Upgrading from Trixie to Forky in late 2025(proposal)(tested works for me)

[biketool]

This is a proposal for a guide to upgrade to Forky(Mobian testing) from Trixie(the previous testing release)
This has now been tested!!! it worked for me on my PPpro.
https://blog.mobian.org/posts/2025/10/ne...ting-keys/
It seems there are errors but we can fix these.

I will first recommend everyone with disk space use the tow-boot blue light special bulk storage mode and save the / of your PP or PPp to your computer, this will take a while to do but even if encryptde is pretty easy, in my ubuntu derivitave OS the GUI asked if I wanted to decrypt the volume, entered password, and I had access to my root.  A alternative is to use a USB mass storage device over an adapter or a big SD card to save your root or at least your /home.

below is form the guide linked above with some lined out do-not instructions and my edits in green 
_______________________________________________________________

1. keep your device plugged to a power source: such an upgrade can be a rather long process, you don’t want to run out of battery half-way there!
   
2. backup all your personal data
   
3. really, we mean it: backup all your personal data!
   
4. install
   
   Code:

   sudo apt install openssh-server
   and execute the entire upgrade process over SSH (and preferrably using
   
   Code:

   sudo apt install screen
   or a similar tool, so the upgrade can carry on even if the network connection is lost)
   
5. ensure your Trixie installation is fully up-to-date; as the GPG key we use for signing the package repository has expired since the Bookworm release, you’ll probably need to run
   
   Code:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade
   at least twice: the first time it will update the Mobian keyring package, the second invocation will pull in the latest updates for Mobian-specific packages
   reboot,
   
6. then edit both 
   
   Code:

   sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources
   and
   
   Code:

   sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mobian.sources
   , replacing all occurences of trixie with forky in both files; forky
   
7. (not sure this step is required in trixie to forky)you should then stop the
   
   Code:

   sudo service greetd stop
   service (this will stop all running graphical applications, and is why SSH is needed!) and run
   
   Code:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade
   once again
   
8. (trixie to forky I didn't need this as only 2 packages were removed non-mobian both)write down the list of packages removed by
   
   Code:

   sudo apt dist-upgrade
   which start with
   
   Code:

   mobian-
   as those will have to be reinstalled later on to restore full functionality of your device; please note that some packages have been renamed/replaced in Trixie, so it can be expected to see e.g.
   
   Code:

   phog
   or
   
   Code:

   pinephonepro-tweaks
   in the list of removed packages
   
9. reinstall all
   
   Code:

   mobian-*
   packages removed in the previous step; this will remove
   
   Code:

   pulseaudio
   from the system, which is to be expected as Mobian now relies on (and mandates the use of) PipeWire(already done in the trixie upgrade form bookworm)
   
10. run
    
    Code:

    sudo apt autoremove
    to clean up unneeded packages
    

________________________________________________

I have tested this now, but everyone have a look, does this look correct, did I miss something obvious?  it seems that an apt update && apt upgrade will update the signing crypto keys so we dont need to dl that for a trixie to forky upgrade which is far cleaner than bookworm to trixie.

[biketool]

I am in the middle of running this, I made some edits above in the guide for file names and locations of  mobian.sources and debian sources as I am upgrading from Trixie not Bookworm which has the older file locations and names for mobian.list and debian.list as well as not having crypto signature keys to verify true mobian and debian repos from imposters.  I didnt have any issue of the upgrade deleting any files except libgtk-4-media-gstreamer  liblttng-ust-ctl5t64
the initial dist-upgrade did nothing as it seems there has not been much or any release activity on trixie since the change to stable, the keys were already prepped so that is one less worry from trixie to forky.
I am running the dist upgrade now so had time to post this, also I should edit the above to add sudo to the apt commands for easy cut/paste.
(edit)I might have lost my ssh session at Setting up wpasupplicant which should be fine as I was running the upgrade as recommended inside screen, I will let it run for a bit more and then reboot in an hour or so.
the PPpro shows this twenty times on the screen(gui was shutdown for upgrade)

Code:

brcmfmac: brcmf_set_channel: set chanspec <some hex> fail, reason -52

I am wondering if there is any real need to kill the GUI for the trixie --> forky upgrade.
This is where having the serial adapter would be really useful to get a terminal where I can type commands and attach to the screen session to get status once the wifi drops, I used to have some PL2303 usb-serial boards around.
(edit) rebooted, all is good, wifi cellular, gps,sound, high rate video,, camera all seem to work
had two system updates rsync and libtld7 in software as well as one flatpak

---

So this works, still have the nice hot pinephone when playing solitaire and rapid(normal for pinephone and PPpro) battery drop, I might install the kernel form this thread in a day or more of testing.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=19940

[biketool]

FYI Forky now mounts your SD at /run/media/mobian/<your SD card name> so update your apps like cozy(audiobooks) and OSM scout server(offilne map server) to point to the new mount point

[j_s]

Is the procedure the same for changing trixie stable to forky testing?

[biketool]

Is the procedure the same for changing trixie stable to forky testing?

yes... this is tested on a PPpro trixie install that was formerly testing now stable upgrading to forky new testing.

[georgegohl888]

Backup, update, edit sources, stop GUI, upgrade via SSH, reinstall mobian-* packages, autoremove.

[biketool]

Backup, update, edit sources, stop GUI, upgrade via SSH, reinstall mobian-* packages, autoremove.

next time I would just backup, apt update/dist-upgrade, new sources trixie-->forky, (ssh-screen optional as we have unkilled gui))apt update/dist-upgrade sends us to forky, reboot, autoremove

It is a far simpler to upgrade to forky than a hot upgrade bookworm to trixie which was more of a mess but I survived it almost a year ago.
If anyone wants to test my simplified suggestion I will update and simplify the guide, I am having hardware trouble with my PPpro