We continue with the second installment of LMDE thoroughly. We already saw how to install it step by step, and now it's time to update it to be able to enjoy the latest packages available.
Before starting we must clarify that LMDE is designed to use the repositories of Debian Testing, and we will use the default ones configured in the file sources.list found in / etc / apt /.
I make this clarification, because recently the team of linuxmint, changed some things in the update way LMDE. If you want to know more about the subject, you can get more information for now at this link.
Updating the system.
After install LMDE we must update it because the . Iso which is available so far, it is a build of the month of January and there are many obsolete packages. As I said before, we will use the repositories that come by default and that are configured in / Etc / apt / sources.list.
That file should have the following in it:
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
# deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing / updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing main non-free
To make the update more enjoyable for the novice user, we will do everything through Synaptic, which we execute in the Menu »Package Manager. We already showed how to work with this tool, so if you don't know, you should skip here.
It may not ask for our password to have administration privileges. We will not have to do anything else, just click on the update button to start updating the packages. As is logical, we will have to be connected to the internet.
The time this process takes will depend on our bandwidth. We are not yet installing the new packages, but rather updating the repository indexes. Once it's over, we can see in the Package status, which can be updated.
We just have to select them all and update them. To make a multiple selection, we mark the first one and press Ctrl + A.
But I propose to do something else. Recently LMDE included a new Update Manager that many improvements. What I propose is that, only update with Synaptic, packages related to LMDE.
How do we do this? Very simple, we use the search engine, and we filter the search by name. We put mint in the search field and wait for all the packages they contain to appear mint in her name.
We mark all mint packages to update. Once it's over, we close Synaptic and we open the Update Manager, which is in Menu »All applications» Administration. We wait for you to download the repository indexes once more and update all the packages.
So far the issue of the update. In the next installment we will see how to adjust LMDE to make it work much better.