes 
- name: Use apt to move to trixie
  apt:
    upgrade: dist
    update_cache: yes
  become: yes
- name: Get distribution version
  setup:
    filter: ansible_distribution*
- name: Fail if not Debian 13
  assert:
    that:
      - ansible_distribution_major_version == '13'
    fail_msg: "Upgrade to Debian 13 failed"
- name: apt autoremove
  apt:
    autoremove: yes
  become: yes
- name: apt clean
  apt:
    clean: yes
  become: yes
- name: Reboot on trixie
  ansible.builtin.reboot:
    msg: "Reboot initiated by Ansible"
    connect_timeout: 5
    reboot_timeout: 600
    pre_reboot_delay: 0
    post_reboot_delay: 60
    test_command: whoami
  become: yes
- name: Modernize apt sources
  ansible.builtin.command:
    cmd: apt -y modernize-sources
  become: yes
- name: Pause for 5 minutes for staggered upgrades
  pause:
    minutes: 5

miku/friday.md

Debian 13

Automated by Ansible