Upgrading Linux versions

[adamkatt]

I'm switching to Linux and I want to know... does Linux remove your programs when you upgrade the operating system? Example..
If I'm using 12.04 Ubuntu and have my programs//music//videos//etc and want to upgrade to 12.10 do I have to reinstall everything // put my pictures on a external or can I just click on the update thing and let it reboot and have all stuff still installed but with the new update? <- I hope so

 

[jwcalla]

You can just run the update and all packages will be updated and left in place. I've updated through several versions myself. I think packages that are no longer supported are removed though (like when they moved from OpenOffice to LibreOffice).

It isn't impossible to have something borked through an update so you have to be prepared to work that through, however.

They always recommend a clean install since there might be a change in a program configuration or whatever that causes an inconsistency between versions, but in my experience these are somewhat easy to track down and iron out.

I recommend having a backup of course and don't forget that "reinstalling" a program means nothing more than copying the program back to its location in the filesystem, and maybe making a launcher shortcut or whatever.

 

[krogen]

Ubuntu upgrades can be really wonky. They don't always work well, from my experience.

The best thing to do, in a case like this, is to backup your home directory and do a dump of all installed packages. Wipe the drive and install the new version. Install the missing packages and copy over your home folder.

An alternative to this is to use LTS (long term support?) versions of Ubuntu. Errr.... You will have to go through the above steps, but it will take ~4 years or so.

A real alternative is to use rolling distributions, like Arch or Gentoo. You never have to perform large upgrades as you're always riding on the cutting edge of software. Very rarely there are upgrades that require manual intervention.

 

[Skripka]

Ubuntu upgrades can be really wonky. They don't always work well, from my experience.

The best thing to do, in a case like this, is to backup your home directory and do a dump of all installed packages. Wipe the drive and install the new version. Install the missing packages and copy over your home folder.

An alternative to this is to use LTS (long term support?) versions of Ubuntu. Errr.... You will have to go through the above steps, but it will take ~4 years or so.

A real alternative is to use rolling distributions, like Arch or Gentoo. You never have to perform large upgrades as you're always riding on the cutting edge of software. Very rarely there are upgrades that require manual intervention.

The big headaches insofar as updates or upgrades to watch for on rolling release are display server updates...and there was also that hilarious libjpeg update.

 

[jwcalla]

The best thing to do, in a case like this, is to backup your home directory and do a dump of all installed packages. Wipe the drive and install the new version. Install the missing packages and copy over your home folder.

The one downside here is that you would lose any program settings that weren't stored in the user area, e.g. web server or mysql configurations, etc., if you had that sort of thing installed. You also lose programs that aren't installed from a package (like some games, eclipse / netbeans, java, etc.) or any other scripts you might have made yourself and installed. Cron jobs... it's all gone.

You can always copy all that stuff first of course (as one should backup regularly anyway), but I could never even remember what special stuff I have installed and where it is.

And even still, you can run into problems doing it this way this too. E.g., the compiz config in the previous home folder might not be compatible with the new one created in the fresh install. So you wouldn't want to blow the new one out by copying over the home folder.

 

[Ion Silverbolt]

Whenever I install some form of Linux, I create a dedicated home partition. (Choose custom partition and don't allow /home to be formatted in setup) That way I don't have to bother transferring media files and other things and I keep the same settings no matter which distro I want to install. One distro may have a different set of default programs, but it doesn't take long to find the one I want with the package manager.

There is the chance of hiccups though. Like one distro might have been using a version of Chromium that's incompatible with the newer one installed. Wiping the hidden folder works well enough, as it does on anything in the new setup that causes problems. Before switching, backup your bookmarks, rss feeds, etc. It's easy enough to do.