How offten do you do a fresh install?

[DirtBitCo]

I read in an article recently that Linus Torvalds does a fresh install every "6 or 8 months".

I'm not sure why he does this but anyways, how often do you guys do fresh installs and why?

Sidenote: I've never even had a Linux distro survive 6 months on any of my computers. I usually end up b0rking them and end up resizing partitions to NTFS again.

[perlluver]

I do a fresh install about every three weeks, because I get bored with the stability, and try another distro, and end up with Ubuntu installed again.

[NewJack]

Every time I grab the newest version of Ubuntu. I just make sure my important files are backed up (Music, Movies, Photos, etc....) and I'm good to go.

[cardinals_fan]

I usually use a different distro every few weeks. Assuming I can stick with my current SliTaz Cooking and NetBSD setup, I won't install anything except NetBSD 5 when it comes out.

[OutOfReach]

Almost never. I use Arch, not that it's hard to install but it takes me some time to get everything configured properly.
But then again, I've never used a distro for more than one year.

[FuturePilot]

I try not to do fresh installs. If something breaks (which it hasn't in a long long time) I try to fix it. Only if it's completely borked do I reinstall. The last time a did a fresh install on my PC was when Gutsy came out. I've upgraded it each release since then and it's still running great. I don't plan on reinstalling it any time soon.

[Dr Small]

For all the systems that run Ubuntu; About every 3 to 4 releases.

[Twitch6000]

I can't give a specific time,but I know its not long lol.

I am a distro hopper so yeah.. lol.

I am trying to setup a tri boot where I have one stable distro one test distro and my windows xp.

[RiceMonster]

Not very often. Last time I reinstalled was in September because I needed a Windows partition.

[RichardLinx]

I usually do a clean install every new Ubuntu release, I wait for some good feedback first though. So around every six to seven months.

[Paqman]

These days, probably every 6 months. I usually install the beta of Ubuntu on a spare partition, then when it's released my old stable copy becomes the spare partition.

[BGFG]

I'd like to try a distribution upgrade with Jaunty, but more than likely i'll do a fresh with every new release.

[aceinthenight]

I dont hesitate to reinstall a Windows or Linux install, but I have so many huge programs on OSX, not to mention I have never had problems, so I dont reinstall.

[solitaire]

I'm usually wipe and reinstall every 6 months with every new release.

Apart from this month....
Installed Windows 7 beta.
lost my Grub partition.
decided to use this occasion to reformat and re-partition up my disks (without windows!)
I lost 3 weeks of emails (nothing too important but bloooody annoying!) due to backup not backing up my thunderbird folder for some reason!!!

So got a nice clean Ubuntu 8.10 install with a paranoid backup of my mail :D:D

[jpkotta]

I try to reinstall as little as possible. I went from Hoary to Dapper without a reinstall. Skipped Edgy, then it got a bit spotty. Except my server that's still running Dapper, all of my machines had a fresh Hardy, one of which was updated to Intrepid. I'd say on average, I'll reinstall once for every two to three releases.

I always considered the ease of updates and their frequency one of the biggest features of Linux. Reinstalling sucks, updating is much better. It's like rebooting to fix a problem or install software (something else I hate). It should always be a primary goal of the distribution to make updates as seamless as possible.

[dannytatom]

Either when a new version of whatever distro I'm usin' at the time comes out or when I'm distro hoppin'. So every 6 months max.

[Kingsley]

I do it about as often as Torvalds; a month or two after Fedora releases a new version.

[Paqman]

I'd like to try a distribution upgrade with Jaunty, but more than likely i'll do a fresh with every new release.

Try the upgrade. Lots of people bang on about how unreliable they are, but i've never had a problem and i've done several.

[jrusso2]

When I start having problems getting software to run and install without major surgery I install fresh. Usually a year is long enough for it to be outdated. But I am hoping Hardy lasts at least a year.

[Rokurosv]

Hmm about every 4 months maybe? Last time was Arch, not sure if I'm going to install an OS again, maybe Jaunty to try it out, or maybe FreeBSD. I've been meaning to try it but as far as I know there's no way to get Flash working on it, at least no natively. I gotta have my daily dose of Youtube :D

[mirhciulica]

last reinstall: 1 week ago because I wanted ext4. :D
Usually, I don't like reinstalling. IMHO is just a waste of time and definitely Linux is not *******. So I keep as much as I can my install.

