Upgrade Rocky Linux 8 to 9

[cah]

This may be a good reference:

https://phoenixnap.com/kb/upgrade-rocky-linux-8-to-9

[cah]

I found the link last year but never got a chance to really upgrade the Rocky Linux 8 to 9.

I then searched online again today and found another link with almost identical steps to upgrade.

https://linuxiac.com/upgrade-rocky-linu ... y-linux-9/

After all steps, the server seemed to be at Rocky Linux 9.6 (from 8.10) but the kernel version was still showing old 8.10 kernel version number (4.18.0-553.69.1.el8_10.x86_64 ). I searched further and found a few extra steps to get the kernel to kernel-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64.

Code: Select all

dnf clean all
dnf reinstall rocky-release
dnf distro-sync --nobest --allowerasing
dnf update --nobest
dnf install kernel
Last metadata expiration check: 0:04:48 ago on Sat 06 Sep 2025 02:04:49 PM EDT.
Package kernel-4.18.0-513.11.1.el8_9.x86_64 is already installed.
Package kernel-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64 is already installed.
Package kernel-4.18.0-553.69.1.el8_10.x86_64 is already installed.
Dependencies resolved.
====================================================================================================
 Package                      Architecture    Version                        Repository        Size
====================================================================================================
Installing:
 kernel                       x86_64          5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6          baseos           1.8 M
 kernel-core                  x86_64          5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6          baseos            18 M
 kernel-modules               x86_64          5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6          baseos            39 M
Installing dependencies:
 kernel-modules-core          x86_64          5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6          baseos            31 M
Removing:
 kernel                       x86_64          4.18.0-425.3.1.el8             @baseos            0
 kernel-core                  x86_64          4.18.0-425.3.1.el8             @baseos           70 M
 kernel-modules               x86_64          4.18.0-425.3.1.el8             @baseos           24 M

Transaction Summary
====================================================================================================
Install  4 Packages
Remove   3 Packages

Total size: 89 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
[SKIPPED] kernel-modules-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] kernel-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] kernel-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] kernel-modules-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
  Preparing        :                                                                            1/1
  Installing       : kernel-modules-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64                           1/7
  Installing       : kernel-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64                                   2/7
  Running scriptlet: kernel-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64                                   2/7
  Installing       : kernel-modules-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64                                3/7
  Running scriptlet: kernel-modules-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64                                3/7
  Installing       : kernel-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64                                        4/7
  Erasing          : kernel-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64                                           5/7
  Running scriptlet: kernel-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64                                           5/7
  Erasing          : kernel-modules-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64                                   6/7
  Running scriptlet: kernel-modules-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64                                   6/7
  Running scriptlet: kernel-core-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64                                      7/7
  Erasing          : kernel-core-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64                                      7/7
  Running scriptlet: kernel-core-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64                                      7/7
  Running scriptlet: kernel-modules-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64                           7/7
  Running scriptlet: kernel-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64                                   7/7

Installed:
  kernel-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64            kernel-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64
  kernel-modules-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64    kernel-modules-core-5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64
Removed:
  kernel-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64                   kernel-core-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64
  kernel-modules-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64

Complete!

Another reboot confirmed the new kernel is installed:

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# uname -r
5.14.0-570.37.1.el9_6.x86_64

Also, the GPG key was showing error too. I then followed the first link to remove the old key:

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GPG key at https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/rhel8/x86_64/7fa2af80.pub (0x7FA2AF80) is already installed
The GPG keys listed for the "cuda-rhel8-x86_64" repository are already installed but they are not correct for this package.
Check that the correct key URLs are configured for this repository.. Failing package is: sdkmanager-2.3.0.12617-1.el7.x86_64
 GPG Keys are configured as: https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/rhel8/x86_64/7fa2af80.pub
The downloaded packages were saved in cache until the next successful transaction.
You can remove cached packages by executing 'dnf clean packages'.
Error: GPG check FAILED

# rpm -qa gpg-*
gpg-pubkey-6d745a60-60287f36
gpg-pubkey-ee46f840-642bbe06
gpg-pubkey-350d275d-6279464b
gpg-pubkey-2f86d6a1-5cf7cefb
gpg-pubkey-cfb164d8-41dd752b
gpg-pubkey-7fa2af80-576db785
gpg-pubkey-8483c65d-5ccc5b19

# rpm -qa gpg-* | while read i
> do
> rpm -e --allmatches $i
> done

#rpm --import https://dl.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/RPM-GPG-KEY-Rocky-9