Upgrade Pi-Star Buster to Bullseye!
In Place!
Yes, you read that right! You CAN upgrade a working (or new build) image of Pi-Star from its current Debian Buster implementation to a Debian Bullseye implementation in place. But... there's always a butt ... there's no quarantee the upgrade will work in all cases, just because.
-- For experienced Pi-Star/Linux users only! --
Because an in-place upgrade such as this is involved/complicated, this undertaking should not be taken lightly. You need to have a good working knowledge of Linux and the Linux CLI as well as some understanding of how Pi-Star works.
The intended audience here are those who want to get a leg up on the next Debian platform for Pi-Star and are willing to spend the time testing the resulting upgrade, looking for problems and possible solutions, and otherwise contribute feedback and suggestions to make this kind of upgrade a success for everyone.
(You can, of course, simply wait until an official release of Pi-Star/Bullseye is announced, or you can join the crowd at the forefront of the coming changes.)
Presented herein is a BASH script that automates (organizes) the steps involved. It assumes you are working with the lastest Pi-Star version (4.1.6-20220512).
This upgrade was worked out on a Rpi 4B system with a USB drive and direct ethernet connection. Upgrading using a micro-SD should be possible but has not been tested. Wireless over WiFi may be problematic as the process may disconnect as components are replaced/restarted so has not be fully tested.
As always, make a backup - or use a clone - of your system before attempting this upgrade.
Here are the basic steps taken to upgrade from Buster to Bullseye, adapted from the steps given here, but with additions to handle Pi-Star specifically:
< https://ostechnix.com/upgrade-to-debian-11-bullseye-from-debian-10-buster/>
Outline: (Modify boot for generic devices)
Bring the current Buster system up-to-date: sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
Modify the APT source files to point to Bullseye
(Hold back select packages that won't upgrade properly)
Start the transition to Bulleye: sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade --without-new-pkgs
Complete the upgrade: sudo apt full-upgrade
Remove obsolete/unneeded programs: sudo apt autoremove
Install new PHP/FPM 7.4 Modify NGINX config for new PHP
Set up to use current Python (3.9)
Fix non-compliant Pi-Star Python programs
(Upgrade held packages)
Installation:
Start by downloading and placing the BASH script file in the /home/pi-star directory:
rpi-rw
wget 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kn2tod/pistar-bullseye-upgrade/main/Bullseye-Upgrade.sh'
and then execute it:
sudo bash Bullseye-Upgrade.sh [x]
[x] may be any character; omit the argument if you want to see ALL of the messages issued by the APT process.
The installation will take about 25-30 minutes; note that you will be required to respond to various prompts during that time.
At the end, your system should be up and running on Bullseye; check out the dashboard and make sure everything looks ok; reboot to confirm a clean start and check again.
Post-Installation:
The Raspbian system will update as usual with fixes being propogated for Bullseye; updates to Pi-Star (either from a manual update request or via the nightly processing) will break some things with python programs that will require manual intervention:
(tbc)