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Currently, we only officially support Ubuntu 16.04, with limited support for 14.04. The following instructions should work on other versions of Ubuntu as well.

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To start we need to add some third-party PPAs in order to get the correct versions of Java and Gradle needed to run our software.

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:cwchien/gradle
sudo apt-get update

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Install Java, make sure to install the OpenJDK. The Oracle JDK license does not allow controlling embedded systems. For Ubuntu 14.10 and newer:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk openjfx

For versions of Ubuntu older than 14.10, such as 14.04, OpenJDK 8 is not available in an official backport. Instead, execute

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openjdk-r/ppa
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk
sudo update-alternatives --config java
sudo update-alternatives --config javac

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You can verify that your system is using the correct JDK by running

java -version

The output should look something like

java version "1.8.0_91"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_91-b14)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.91-b14, mixed mode)

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Install Gradle

sudo apt-get install gradle

Make sure you have a version >= 2.10 by running

gradle -v

Install Git

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Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on Debian and developed by Canonical.

Official documentation can be found at https://help.ubuntu.com/.

Ubuntu Desktop

Installation

Use the Official Ubuntu Documentation page to find the official installation guide for the version and platform you desire to install. For example, the installation guide for 18.04 of amd64 is here.

Ubuntu Server

Server documentation: https://ubuntu.com/server/docs

Netplan documentation: https://netplan.io/

Kubuntu

Installation

See Kubuntu Help and Support. Download and use the PDF for the desired version.

Package Management

Disabling auto update

APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "0";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "0";

It also may be necessary to do:

# apt remove unattended-upgrades

Switching version of major packages

Use update-alternatives --config java 

Fixing broken packages

Sometime you will get an error like: E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages. 

To solve, you can try installing aptitude  and trying aptitude install <package> 

The aptitude utility has more powerful conflict resolution abilities.

See issue: https://askubuntu.com/a/451078

Listing installed packages

apt list --installed > installed.txt 

Open and Ctrl+F in text editor

Upgrading Ubuntu

First, fully upgrade your existing installation:

# apt update
# apt upgrade

# apt remove ros-*
# apt autoremove
# rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list
# apt update

Finally, remove unneeded stuff, reboot to make sure the system still boots, then do the release upgrade:

# apt autoremove
# reboot
# apt do-release-upgrade

Troubleshooting

If something happens and you lose the terminal, try the steps at https://serverfault.com/a/427008.

ssh <machine you're upgrading>
# screen -list
# screen -d -r root/2953.ubuntu-release-upgrade-screen-window