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Upgrading the system from Debian 10 to Debian 11 should not disrupt users’ use of the system, although a reboot is required to upgrade the kernel after the upgrade is complete.
Follow the steps below to upgrade Debian 10 to Debian 11:
Note: Direct upgrade to Debian 11 from versions older than Debian 10 (Buster) is not supported. Check your Debian version by running the following command:
cat /etc/debian_version
Step 1: Backup data (optional)
A full system backup is strongly recommended before upgrading. One of the suitable tools to create a backup is rsync.
If you don’t want to back up everything, the main system contents you should back up are:
/var/lib/dpkg
/var/lib/apt/extended_states
The output of dpkg –get-selections “*”
If you use Aptitude to manage packages /var/lib/aptitude/pkgstates.
home directory and hidden files to prevent system settings from getting messed up.
Step 2: Update packages and repositories
Before updating the packages and repositories, make sure that they are not running or in use so that there are no problems with the packages during the update.
List of all packages by running:
sudo apt-mark showhold | more
If there are no packets in the output, go to the next step. If you see packages in the output, close them with the following command.
sudo apt-mark unhold [package_name]
For [package_name], specify the exact name of the package as shown in the output.
Run the following command to update the system repository:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
Wait for the process to complete..
Step 3: Install the gcc-8-base package.
The gcc-8-base package contains files common to all languages and libraries in the GNU Compiler Suite (GCC). Most systems come with the package already installed, but some users have reported that the installation fails if the package is not installedEnsure that the gcc-8-base package is installed by running:
sudo apt install gcc-8-basev
If the package is already on the system, the command does not make any changes.
Step 4: Update the Sources file with the Bullseye repositories.
The file etc/apt/sources.list is the main configuration file of apt sources. Edit the file as the root user to add the Bullseye repositories to the existing resources and reconfigure the file.
Follow the steps below to update Debian 10:
1- Change the directory to etc/apt:
cd /etc/apt
Open the sources.list file using your favorite text editor. We will use nano:
sudo nano sources.list
Delete existing resources (buster) or disable them by placing a hash sign (#) at the beginning of the line. Then paste the new resources into the file:
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian bullseye-backports main contrib non-free
The file should look like this:
Save the changes and exit the text editor.
Step 5: Update the repository with new sources to update Debian 10
Run the following command to update the system repository with the available Bullseye packages:
sudo apt update
The output shows the number of packages that can be upgraded, including all Debian 11 packages. Go to the next step to upgrade the system.
Step 6: Upgrade the system to Debian 11
Run the following command to upgrade the system to Debian 11 (Bullseye):
sudo apt full-upgrade -y
When prompted to restart packages, use the arrow keys to select Yes and press Enter:
Wait for the upgrade process to complete. Depending on your network speed and device settings, it may take some time.
Step 7: Restart the system
To complete the Debian 10 update and kernel upgrade, restart the system and run:
systemctl reboot
The system will reboot. And the Debian 11 login screen appears:
Step 8: Check the system version.
Check the Debian version after upgrade by running:
cat /etc/debian_version
The output shows that the system has been upgraded to the latest version of Debian 11.6.
Features of Debian 11 Bullseye
Debian 11 comes with over 11,000 new packages, for a total of approximately 60,000 packages in the distribution. Most packages have been updated to the latest version, while some have been removed as they are no longer officially supported.
The official distribution supports the following architectures:
32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (amd64) machines.
64-bit ARM (arm64)
ARM EABI (armel)
ARMv7 (EABI hard floating ABI, armhf)
small MIPS (mipsel)
64-bit MIPS (mips64el)
PowerPC 64-bit (ppc64el)
IBM System z (s390x)
In terms of user interface, Debian 11 offers several applications and desktop environments, including:
GNOME 3.38
KDE Plasma 5.20
LXDE 11
LXQt 0.16
MATE 1.24
Xfce 4.16