Changing from PureOS to Debian

Software PureOS
1

I am wondering if it is possible to switch from PureOS to Debian by just editing my apt/sources.list without reinstalling.

It seems like it could be possible, while keeping a few packages from the purism repo and possibly installing updates manually for those if needed. I notice there are a few packages which are specific to pureos, like purism-power-optimisations and pureos-security-hardening, however they don’t seem to need many updates.

I’m wondering if anyone has tried this by just editing their sources.list?
I want to try it but it just seems like there’s probably something I’m not thinking of that may screw it up. It just seems too easy, but maybe it is?

If anyone has tried this or has any recommendations/reasons it may not work etc. it would be very helpful

Also off topic but is anyone else getting the error “File has unexpected size” when using apt update today? I just realized this and I’m not sure if its a server issue or what.

2

Yes this works. (Changing sources and updating to Debian)
Yes I’ve done it and it works.
No I am not getting that error.

3

Thank you that’s good to hear. I think I’ll go ahead and try it.

Hmm I am definitely confused about this error then. Everything I’ve been looking up says its a server error, but maybe I need to research this more.

I keep getting this whenever I update

E: Failed to fetch https://repo.puri.sm/pureos/dists/amber/main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml.xz File has unexpected size (2578756 != 2578608). Mirror sync in progress?

but maybe it will go away when I switch anyway.

4

I get the exact same error like you.
Maybe something’s broken during switch from amber 8 to amber 9 on the server side? Or was the download somehow interrupted during update process?

E: Failed to fetch https://repo.pureos.net/pureos/dists/amber/main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml.xz File has unexpected size (2578756 != 2578608). Mirror sync in progress? [IP: 138.201.228.45 443]
Hashes of expected file:
- Filesize:2578608 [weak]
- SHA256:bf34998ca170beed1380f307fdf54f5a13f7a80a399b85fc646466097acdfce1
Release file created at: Mon, 30 Sep 2019 13:53:27 +0000

5

It’s possible there is a mirror sync underway.

How are you updating? Are you using the GNOME Software tool? Or the command line?

6

Also, please note that there maybe mirrors that are more local to you which might speed up the downloads. Please see; https://tracker.pureos.net/w/installation_guide/mirrors/

7

I am updating via the command line where i get those errors.

8

For more than 14 hours I get a similar error message on a fresh install of PureOS 9.0 when I do a sudo apt update on the command line… I’ll attach the whole message (sorry it’s German):

Holen:1 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber InRelease [5.784 B]
OK:2 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber-security InRelease
OK:3 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber-updates InRelease
Holen:4 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [2.579 kB]
Fehl:4 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata
  Datei hat eine unerwartete Größe (2578756 != 2578608). Eventuell läuft gerade eine Spiegel-Synchronisierung? [IP: 138.201.228.45 443]
  Hashes of expected file:
   - Filesize:2578608 [weak]
   - SHA256:bf34998ca170beed1380f307fdf54f5a13f7a80a399b85fc646466097acdfce1
  Release file created at: Mon, 30 Sep 2019 13:53:27 +0000
Holen:5 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber/main DEP-11 48x48 Icons [3.714 kB]
Fehl:5 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber/main DEP-11 48x48 Icons
  
Holen:6 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [7.590 kB]
Fehl:6 https://repo.pureos.net/pureos amber/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons
  
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
E: Fehlschlag beim Holen von https://repo.pureos.net/pureos/dists/amber/main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml.xz Datei hat eine unerwartete Größe (2578756 != 2578608). Eventuell läuft gerade eine Spiegel-Synchronisierung? [IP: 138.201.228.45 443]
   Hashes of expected file:
    - Filesize:2578608 [weak]
    - SHA256:bf34998ca170beed1380f307fdf54f5a13f7a80a399b85fc646466097acdfce1
   Release file created at: Mon, 30 Sep 2019 13:53:27 +0000
E: Fehlschlag beim Holen von https://repo.pureos.net/pureos/dists/amber/main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar.gz 
E: Fehlschlag beim Holen von https://repo.pureos.net/pureos/dists/amber/main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar.gz 
E: Einige Indexdateien konnten nicht heruntergeladen werden. Sie wurden ignoriert oder alte an ihrer Stelle benutzt.
9

Going from Debian Bullseye to PureOS Amber is not a good idea. You might be able to do it but the packages in Amber are older than in Bullseye, so you’ll have to downgrade and that can play havoc on low level dependencies like gcc.

Going from Amber to Debian Bullseye (or even Buster) should be fine.

10

I don’t know what changed, but know when updating via the command line I don’t get the above mentioned error anymore. I guess that is good :slight_smile:

11

I managed to make the switch and it is working very well. It was easy to do and went smoothly, thank you for the help.

1 Like
12

I can confirm that. Thanks!

2 Likes
13

The situation a few years later for anybody wanting to give this a try…

I moved to Debian 12 a few days ago and ran into a major problem that could have been a minor thing. In section 5.1.16. Unsupported upgrades from buster fail on libcrypt1 of the release notes, they mention something about libcrypt1 which I didn’t appreciate. By the time you run apt full-upgrade you will run into an error, apt aborts, and you’re left without the ability to sudo or login. I was able to use a netinst image on a stick to boot, open a rescue system, mount the decrypted disk and finally move the libcrypt1 files into the location they needed to be in. So, without testing it, be sure to install libcrypt1 as one of the first things you do before doing the full upgrade. Or open a terminal where you are already logged in with root privileges. Or have a bootable stick with a rescue image ready.
Blog post with all the ups and downs: Upgrading from PureOS to Debian Bookworm