Ubuntu Upgrade Tool Pros and Risks

Ubuntu Upgrade Tool Pros and Risks | Generated by AI

Home 2026.03

Question: Is do-release-upgrade a good tool for upgrading Ubuntu?

Answer:

Based on your log output, you are upgrading to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS “Noble Numbat” from a previous Ubuntu version (likely 22.04 “Jammy”). Here is a comprehensive assessment of do-release-upgrade and what to expect:

What is `do-release-upgrade`?

It is Ubuntu’s official in-place release upgrade tool. Ubuntu recommends using the do-release-upgrade command on Server editions and cloud images, as it can handle system configuration changes that are sometimes needed between releases.

Is it “great”? — The Honest Assessment

✅ Pros

Official and well-tested: It is the canonical way to upgrade Ubuntu without a full reinstall.
Handles config merges: It prompts you when your customized config files (like sshd_config) differ from new defaults, giving you a choice to keep or replace them.
SSH safety net built in: As seen in your log, it starts an extra SSH daemon on port 1022 — so even if your main SSH connection drops, you can reconnect via the fallback.
Before making any changes, do-release-upgrade first does checks to verify the system is ready to upgrade, and provides a summary before proceeding.
For a fairly standard server setup, the whole process typically takes around 20–30 minutes.

⚠️ Caveats / Risks

Running over SSH is risky: As clearly warned in your log, if your SSH connection drops mid-upgrade, recovery becomes harder. The tool mitigates this by opening port 1022, but you should have a console/recovery option (like a VPS provider’s web console or IPMI).
Config conflicts require attention: There can be merge conflicts between your old customized config and the new defaults — for example, between your sshd_config and journald.conf. You need to decide which version to keep.
Third-party PPAs get disabled: Third-party software repositories and PPAs are disabled during the release upgrade. While software installed from these sources will not be removed, this is the most common cause of upgrade issues.
You inherit old defaults: In-place upgrades mean you will likely inherit the less-secure defaults from the old OS. For example, if SSH was configured with an older protocol version, the upgrade will not automatically enforce newer security defaults.
Disk space needed: A release upgrade involves downloading hundreds of new packages, which can be several gigabytes. Make sure you have enough free disk space and dedicate time to monitor the interactive process.

What You Are Upgrading To (Ubuntu 24.04 Noble)

Anyone upgrading from Ubuntu 22.04 to 24.04 inherits a cumulative change-set that enhances and expands the desktop and server experience built up over 2 years.

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is the recommended choice for virtually all server workloads, offering a 5-year support window, extensive testing, and broad compatibility with tools like Kubernetes, Docker, and Ansible.

Bottom Line

do-release-upgrade is solid and reliable for most cases — especially if you have a recovery fallback (console access, backups). It is not “perfect” — edge cases like custom PPAs, modified configs, and mirror-specific quirks (like the Missing Signed-By error noted in community reports) can require manual cleanup after. But for a standard system, it works well and is far better than manually reinstalling from scratch.

References:

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