Upgrade from 8.04 to 10.04 LTS (BORKED)

[NoOp]

On 09/12/2010 01:42 PM, clintin at linuxmail.org wrote:
> I started this process about 4 hours ago and it is currently "hung"
> on "Configuring dbus", the last message is the "system user
> 'messagebus' already exists. Exiting." With about 19 minutes
> remaining.  Checking top, init and evolution-data seems to be
> "railing" the processor with the upgrade process being in this state
> now for over 20 minutes.
> 
> 
> Any ideas on how to complete the process without ending up with a
> crashed system?  Control-C is responsive in the upgrade window but it
> warns about ending up with a crashed system as well.
> 
> In the past I have done a Ubuntu istribution upgrade in the past,
> notably 6.06 LTS to 8.04 LTS and it worked flawlessly.  8.04 LTS to
> 10.04 is conspicuously totally borked. Every problem I had in
> attempting this upgrade and checked against Google, someone else had
> experienced, there are bug reports filed and more than a few, people
> had attempted to fix on their own. I wouldn't even want to guess how
> many hours people have spent trying to fix a failed 8.04 to 10.04
> upgrade.  And I followed the process at
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LucidUpgrades Network upgrade for
> Ubuntu Desktops (Recommended) and then following the 8.04 10.04.  I
> have spent no less than over 6 hours on this effort.  I would not
> recommend that anyone attempt this at home.  I think dbus is the
> primary culprit in the process but a lot of operations failed which I
> had to control-c to get beyond but in the end, I tried a number of
> fixes but they all failed in about the same sequence of events,
> starting with dbus.  Between the OpenOffice 3.2 that I have
> registered the bug on and this issue, I have serious concerns about
> 10.04 and recommending it to others, at least as an upgrade path.
> Incidentally, I do run on my main laptop which has hung on boot more
> than a couple times in a text screen where I have learned to just
> reboot and all is well until the next time.  10.04 LTS was suppose to
> just work, after all it is a Long Term Release, more stable that than
> the interim releases.
> 
> As I wrote before, this is not a troll but just relaying my
> experience, be advised of the potential pitfalls in the Ubuntu
> Upgrade from 8.04 LTS to 10.04 and make sure you have a back up
> before attempting.  Fortunately, I had taken an image before starting
> and restored it so this computer is back to 8.04 LTS and I didn't
> loose anything.

Sounds similar to this bug report:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dbus/+bug/524584
[package dbus 1.2.16-2ubuntu3 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess
installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1]

other sources to check:
<https://launchpad.net/+search?field.text=system+user+'messagebus'+already+exists+%2Blucid&field.actions.search=Search>
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dbus

You may consider trying a Ctrl-C and then from a terminal:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo apt-get install -f
$ sudo dpgk --configure -a

And then trying the dist-upgrade again.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LucidUpgrades
"Be sure that you have all updates applied to your current version of
Ubuntu before you upgrade."

It could very well be that your system may have ubuntu-desktop
uninstalled, you may not have been fully updated before starting the
upgrade, you may have misconfigured packages (you are from 6.x to 8.04
so the possibilities are there). Also double-check the release notes to
see if there is anything relevant:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LucidLynx/ReleaseNotes

This system has been upgraded from Dapper to Lucid, and I've done many
additional upgrades from 8.04 to 10.04. Only real problems that I've
experienced along the way were graphics related. Good luck & let me know
if you need assistance doing an inplace reinstall if you decide to go
that route.