Breezy release: upgrade or reinstall? [Archive]

RastaMahata

August 1st, 2005, 01:09 AM

DJ_Max

August 1st, 2005, 01:15 AM

Upgrades are a pain in Linux, except for distros like Gentoo. Thats the main problem with Linux in general, is the way it's put together (I can go on about this, but I won't).

I'll probably do a clean install. Considering if I even install Ubuntu.

jasmuz

August 1st, 2005, 01:16 AM

Upgrade!!

Xian

August 1st, 2005, 01:16 AM

Upping to Hoary went fine so I'll do the same with Breezy.
But as with Hoary I'll also do a clean install since I want to test the installer.

Never know what you may find... :)

Xian

August 1st, 2005, 01:25 AM

Upgrades are a pain in Linux, except for distros like Gentoo
Well, the last time I upgraded my baselayout I wouldn't call it a Sunday drive.
But with most packages outside the toolchain there is not much trouble.

I've had a Debian (Testing) install that I've been upgrading for a long while.
Also, I ran a Slackware current box for ages without any issues.

But aside from those and Ubuntu I'd say major upgrades are rather scary.
Although the verdict is still not sealed with Ubuntu (not enough history).

DJ_Max

August 1st, 2005, 01:40 AM

Well, the last time I upgraded my baselayout I wouldn't call it a Sunday drive.
But with most packages outside the toolchain there is not much trouble.

I've had a Debian (Testing) install that I've been upgrading for a long while.
Also, I ran a Slackware current box for ages without any issues.

But aside from those and Ubuntu I'd say major upgrades are rather scary.
Although the verdict is still not sealed with Ubuntu (not enough history).
I've upgraded Ubuntu to Hoary from Warty, and had to say it was my best Linux upgrade experience. Only a few issues.

Ubunted

August 1st, 2005, 02:01 AM

Clean format, reinstall. Gotta try out that fancy-shmancy graphical installer.

super

August 1st, 2005, 02:55 AM

Clean format, reinstall. Gotta try out that fancy-shmancy graphical installer.

this is true, forgot about the installer. guess i will be wiping my box too. besides this will give me an excuse to finally switch to reiserfs. :)

benplaut

August 1st, 2005, 03:11 AM

i won't really feal like it's something new if i just upgrade... i gotta do it from scratch :)

i liked the text-based installer :(

Xian

August 1st, 2005, 03:12 AM

Another reason I want to upgrade as well is to see how the backports react.

macgyver2

August 1st, 2005, 03:13 AM

This has been a problem for me lately (in most distros I've used).

When I tried to upgrade from warty to hoary, I lost my X, and some stuff didnt work (I dont remember now).
When I upgraded debian (when sarge became stable), most things in apt-get collapsed because of the change of names.
So instead of having some headaches, I've decided that when Breezy hits stable, I will format the partition and install from scratch.

What will you do?

:eek: Was that really an issue?? For a distro that strives to be the most user-friendly one around, failing to provide a smooth upgrade is a major boo-boo...

However, I'm guessing that if there were widespread problems like yours going from warty to hoary (I can't comment personally...I switched over after hoary was released) it was because it was the first such release upgrade for Ubuntu. The Ubuntu developers are some of the best around...I bet the issues will be minimal this time around (and for the many, many releases in the future).

I say try the upgrade first.

Xian

August 1st, 2005, 03:16 AM

Was that really an issue?? For a distro that strives to be the most user-friendly one around, failing to provide a smooth upgrade is a major boo-boo...
My impression is that it should not be a problem.
However, when I did the Warty/Hoary upgrade I had no backports installed.

My understanding is that they will not cause upgrade issues.
We shall see.....:)

super

August 1st, 2005, 03:20 AM

yeah i`m surprised at the probs people have ran into upgrading.

i admit the upgrading could be a bit less painful but personally i only had a few minor issues upgrading. i had originally installed from a preview cd and had to upgrade after the final release. i ran into some xserver problems but nothing i couldn`t fix in a half hour.

can`t wait to check out breezy! especially the new GNOME. :D

Burgundavia

August 1st, 2005, 03:33 AM

Please give the upgrade path a lot of testing. The only way it can be made better is if you upgrade. So even if you are planning to reinstall, do an upgrade and report bugs on it.

