Upgrade from 14.04 LTS to 20.04 LTS

Question

Clearly time for a big upgrade, but my question is can it be done direct (ie is there a way), or is a better option to cold install from scratch.

And if an upgrade path then what are peoples views on the risk, what is lost (cookies, links etc)

My gut feel is a from-scratch, but upgrade scripts have come a long way so worth a look

Thanks

Solution 1

You can do the upgrade from LTS to LTS Version, I have done it many times on productive servers.

14.04 -> 16.04

sudo apt update && apt upgrade
sudo apt install update-manager-core
sudo do-release-upgrade
reboot
sudo apt update && apt upgrade
sudo apt autoremove

16.04 -> 18.04

sudo apt update && apt upgrade
sudo do-release-upgrade
reboot
sudo apt update && apt upgrade
sudo apt autoremove

18.04 -> 20.04

sudo apt update && apt upgrade
sudo do-release-upgrade
reboot
sudo apt update && apt upgrade
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo apt autoremove

Only thing what you must know that configuration will not change to netplan and systemd-resolver for dns. You have after the upgrade /etc/network/interface and /etc/resolv.conf configuration.

Solution 2

There is no good way to upgrade directly.

There are too many changes. It is very unlikely for an upgrade to be successful.

A new install is the right choice

Comments

[Rinzwind]

Please reinstall. It is easier and less time expensive,

[Nmath]

the question asks specifically "can it be done direct"

[Piezo Pea]

This was nearly directly, solving my need for upgrading 14 -> 20!