Howto Upgrade Debian

Howto Upgrade Debian 4 Etch to Debian 5.0 Lenny
HowTo Upgrade Debian 5.0 (Lenny) To Debian 6.0 (Squeeze)
HowTo Upgrade Debian 6.0 Squeeze to 7.0 Wheezy
HowTo upgrade to Debian 8 Jessie from Debian 7 Wheezy

The command you need to know:

upgrade is system level and the dist-upgrade is the entire level.

# aptitude upgrade
# aptitude install
# aptitude dist-upgrade


# apt-get update
# apt-get install apt dpkg aptitude
# apt-get dist-upgrade

#############Debian 4 Etch
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/debian/ etch main non-free contrib
deb-src http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/debian/ etch main non-free contrib

#############Debian 5.0 Lenny
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/debian/ lenny main non-free contrib
deb-src http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/debian/ lenny main non-free contrib


########### Debian 6.0 (Squeeze)
deb http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ squeeze main non-free contrib
deb http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ squeeze-proposed-updates main non-free contrib
deb-src http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ squeeze main non-free contrib
deb-src http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ squeeze-proposed-updates main non-free contrib


########### Debian 7.0 Wheezy
deb http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ wheezy main non-free contrib
deb http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ wheezy-proposed-updates main non-free contrib
deb-src http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ wheezy main non-free contrib
deb-src http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ wheezy-proposed-updates main non-free contrib

############Debian 8 Jessie
deb http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ jessiemain non-free contrib
deb http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ jessie-proposed-updates main non-free contrib
deb-src http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ jessiemain non-free contrib

deb-src http://mirrors.163.com/debian/ jessie-proposed-updates main non-free contrib

when upgrade from the old one to the new one, step by step to change the source.list and run upgrade/dist-upgrade command,

the smart system will upgrade it step by step as well. please find the right source and it will run quit well and fast for you.

good luck.