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I am trying to update my old debian server from jessie to bullseye. But i am running into the problem that both sysvinit-utils and initscripts override /lib/init/vars.sh.

Preparing to unpack .../sysvinit-utils_2.96-7+deb11u1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking sysvinit-utils (2.96-7+deb11u1) over (2.88dsf-59) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/sysvinit-utils_2.96-7+deb11u1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/lib/init/vars.sh', which is also in package initscripts 2.88dsf-59
dpkg: considering deconfiguration of sysvinit-utils, which would be broken by installation of util-linux ...
dpkg: no, sysvinit-utils is essential, will not deconfigure
 it in order to enable installation of util-linux
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/util-linux_2.36.1-8+deb11u1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 installing util-linux would break existing software
dpkg: considering deconfiguration of util-linux, which would be broken by installation of login ...
dpkg: no, util-linux is essential, will not deconfigure
 it in order to enable installation of login
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/login_1%3a4.8.1-1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 installing login would break existing software
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/sysvinit-utils_2.96-7+deb11u1_amd64.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/util-linux_2.36.1-8+deb11u1_amd64.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/login_1%3a4.8.1-1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I don't know what they do exactly and I checked if can uninstall one of them but they both seem pretty important:

shylux~ % sudo dpkg -P initscripts
dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of initscripts:
 rpcbind depends on initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3).
 util-linux depends on initscripts.
 rsyslog depends on initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3).
 resolvconf depends on initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-34).
 systemd depends on initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-53.2); however:
  Package initscripts is to be removed.
 openvpn depends on initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3).
 procps depends on initscripts.
 nfs-common depends on initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3); however:
  Package initscripts is to be removed.
 ifupdown depends on initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-25).
 keyboard-configuration depends on initscripts.

dpkg: error processing package initscripts (--purge):
 dependency problems - not removing
Errors were encountered while processing:
 initscripts

shylux~ % sudo dpkg -P sysvinit-utils
dpkg: error processing package sysvinit-utils (--purge):
 this is an essential package; it should not be removed
Errors were encountered while processing:
 sysvinit-utils

Do you have any advise on how to resolve this? Reinstalling the whole server would take quite a while.

Shylux
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2 Answers2

11

You’re trying to skip two releases while upgrading, which is unlikely to work — even skipping a single release isn’t guaranteed to work.

Given the situation you’re in now, you should upgrade to Debian 10 first, and then upgrade to Debian 11. If a direct upgrade to Debian 10 doesn’t work either, upgrade to 9, then 10, then 11. Make sure to also check the release notes for Debian 9, Debian 10 and Debian 11, they list things to watch out for during upgrades.

Stephen Kitt
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1

In my opinion I would not upgrade to Debian 11 as @Stephen Kitt has already written

there may be complications during the upgrade also skipping from one version or first 10 then 11 is not recommended

First of all, it may be that some versions of 9 to 10 or 11 are no longer present in the main contrib but have been moved to main contrib non-free or backports for later secure and easy update and upgrade with via sources.list

If possible, I would perform a new installation with debian 11 and possibly consider a replanning of the server concept And run both parallel and push all the data over and put all services into operation.

for example, outsource the most important services as small microservices possibly with Docker or Kubernetes so that you can update more easily in the future and you do not have a monolithic structure

Z0OM
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