[TriLUG] Upgrade Debian 7 to 8

[Alan Porter via TriLUG]

> I've upgraded Debian systems a number of times without issues. 
> Although I haven't done this specific update, I chose to replace most 
> of my older systems for other reasons.

I've also upgraded Debian systems for years using the "edit / 
dist-upgrade" approach, and had good results.  The nice thing about 
Debian packaging is that a release upgrade is no different than an 
incremental upgrade... it's just uses a different list of packages.

However, on the last few Ubuntu upgrades I've done, I used 
"do-release-upgrade", and ran into hiccups because of it.  It tries to 
run as a split client and server, so you can disconnect from it while 
it's upgrading.  And then it runs itself in a screen session, again so 
you can disconnect.  With each release, it seems to be getting a little 
worse.

I wonder what "do-release-upgrade" does, other than just edit and 
dist-upgrade.  I've had better luck running screen/tmux and editing and 
upgrading without their little convenience wrapper.

Alan