Any way to update the software in Raspian without updating the OS? - eviltoast

So, I’ve had a Raspberry Pi 4 sitting brand new in a box for a few years, and decided to install BirdNetPi on it yesterday.

It’s working like a champ, but because BirdNetPi needed a legacy version of Raspian, it’s got old software on it.

Is there any way to update the software (i.e. RealVNC) without updating the OS? There is no built-in software updater, and I seem to very easily break Linux every time I make an attempt to use it. LOL

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.caOPEnglish
    5·
    7 months ago

    Nothing on there says it needs a legacy version, but I may be overlooking something.

    It took several attempts (with failures) to get it installed on the latest Raspian version, then after some digging I saw that the requirements said to use “An SD Card with the 64-bit version of RaspiOS installed (please use Bullseye)”.

    With Bullseye installed, BirdNetPi works just fine, but it is old and comes with old software.

    • Deckweiss@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      7 months ago

      Ah makes sense. Still there should be no issue with doing stuff the normal way.

      apt update doesn’t update your OS to a whole new version.

      The command for an OS update is something like “do-release-upgrade” (but I forgot the exact name since I havent used debian for years)

      • 4am@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        7 months ago

        Only on Ubuntu based distros AFAIK but sudo do-release-upgrade is the correct command

    • TechAdmin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      7 months ago

      Create a backup image from the working SD card. Write that backup image to a spare SD card and verify it works. Then try to do ‘apt update’ and see if anything breaks. If it breaks you got a spare SD card ready to go :)