How many upgrades have you been through?

[Tiede]

I have seen a lot of post around these parts hinting at the fact while some usually do a clean install, others prefer to just upgrade their big ole ubuntu box every time a new version comes out through apt-get. As a conclusion, through an oxymoronic sudden thought I had out of the blue, I decided to start this thread to actually see for myself what the trend tends to be...
I'll start:
I've known ubuntu since warty - actually, exactly on october 1st!!! - and I did upgrade to Hoary with apt-get. Then I installed breezy on both my desktop and my then spankin' new laptop.
Since, I have found myself reinstalling for both Dapper and Edgy on the desktop, and yet oddly have never reinstalled on the laptop: I apt-getted from Breezy to Dapper to Edgy...

Quite a boringly unusual story, as you may see... Care to top it with yours?
(I'm thinking especially with this new update-manager -c option, things may become quite interesting ;) )

[Atomic Dog]

I have always done a fresh install and backed up what I needed. I upgraded the wifey's laptop from Dapper to Edgy...don't want to get into it, but lets just say that's the last time I will attempt to upgrade.

I likes it fresh baby!

[RandomJoe]

I've had terrible luck with upgrades, no matter the distro. Not sure if I just manage to get things sufficiently non-standard, or what, but they almost always end in pain and frustration! Fresh, clean installs for me. It's faster and easier to restore my data afterward.

With Ubuntu I tried upgrading from 5.10 to 6.06 on a couple of machines. My work laptop's Ubuntu partition which sees very little use and almost no customization actually succeeded, but there were little quirks that I had to iron out. The desktop that I use primarily for my media PC crashed and burned horribly on the upgrade - wouldn't even boot after it was through.

[matthew]

I have several computers so I voted using the most successful with upgrades, a very simple installation on a desktop with very standard hardware. It's been upgraded all the way from Hoary to Edgy.

My laptop, on the other hand, has had problems every time I have tried to upgrade and has needed a fresh install each time. It has some proprietary hardware and I tend to do a lot of customization on it, so this isn't especially surprising to me.

[AndyCooll]

I always do fresh installs.

I have had problems when doing upgrades. It is probably as a result of my own errors rather than the Ubuntu upgrade process. Nonetheless I now avoid this method.

:cool:

[hoagie]

I updated from breezy to dapper but then dapper died so I reinstalled it and then I upgraded from dapper to edgy...It has been a flawless procedure both times for me.

[_simon_]

Save what I need to DVD then do a fresh install.

Fresh install Breezy -> Dapper -> Edgy

[beercz]

Started with Warty and upgraded ever since.

Going to upgrade to feisty very soon.

[Edit]Now running feisty just fine.[Edit]

[M_the_C]

I started on Dapper and I am still on Dapper.

If I ever decide to go Edgy I will probably do it as an Edgy install as I have a load of rubbish on my computer at the moment.

[Iarwain ben-adar]

Went from Dapper to Edgy to Feisty :D

Feisty is capable of recognising my "MediaDirect" buttons...


Iarwain

[Mateo]

i don't get fresh installs. the upgrades do it automatically with the Update Manager. you have to restart your computer once. i don't get why people do fresh install. upgrade to me is like nothing. i hardly even notice it happens.

[Mykewl]

I have gone from Breezy to Edgy. Like others I have had problems
with the update and had to do a fresh install for each.

[OldTimeTech]

I used automatix from breezy to dapper. Then tried to apt-get upgrade to edgy, got most of it, but had to find and use automatix to finish it.

[Tiede]

I see we don't have alot of feisty users around here... So far, people that always reinstall are not leading - as I thought they'd be... This is quite interesting, isn't it? :)

[PatrickMay16]

I installed ubuntu for the first time in September 2005. Then in November of the same year I upgraded the installation to Breezy. In June 2006, I upgraded to Dapper, and it has been like that ever since. This is on my main desktop computer, which I do all my work and play on.