[Sorivenul]

Rarely anymore, especially on my main machine.

My current Ubuntu install is a custom install from Hardy minimal, upgraded to Intrepid, which will be upgraded to Jaunty when it releases. My FreeBSD hasn't seen a fresh install since 6.3.

My testing machine and virtual installs see all the action these days. I still swap distributions about every month to three months for testing or virtualization.

[-jay-]

i am still learning linux so i prob have did a fresh install every week i can't wait for upcoming ubuntu 9.04 to be out

[Neural oD]

about every release - except this last one - i just did an upgrade

[Neural oD]

about every release - except this last one- which was just an upgrade

[Neural oD]

ps - sorry about the double post - connection is giving me hell :(

[RichardLinx]

ps - sorry about the double post - connection is giving me hell :(

Triple post now. Just use the "EDIT" option for things like that. :)

[Giant Speck]

Since I started using Ubuntu on January 27, 2008 (damn, I missed my one year mark!), I have reinstalled Ubuntu probably three times. The first two times I screwed something up terribly and I needed to reinstall. The last time, which was about a couple days ago, I was just tired of all the junk that piled up on my computer from programs I didn't use anymore. My Ubuntu partition was almost 75% used up from files pertaining to programs that no longer existed on my computer as well as old documents and pictures I didn't use anymore.

[yahoo]

I seem to be the same as others here, fresh install every 4 to 5 months.
Usually because I get bored or stuff up an install.

Mostly to get a clean Ubuntu, but sometimes to try other Linux os' mentioned here and there.

About to wipe an Intrepid install that won't play video sound at all, and go back to Hardy for a while.
Another partition is running Jaunty, but that isn't perfect either.

Going back to Hardy for something stable as my lovely wife gets slightly annoyed that Linux won't keep just doing stuff well. Usually my tinkering :D

[TuckLive]

I rarely do a fresh install. Probably once a year.

[handy]

I haven't read this thread, so I expect that I will be presenting a duplicate recapitulation of the previous Arch users posts, when I say that Arch users don't do fresh installs as there is no need due to the rolling release system that is part of the Arch foundation.

The above wasn't meant to sound arrogant or what ever other negative colours it may seem to have. Rolling release distro's just don't need fresh installs & I only mentioned Arch as it is really the only rolling release distro that I am familiar with.

[OrangeCrate]

I haven't reinstalled for a long time, and I would only do it as a last resort. Upgrading is the preferred path to move from version to version.

Here's the official word from jdong, confirming my thoughts...


Actually, We do NOT advise a clean install every time you want to upgrade. The upgrade path receives far more testing and attention than the clean install path. The official recommended method for moving to a new version of Ubuntu is to use a supported upgrade procedure!

From post #96 in this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6063808

[handy]

I haven't reinstalled for a long time, and I would only do it as a last resort. Upgrading is the preferred path to move from version to version.

Here's the official word from jdong, confirming my thoughts...



From post #96 in this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6063808

I too have had successful upgrade experiences, BUT, I always do/did that with the mental attitude of expecting big time failure, perhaps due to my windows background?

I should mention that I have had more unsuccessful upgrade experiences in windows & Linux; & more unsuccessful than successful in Linux alone. I had to say that so that windows didn't get the blame for the statistics. :-)

[Bölvaður]

I got few computers and more than one partitions on some, so I doing installs very frequently. But I cannot imagine having to do a fresh install over a partition that had been installed recently only because it got broken.

Well I did it few times when I was new, but nowadays nothing breaks or goes to hell.

[ajcham]

Almost never.
…
But then again, I've never used a distro for more than one year.

I rarely do a fresh install. Probably once a year.
I think the fact that a clean install every twelve months is considered 'rare' or 'almost never' is a great insight into the mind of Linux users.:p

Not that I'm excluding myself from this mindset - in the 5 months I've had this computer, I have performed 4 installations:
First Ubuntu Hardy, then switched to Fedora 9, went back to Hardy (later upgrading to Intrepid) and finally performed a clean install of Intrepid.

[armageddon08]

Hmm...I'm a distro hopper. So, I keep on reinstalling every 2-3 months or earlier, when I get bored of my set-up....especially when things are going right and stable. I try various distros and end up with the same old tried and tested set-up of Ubuntu + Win XP. :)

[handy]

My Arch install is 10+ months old, it has had me learning about Arch to deal with. :-|

I started it on the iMac with Gnome, then changed to Openbox & eventually removed all of Gnome I could get away with.

