Upgrade Debian 3.1(sarge) to 4.0(etch)

It look like that to upgrade from Debian 3.1 to 4.0 should be fairly easy; however, the truth is that you will somehow trap by "libc6" loop. Here is a note to solve the problem.

1. Update 3.1 as best as possible. Modified the /etc/apt/sources.list
   

   #OldStable
   #deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free
   #deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ oldstable main contrib non-free

   
   sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade
   


2. Switch to the etch sources, and update the kernel.
   

   #etch
   deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free
   deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free

   
   sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.18-6-686
   


3. Pre-Processing
   apt-get install locales
   
   Make sure we handle all the dependency issue:
   apt-get install -f
   


4. Install the kernel.
   
   sudo apt-get install linux-image...
   


5. Update Grub by running: update-grub
   
   Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst, set the Default to correct kernel
   


6. Edit the tow links to the right kernel:

   /boot/initrd.img initrd.img -> initrd.img-2.6.8-3-686-smp
   /boot/vmlinuz  -> vmlinuz-2.6.8-3-686-smp

   , and then Reboot