Steps to be performed to upgrade from sarge (amd64) to etch (amd64). I don't explain why a certain step is done - read the manual found at step one. You should know what you're doing!

Preperations

1. Read http://www.debian.org/releases/etch/amd64/release-notes/
2. cd /root && tar czf dpkg_lib.tgz /var/lib/dpkg/
3. dpkg –get-selections “*” > dpkg.selections
4. check wheter there is enough space to run the update
5. make sure sarge is up to date (apt-get update && apt-get –show-upgraded upgrade)
6. apt-get clean
7. edit /etc/apt/sources.list to reflect the new repository (e.g. deb http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian etch main contrib)

let's start

1. record a transcript of the upgrade session: script -a ~/upgrade-to-etch.typescript
2. apt-get update
3. aptitude install aptitude
4. aptitude -f –with-recommends dist-upgrade
5. decide whether you must or want to upgrade your kernel

before reboot

1. Read /usr/share/doc/mdadm/README.upgrading-2.5.3.gz if you're using software-raid

after reboot

1. apt-get –show-upgraded upgrade to see if all packages are upgraded