Upgrading Debian 12 (bookworm) to Debian 13 (trixie)

This guide describes an in-place upgrade of the Base OS operating system from Debian 12 (bookworm) to Debian 13 (trixie) on Unipi devices, without reinstalling the system. The procedure is common to most product lines; steps that differ between lines are marked at the relevant step and summarised in the overview at the end of the page.

• Unipi Patron
• Unipi Neuron
• Unipi Gate

Unipi Edge ships with Debian 13 (trixie) only, so this guide does not apply to it.

Before moving to the new release, updated all packages to their latest version within Debian 12. This prevents unnecessary conflicts during the release upgrade. Rebooted the device afterwards.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo reboot

On Raspberry Pi–based lines, the raspberrypi.list source is removed, as it is not available for Debian 13. This step applies to the Unipi Neuron line; it is skipped on the Unipi Patron and Unipi Gate lines.

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/raspberrypi.list

In the APT sources, the name bookworm is replaced with trixie. This points the upgrade at the Debian 13 packages.

sudo sed -i 's/bookworm/trixie/g' /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-nonfree.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unipi.list

The package list is loaded from the new sources and the release upgrade to Debian 13 is performed. The upgrade may take a while.

sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade

The unipi.list source is removed and the Unipi kernel intended for Debian 13 is installed. The exact set of packages differs per product line.

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unipi.list

• Unipi Patron and Unipi Neuron – kernel and modules:
  sudo apt install unipi-kernel=6.12.101.0~trixie* unipi-kernel-modules=3.6~6.12.101.0~trixie*
• Unipi Gate – kernel only:
  sudo apt install unipi-kernel=6.12.101.0~trixie*

Before rebooting, it is verified that the upgrade completed without errors and that the correct kernel and bootloader versions are installed. The device is rebooted only after a successful check.

Package state check – verify that no package is left in an in-progress (broken) state, i.e. half-installed or not configured. The output should be empty. Leftovers from removed packages (state rc, where only the configuration remains) are harmless:

sudo dpkg --audit

More importantly, verify that no packages from Debian 12 remain on the device. The following command lists installed packages whose version still carries the deb12 marker (e.g. 1.2.3+deb12u1); the output should be empty:

dpkg -l | grep -e deb12 -e bookworm

Verify that userspace has switched to trixie – the VERSION_CODENAME field is expected to read trixie:

cat /etc/os-release

Kernel and bootloader version check – the version of the installed unipi-kernel and unipi-u-boot packages must contain the string ~trixie (the suffix matches the product line; on the Unipi Patron line it is e.g. 2026.01.6~trixie-patron). If either package still shows a Debian 12 version, the kernel or bootloader was not upgraded and the device must not be rebooted. On lines without the u-boot bootloader the unipi-u-boot package is not listed:

dpkg -l unipi-kernel unipi-u-boot

After a successful check, the device is rebooted and boots into Debian 13.

sudo reboot

After rebooting, it is verified that the system has booted into Debian 13, is running the new kernel, and that there are no errors in the system log.

System and kernel version check – the VERSION_CODENAME field is expected to read trixie and the kernel version to be in the 6.12 series:

cat /etc/os-release
uname -r

System log check for errors and warnings (e.g. driver or hardware problems) – the output should be empty or contain no serious messages:

sudo dmesg --level=err,warn

Check that no packages remain un-upgraded after the upgrade – the list should be empty (with exception of kernel and kernel-modules. They can additionally be updated):

sudo apt update
sudo apt list --upgradable

The following blocks contain the complete command sequence for each line for convenient copying. Before the final reboot, verify the system state as described in step 6.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo reboot

sudo sed -i 's/bookworm/trixie/g' /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-nonfree.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unipi.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unipi.list
sudo apt install unipi-kernel=6.12.101.0~trixie* unipi-kernel-modules=3.6~6.12.101.0~trixie*
# Verify the system state before rebooting (see step 6).
sudo reboot

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo reboot

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/raspberrypi.list
sudo sed -i 's/bookworm/trixie/g' /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-nonfree.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unipi.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unipi.list
sudo apt install unipi-kernel=6.12.101.0~trixie* unipi-kernel-modules=3.6~6.12.101.0~trixie*
# Verify the system state before rebooting (see step 6).
sudo reboot

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo reboot

sudo sed -i 's/bookworm/trixie/g' /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-nonfree.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unipi.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unipi.list
sudo apt install unipi-kernel=6.12.101.0~trixie*
# Verify the system state before rebooting (see step 6).
sudo reboot