Corey

super

August 1st, 2005, 03:35 AM

Please give the upgrade path a lot of testing. The only way it can be made better is if you upgrade. So even if you are planning to reinstall, do an upgrade and report bugs on it.

Corey

gotcha! will do! :cool:

RastaMahata

August 1st, 2005, 03:36 AM

Please give the upgrade path a lot of testing. The only way it can be made better is if you upgrade. So even if you are planning to reinstall, do an upgrade and report bugs on it.

Corey
nice idea. besides, I'm using backports too, so I would like to see how it goes ;)
So I hope someone gets some screenshots as soon as Breezy is released, so I can see the graphical installer (is this true?)

Burgundavia

August 1st, 2005, 03:55 AM

The graphical installer really is just a copier. Basically you boot the live cd and then click on the Ubuntu Express button to install the system.

My understanding is that you can do some customization and it will install those as well.

Corey

jeremy

August 1st, 2005, 05:30 AM

I will probably backup my /home then try to upgrade, if that proves to be very complicated, I'll do a fresh install of breezy.

benplaut

August 1st, 2005, 06:02 AM

Please give the upgrade path a lot of testing. The only way it can be made better is if you upgrade. So even if you are planning to reinstall, do an upgrade and report bugs on it.

Corey

rgr, will do! :)

Parkaboy

August 31st, 2005, 03:13 AM

I have upgraded from warty to hoary with no problem at all, however I usually preffer to install from the very beggining

Heliode

August 31st, 2005, 09:18 AM

I've upgraded a couple of machines from Warty to Hoary without any problems, but my primary workstation had trouble with the sound card (audigy 2) afterwards. Took some fidling to get it to come together but in the end it worked just fine...
I've also done a clean install of Hoary back then when I got my new laptop... results were pretty much the same.
I'll probably try the Hoary -> Breezy upgrade in VMWare first. I'm currently running the Breezy Beta in VMWare and I must say i'm very impressed with all the new stuff that hits the repo's every day.

weekend warrior

August 31st, 2005, 10:24 AM

Upgrade for me since I understand we won't be able to try the new graphical installer in Breezy. Anyway, that's one of the charms of Debian distros - no need to reinstall.

A-star

August 31st, 2005, 11:00 AM

format and reinstall.
This is not going to be a problem for me since I keep my /home which I keep on a separate partition.

foxy123

August 31st, 2005, 01:01 PM

I wonder when people are going to switch to Breezy as a primary OS? When it is officially released or some time before?

occy8

September 1st, 2005, 12:20 AM

I wonder when people are going to switch to Breezy as a primary OS? When it is officially released or some time before?

Ubuntu is my primary OS, Breasy will be the same when released.
Ubuntu is the first Linux distro I really got into and therefore messed around a lot.
So a clean reinstall will be the best and I want to use reiserfs this time.

poofyhairguy

September 1st, 2005, 12:59 AM

Upgrade to preview....reinstall for final.

xequence

September 1st, 2005, 03:55 AM

Ill probably upgrade. Ill copy my music and files to my xp partition and if ubuntu dies ill just try some other distros.

Deanodriver

September 1st, 2005, 04:04 AM

Reinstall.

Main reason is because I also want to purchase another hard drive (and go for SATA), may as well time it when Breezy is released. All I need to do is copy my /home to another drive, and reinstall. :)

Also, I want to go for reiserfs on my / partition (got it on my two files drives (named /files and /files2), but not on my OS drive)

Kyral

September 1st, 2005, 04:41 AM

Reinstall. For some reason my system doesn't like any kernel image besides the one that was installed. Anyway not like its hard, what with my /home on a separate partition

drummer

September 1st, 2005, 04:44 AM

Hobbsee

September 1st, 2005, 07:01 AM

I'm going to image my hdd, or at least the main linux directories and keep that as backup of my current config (it was a headache getting my tv card, wireless, etc working and want everything current backed up just in case). I'll then probably upgrade to breezy; and do a clean install, wiping my xp partition after i finish school ( 3 months :D ), when i have more time to go through reconfigging things.