Then I changed to Xfce, where I have stayed for some months very happily, during that time I tried KDEmod & some window managers, none of which I liked, so they were all deleted.

I recently reinstalled Openbox & set it up with my xfce-panel & changed some of my standard oft used app's for faster ones.

All of this has happened on top of the 10+ month old Arch, & it doesn't care what I do on top, it just keeps on keeping on.

Over the last 3 years I have learned to love & appreciate Linux; over the last 10+ months I have learned to do the same for Arch.

[Edit:] I have a test machine that I use for looking at other distro's from time to time, though not as much as I used to. I have a dedicated IPCop/Copfilter firewall/router/proxy/privoxy/anti-virus/& some other services, box, & a dedicated box running the FreeBSD based FreeNAS installation. These two boxes will not change untill a worthwhile upgrade of their respective installations comes out.

[longtom]

Well - I have only started with Liux a week ago....or 4 days ago actually. Since than I went through 3 distros...

I guess that's normal for a beginner. Probably do a couple more until I find one I like most.

So far I am impressed with Ubuntu...looks stable and appears to ooze confidence.

longtom

[piousp]

Mmm, every 8 months probably

[Sunflower1970]

Depends. On my Dell I go a year. Every other upgrade. It's Hardy now, and it'll stay that way till Jaunty's been out a month or two.

The laptop is about every 6-7 months, and I've switch out distros before, but Ubuntu keeps ending up on it in the end. :)

The PII gets a fresh install or a changed distro whenever I feel the need to switch distros, or add new distros, or do a fresh install of the current distro (which will be Arch soon....)

[tom66]

Every 3 months

[mamamia88]

is it really important to do a fresh install with every new version or is it ok to update?

[swoll1980]

Not very often. Last time I reinstalled was in September because I needed a Windows partition.

Use parted magic if you don't want to reinstall you can shrink patitions, and add new ones, anything you need to do really. I reinstall every april, and october I'm sure you all know why.

[swoll1980]

is it really important to do a fresh install with every new version or is it ok to update?

Early Ubuntu had some upgrade issues, or you couldn't upgrade from the lts to the 6 month, or vice versa, this or that broke. I think they have it pretty much squared away now though.

[Nevon]

On my main computer I typically reinstall my OSs twice a year. On my other computers I'm constantly trying out different distributions.

[AndyCooll]

On my main pc every six months, i.e. with each new release. I prefer a fresh install to an upgrade.

On my other pc, I'm regularly doing fresh installs as I use it for testing different distros etc.

:cool:

[kk0sse54]

Every few weeks

[gjoellee]

I do a lot of experimantal stuff and test unstable software, and Arch fits me perfectly. Usually I mess up things so bad I have to reinstall Arch again. It has been 2times this year already!

[DirtBitCo]

Very interesting stuff. It seems to vary from person to person.

I take good care of my systems.. I've had Windows XP installed for the last 3 years without doing a fresh install. It's gone through alot but it's still standing.

I'm going to assume as long as one takes care of an Ubuntu machine it should be stable for many years ?

One comment has me worried, someone said they had to do a reinstall because the system was full of dependencies for software he had no longer been using. (this has happened to me on opensuse and when i tried removing packages the system became broken; or at least package management was a huge mess which i couldn't fix; circular dependency hell where everything depends on everything else!)

I'm aware of "apt-get autoremove" for keeping this problem to a minimal.. but will it actually keep a system from building up with orphaned packages/dependencies over a long period of time? or will it all become a jumbled mess?

Thanks for the feedback, i wasn't expecting this much but i'm thankful nonetheless.

Note: I am in no way shape or form trying to compare Windows to Linux/Ubuntu, just trying to let you know where i am coming from.

[Sorivenul]

I'm aware of "apt-get autoremove" for keeping this problem to a minimal.. but will it actually keep a system from building up with orphaned packages/dependencies over a long period of time? or will it all become a jumbled mess?
You may want to look into deborphan. It is in the repositories and helps with orphaned packages, etc. as well. Also, don't forget "apt-get clean" to get rid of old archived packages.

[CraigPaleo]

When I start having problems getting software to run and install without major surgery I install fresh. Usually a year is long enough for it to be outdated. But I am hoping Hardy lasts at least a year.