[Tiede]

Any feisty users in da house? :D
I wish I could help with development myself, but I only have my laptop to fiddle with...

[oyvindaa]

I started with the Breezy Badger and then when Dapper came along I did a clean install.

Now after Edgy I tried an upgrade but that made my system go "bananas", so I went back to Dapper and that's where I'm going to stay until the next LTS.

:)

[altonbr]

Interesting poll. Thanks.

Personally I'm Breezy -> Dapper -> Edgy.

I still install Dapper on everyone else's computer because of LTS of course, and am personally looking forward too Feisty... I'm always up for going back to Dapper though, for stability purposes of course.

[FuturePilot]

None of those choices apply to me. I discovered Linux a few weeks after Dapper was released. Dapper happened to be one of the first few distros I tried and I liked it so much I stuck with it. I tried various other ones, but Ubuntu Dapper just a feel that none of the others did. I tried Edgy on a separate partition, but I found it a little too unstable.

[fuscia]

tried hoary live, installed breezy, bought a laptop with dapper and upgraded to edgy.

[blackened]

I fresh installed both of my main machines all the way up to breezy, then fresh installed my main main machine to dapper, and apt-getted my way on my secondary main. Both methods worked beautifully.

[urukrama]

From Breezy to Dapper. Never went to Edgy.

[Malta paul]

Breezy>Dapper>Edgy.
Backed up my Home folder on DVD, then formatted disk and installed. Have had no problems :D

[Tiede]

Are you saying you backed up first and then updated from breezy to dapper then edgy, or the backup was way older than that? I'm slightly confused :D

[blackened]

From Breezy to Dapper. Never went to Edgy.

I, likewise, haven't gone to Edgy. I will, however, be upgrading to Feisty when it comes out, if only to benefit from Bulletproof X.

[grte]

I get too much software outside of apt and dpkg to want to rely on a dist-upgrade. Besides, a clean install is like a fresh start, and I mess around on this machine enough that doing so occasionally is a good idea. Like cleaning your house.

[blackened]

My only apprehension about doing a fresh install is the fact that I've gone through alot to get everything working properly, from making Amarok cooperate with remote files to getting sshfs set up just how I like it etc. I'll likely be upgrading my fileserver at the same time, so that's double the headache, but also double the fun. :p

[seshomaru samma]

I upgraded to edgy but i think i will be going back to dapper soon...
I just can't get the Chinese input system to work on Edgy

[rabid9797]

so far ive just done fresh installs because i don't keep any important files on my ubuntu partition(because i fiddle and screw up stuff so much i need to reformat often)

when edgy first came out i needed to install to my second hard disk and since, at the time, gparted only installed to first hard disk, i just did a fresh install with dapper and then upgraded through apt-get to edgy. for the only time i ever upgraded i had 0 problems

[~LoKe]

Breezy -> Dapper -> Edgy -> Feisty.

[Tiede]

hmm... Maybe I should have included a "feisty->All" link to seperate it from the "others" polling option... :D

[jvc26]

I have upgraded Dapper -> Edgy twice, (never been an Ubuntu user before Dapper, and never will be a Windows user again ;)) But I have now opted for the faster vanilla install and keeping my /home partition separate in the purge of my computer which occurs at a reinstall :)
Il

[zenrox]

i have upgraded since the biginning
tho most of my upgrades whent to crap rather quickly
i did fresh installs lator :guitar:

[digTro]

I generally do a fresh install. Because of my slow internet connection, an upgrade can take upto 12-14 hours. So I do a fresh install and gradually install all the software I need over a week or so.

[Snowcat]

Hoary -> Breezy -> Dapper -> Edgy - and tomorrow Feisty will (if all goes well, fingers crossed) join the chain. I always have an error or two, a broken X or some other minor annoyance, but so far I've got around everything.

I feel that I've made too many tweaks and compiled too many programs from source, for me to prefer a fresh install.