"Upgrade" Debian etch to Ubuntu 8.04

It is possible, but don't ask. ;-)

Replace the repository lines in /etc/apt/sources.list and do an apt-get upgrade.

First you have to install dpkg (dpkg_1.13.24ubuntu6_i386.deb or dpkg_1.13.24ubuntu6_amd64.deb) from Ubuntu 7.10 manually because of a new feature.

Then you have to "downgrade" sysv-rc because the etch version claims to be newer, but update-rc.d misses a feature for Ubuntu 8.04.

Then install aptitude: apt-get install aptitude.

Start several iterations of aptitude safe-upgrade, note every package that has to be removed.

Start several iteration of aptitude dist-upgrade, note every package that has to be removed.

Iterate until all packages are upgraded. Do a dpkg -l | grep etch and adjust versions of these packages.

Re-install important packages that got removed earlier.

Finished.