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View Full Version : [ubuntu] 9.10 Upgrade vs Clean Install



Jason32
November 4th, 2009, 11:09 PM
I have a newb-type question which I'm sure has been asked before a few times, but I'm looking for some opinions.

Right now I'm running Hardy, the LTS version of ubuntu. I install updates when they're available, but I've never really thought seriously about upgrading to one of the newer releases. My plan was to wait for the next LTS release and do a clean install.

I'm wondering if this thinking is valid, or if it's just a hangover from my days as a windows user when an upgrade usually involved new hardware, and also represented a good opportunity to update the version of certain key pieces of software like Microsoft Office, not to mention cleaning out the clutter left by my day to day use of the computer. In some senses you could say that I never really upgraded windows as such, I just did a clean install whenever I was ready for a new version. My idea was to do the same thing with ubuntu, following the LTS release cycle.

Here's the thing though: installing from scratch represents quite a bit of work for me. I have things like conky and cairo dock installed and configured just the way I want them, I can wirelessly sync my iPod touch, I have a couple of WebDAV drives mapped at boot as if they were physical drives attached to the computer, and I have remote login sessions enabled over VNC. All of these things (plus probably some more which don't come to mind right now) I use on a daily basis and setting them up took some trail and error, and in some cases some considerable time to perfect. I'm not ready to have to do all that again.

So here are my questions. Given that everything right now works the way I want it to, and I'm installing whatever updates come my way, is it actually worth me upgrading to the latest distro? Why?

If the answer to that is yes, then given that I'd be upgrading this time around rather than doing a fresh install, are there any issues surrounding that path that I need to be aware of? On a practical level, is there a difference between doing an upgrade vs doing a fresh install?

Thank in advance for your help!

00ber n00b
November 4th, 2009, 11:22 PM
I upgraded and did a fresh install with no problems. If I were you and I had everything set up the way I wanted it I would wait until the next lts.

wojox
November 4th, 2009, 11:27 PM
If you upgrade from 8.04, then you have to go up the chain to 8.10 then 9.04 then 9.10. I would just wait and do a fresh install of 10.4 if everything's going well for you.

flipper9
November 5th, 2009, 01:07 AM
IMHO it's better to do a fresh install this time around so you can take advantage of the new EXT4 format (which you can't get with an upgrade). You can backup settings from hidden folders in your home directory for specific setups you like...but IMHO it's almost always better to do fresh installs so you avoid possible issues...and it's always good to start with a clean slate.

Jason32
November 5th, 2009, 01:40 AM
Sounds good to me! I had no idea that if I chose to upgrade I'd have to follow the path and get 9.04 before I went to 9.10.

I've installed 9.10 in a VirtualBox VM for now so I can have a little play around with it, but it seems that my initial plan does make the most sense after all - stick with the LTS release cycle so I'm not upgrading every six months (which I personally think is more frequent than is strictly necessary) and do a clean install each time.

I'll wait for Lucid Lynx at the end of April.

flipper9
November 5th, 2009, 01:51 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you can do a direct upgrade from one LTS to another LTS without having to go through all the intervening releases. Doesn't matter to me though, I always recommend a clean install whatever you do.