samba - Nov 2025 - Upgrading Samba AD DCs from Debian 12 (Bookworm) to Debian 13 (Trixie)

On Mon, 3 Nov 2025 11:39:35 +0000
Carlos Gardel via samba <samba at lists.samba.org> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I?m currently hosting two Samba domain controllers (running as
> virtual machines in Proxmox) in a small office setup.
> 
> Both domain controllers are running Debian 12 (Bookworm) with Samba
> version 4.22.4. The difference between them is that on one of the
> machines Samba is compiled and installed from source, while on the
> other it is installed via bookworm-backports.
> 
> The system with Samba compiled from source holds the FSMO roles.
> 
> I am now considering upgrading both controllers to Debian 13 (Trixie)
> and would like to establish a clear step-by-step process.
> 
> I found the following guide online:
> 
>
https://samba.tranquil.it/doc/en/samba_config_server-server_upgrade_debian12_to_debian13.html
> 
> According to that guide, the only steps required for the upgrade
> would be:
> 
> $ sed -i 's/bookworm/trixie/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* Update the host:
> 
> $apt-get update
> $ apt-get dist-upgrade
> $ reboot
> $ samba-tool --version
> 
> 
> Would it be safe to proceed according to the above steps, or is there
> anything else that should be done before, during, or after the
> upgrade?
> 
> Should I recompile and reinstall Samba on the machine where it was
> built from source? And what about the one using bookworm-backports ?
> are backports available for Trixie, or how should that installation
> be adapted?
For the DC where you didn't compile Samba yourself, this should work
and while there aren't any Trixie backports yet,this shouldn't be a
problem.

Your problem lies with your self compiled version of Samba. Depending
on how you compiled it, Samba could be in /usr/local/samba or if you
set the prefix it could be anywhere. Debian will not know this and will
blindly upgrade any Debian Samba packages. It might be easier to add a
new DC and then demote the old one.

Rowland
> 
> Any input or guidance on this would be greatly appreciated. I will of
> course take full backups and snapshots of both DCs (while both are
> powered off) so I can revert everything if the upgrade does not
> succeed.
> 
> Thank you and kind regards,
> 
> Carlos
> 
> 
> 
>

It will be easier, safer and future proof.

These notes are valid for Trixie except the backports.

http://samba.bigbird.es/doku.php?id=samba:aditional-dc
On 3 Nov 2025 at 14:33 +0100, samba at lists.samba.org <samba at
lists.samba.org>, wrote:

> It might be easier to add a
> new DC and then demote the old one.
>