Linode: Upgrading Ubuntu 8.04 LTS to 8.04.2

Ubuntu have recently released an update for their long term service release of 8.04, the updated release is versioned as 8.04.2. According to Ubuntube.net, there are over 200 updates that include security and general bug fixes. Being a LTS update, instead of a distro-upgrade, special care were exercised to ensure maximum compatibility and disturbance of existing systems. I found this to be true as my system ran file after the update.

To update your Linode Ubuntu 8.04 release, or any Ubuntu 8.04 release, first check that you are infact running this release by going to /etc and executing: cat *release You should see output similar to:

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=8.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=hardy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 8.04"
Once you have confirmed you are working with the correct version, type the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
The first command updates your apt-get repository records, the second performs your required upgrade. After the upgrade has completed you should see the output of cat *release as:

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=8.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=hardy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 8.04.2"
The upgrade is now complete. Ideally you should test some websites, especially ones that uses a lot of non-standard packages, to make sure that the upgrade has not negatively impacted them. Although in most cases upgrade issues should be non-existent.