I once read a suggestion here to always to a fresh install rather than an upgrade. I upgraded from Hardy to Intrepid with no problem and actually benefits such as the sound not being stolen by one app from another and a little speed gain.

Don't upgrades merely overwrite the portions of old code with the new, changed portions? How is that different from a fresh install other than that the fresh install overwries everything, which would include the same redundant code that the upgrade preserved?

Also, wouldn't the ability to do a fresh install, without losing what's on your home directory, require a separate partition for the home directory?

If a fresh install is really that necessary, can anyone point me to a how-to to repartition my hard-drive to give it a home partition? By default, Ubuntu only gives two partitions, one being Swap.

[Chame_Wizard]

Upgrading a system(like 10 days ago):lolflag:

[Borbus]

Never. It's not necessary to reinstall it monthly like it is with 'doze.

[le singe]

I once read a suggestion here to always to a fresh install rather than an upgrade. I upgraded from Hardy to Intrepid with no problem and actually benefits such as the sound not being stolen by one app from another and a little speed gain.

Don't upgrades merely overwrite the portions of old code with the new, changed portions? How is that different from a fresh install other than that the fresh install overwries everything, which would include the same redundant code that the upgrade preserved?

Also, wouldn't the ability to do a fresh install, without losing what's on your home directory, require a separate partition for the home directory?

If a fresh install is really that necessary, can anyone point me to a how-to to repartition my hard-drive to give it a home partition? By default, Ubuntu only gives two partitions, one being Swap.

+ 1

I've been having the same question about how to set up a separate home partition and so I just wanted to shout/holler...

[OrangeCrate]

+ 1

I've been having the same question about how to set up a separate home partition and so I just wanted to shout/holler...

http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/separatehome

[hyperdude111]

Fresh install about once a month.

[ELD]

I tend to refresh with each new release since i have seperate partitions for music, movies, my website etc, data loss is not really a big issue for me!

[calrogman]

Whenever I screw around so much I get frequent kernel panics. Not very often, in other words

[DirtBitCo]

Found this article on the Ubuntu Planet RSS feed: http://ploum.frimouvy.org/?203-upgrading-an-existing-ubuntu-the-kill-your-desktop-machine

Quite the interesting read.

I have to say from my experience with Ubuntu/debian, dist-upgrading has been fairly smooth but i consider myself to be an "advanced user"..

I have to say though, Ubuntu is defiantly heading in the right direction when it comes to the defaults/what you get out of the box. For example PulseAudio and DKMS have made my GNU/Linux experience a lot less frustration and more enjoyable overall. So I'm sure we'll be seeing some upgrade improvements in the future.. not that it has been a huge issue (for me at least).

[Cariboo1938]

I have created a separate /home partition and I do a fresh install only after I somehow messed up by fooling around.
What I do about every month is to use remastersys to create and save a system .iso which is always up-to-date with all the latest ubuntu updates.
So in case of a fresh isntall the system is up-to-date also.
Worked well so far....:)

[unplugged23]

Every new release

[liamnixon]

I did switch distros a good bit (about once month) for a while, but I've settled on Fedora 10 now (for about two months). Not sure why, but I like it better than the others I've tried. Probably has something to do with it detecting my Atheros wireless card "out-of-the-box," and that yum is a really good package manager with legible output, unlike apt which vomits tons of things that need installing with no seperation.

Aside from that I have Gentoo with Xfce on a slightly old (almost ten years) PC that desperately needs a cleaning. The USB inputs went out recently, too, so I should probably fix that too. :P

Then again, I kind of want to try out Slackware and Arch, so maybe it's about that time again!

[feign]

Usually once after a new release comes out and then again a couple weeks later after I get it tweaked.

[sujoy]

i havent reinstalled in about 1 and a half year. but then i run arch (rolling release) :)

[DirtBitCo]

Why are there so many Arch users on the Ubuntu forums? just curious.

[Sorivenul]

Why are there so many Arch users on the Ubuntu forums? just curious.
The community here is better...

I run an Ubuntu install mainly for helping here on the forums. I run FreeBSD most of the time otherwise.

It could also be a conspiracy... :| I don't know, I don't use Arch anymore.

[sujoy]

Why are there so many Arch users on the Ubuntu forums? just curious.

well i started with ubuntu and really like this place :guitar:, so even after moving to arch, i hang around here, mostly cafe and the programming section :)