Updating from Debian 10.5 Buster to 11 Bullsleye on Lenovo thinkpad p53

This is a follow up form the original post and install of Debian 10 here

This wasn't exactly a seamless process and not one which I should have done without properly backing up my laptop first.

Procedure

Updating to most recent Debian 10

I firstly created a backup of /etc, /var/lib/dpkg and /var/lib/apt/extended_states as per the guide here. This was done using tar -cf backup.tar /etc  /var/lib/dpkg  /var/lib/apt/extended_states

Basically, then running apt update followed by apt upgrade.

Upgrading to Debian 11

Firstly, we need to change all /etc/apt/sources.list entries from buster to bullseye and then of course any other sources such as those in /etc/apt/sources.list.d 

Then we are ready and can run apt update 

Any errors should be dealt with at this time, such as errors with keys etc. TBA

I chose to then run apt upgrade perhaps in hindsight this was an oversight and I should have ran apt upgrade --without-new-packages and then apt full-upgrade as this may have contributed to the issues that followed.

Regardless, all seemed to go well, or so I thought...

I rebooted and downloaded and installed the latest NVIDIA drivers as per parent post.

Problems encountered and following steps to resolve

The first problem I ran into and was expected was the display was wrong, blinking and sluggish. Also when running a console, it kept flickering.

I was unable to install the latest kernel headers with sudo apt install linux-headers-$(name -r) as the following error appeared;

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
gsettings-desktop-schemas : Breaks: mutter (< 3.31.4) but 3.30.2-7 is to be installed
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.

Note: The version number shown above may not have been exactly what I got as this was written afterwords.

I removed mutter by apt remove mutter and this seemed to remove quite a lot of other packages, but did then allow me to install the kernel headers sudo apt install linux-headers-$(name -r) and build the NVIDIA driver.

I then again carried out apt update and apt upgrade but noticed that not all packages were upgraded and indeed some notable ones that were previously installed were gone, namely LibreOffice. Curiously, pCloud was also gone and given that this was not (as far as I can remember) originally installed using apt, this was a bit of a mystery. Regardless, I then saw that xfxe4 was available for an update, so updated (might have used my check4updates script actually). I then installed LibreOffice and interestingly vim was also uninstalled, so likewise reinstalled.

I'm expecting that down the line, I'll find others that were removed so hopefully, it will be seamless to reinstall as and when required.

TBA

Extras

Finger Print Reader

To setup fingerprint authentication, see here and here

Essentially this involves installing fprintd, libpam-fprintd "and if you want to test your reader, there is a GUI program" fprint-demo. 

Running fprintd-enroll allows you to register your finger print, fprintd-verify allows you to test it.

Unfortunately, logging out and back in, doesn't prompt or allow for the use of the finger print reader as a means of authentication. I then attempted to use the instructions provided in the second link above.

Essentially running pam-auth-update --enable fprintd

Similarly, this did not seem to enable fingerprint authentication at login.

So, I next thought to change the Display Manager essentially running dpkg-reconfigure lightdm (I was running gdm3), this brings up a dialog allowing you to select any which are installed. I chose lightdm first.

Again, this made no difference, so I decided to login to Gnome classic and enable the fingerprint authentication in there. See here

Essentially SETTINGS>USERS and sure enough there was an option to allow enabling and recording the fingerprint.

Once this was done, I was prompted to use the fingerprint to login from lightdm but it was clunky and not very intuitive, so I decided to switch back to both XFCE and also gdm3. Its worth noting that while doing so when running dpkg-reconfigure gdm3 I was prompted not to enter my sudo password but actually my fingerprint.

Once set back to gdm3 I was prompted to use my fingerprint to authenticate as I had hoped for but it isn't ideal, a bit better than lightdm maybe but I'm not so sure this was worth the hassle. Additionally, I am also prompted to use fingerprint in XFCE when using sudo but not when requested for a password graphically.

Note: To access the Gnome settings in order to add a fingerprint, we can run the Gnome Control Center from the command line within XFCE (instead of logging into Gnome) by running grome-control-center

In closure, gdm3 allows both normal text password input as well as fingerprint scanning. I am assuming that to disable fingerprint scanning as a method of authentication, we could simply run grome-control-center>users and disable it from there. Additionally or alternatively, we could also try pam-auth-update --disable fprintd (both of which are untested at this time).

Bluetooth

TBA