Darn school and HSC, it definetly gets in the way....

I'll probably try upgrade, and if I have a problem with that, reinstall - it's not like I have terribly much to lose (in terms of documents) anyway...

Galoot

September 1st, 2005, 08:14 AM

Any suggestions for Linux noobs? Backup /home then upgrade, or backup /home then reinstall?

I suppose I'll try the former first and see how it goes, hoping to tell my Windows friends how easy it was. Then I'll wipe everything and reinstall.

(I like the text-based installer, too. The more I can see what's going on, the happier I am.)

trash

September 1st, 2005, 08:24 AM

I just did a clean install of Hoary for my mom, then i decided to check out Breezy for the hell of it.. dist-upgraded had a couple of errors in apt like perl/locals something(sorry I was distracted by a chaty friend), but Breezy booted up no problems... so now my mom will be running Breezy even before me! I'de always try an upgrade first cuz i've got nothing to lose by trying it... ok maybe an hour but thats worth it hehe.

Anybody know of an app that will clean up after an upgrade, i know there was talk of one for warty->hoary but i can't find what its called.

drummer

September 1st, 2005, 08:39 AM

Darn school and HSC, it definetly gets in the way....

I'll probably try upgrade, and if I have a problem with that, reinstall - it's not like I have terribly much to lose (in terms of documents) anyway...
<OT>
Are you doing HSC this year as well then? It's a pain.. I could be doing so many things I enjoy more right now (well, after i finish browsing the forums :P)
</OT>

Hobbsee

September 1st, 2005, 10:01 AM

<OT>
Are you doing HSC this year as well then? It's a pain.. I could be doing so many things I enjoy more right now (well, after i finish browsing the forums :P)
</OT>
<MORE OT>
Yeah, i finish on november 4, so i'm looking forward to that. And of course I loaded ubuntu (to stay) in a dual boot format the weekend before my trials, when I should have most definetly been studying! Oh well! It'll be interesting when i upgrade to breezy - probably just before the actual HSC starts, dont you think?

Forums are great, so are the games...anything to get away from schoolwork!
</MORE OT>

drummer

September 1st, 2005, 10:24 AM

oddabe19

September 1st, 2005, 02:49 PM

I've been dist-upgrading since Warty RC1 (I run breezy now).
Besides a few missing packages here and there, it was nice, but I've got alot of residual programs that aren't used anymore (i.e. Python 2.3 from warty).

I keep /home on a seperate partition (as you all should have.... you do.... don't you?). So a fresh install is easy for me, and that's what i'm going to do, because I need a fresh install (it's been over a year, and it shows).

I'm going to wipe my /boot /root reformat and reinstall (backing up home of course) that way i don't loose any prettyness i've grown to love and I keep my preferences. And at the same time I can take full advantage of new features without all the extra package mess.

Hobbsee

September 2nd, 2005, 03:27 AM

<EVEN MORE OT>(sorry guys)
I finish on the 4th too (Physics), hopefully i can hold off until then to install Breezy, but don't know if i'll be able to resist the temptation :P , XP will be the first thing to go when I upgrade, need to repartition to give Ubuntu more space (I'm sure it could do with an extra 20gig)... I've also just got a wacom pad from ebay which is proving a great tool for procrastination so far.. hehe.
</EVEN MORE OT>

good old physics...yuck. I still must learn all of that...

I say install it regardless - otherwise you will just end up wishing you could install it, and reading the forums to see what everyone thinks about it, and therefore procrastinate anyway.

drummer

September 2nd, 2005, 09:31 AM

good old physics...yuck. I still must learn all of that...

I say install it regardless - otherwise you will just end up wishing you could install it, and reading the forums to see what everyone thinks about it, and therefore procrastinate anyway.
Very true :D

aysiu

September 16th, 2005, 08:53 PM

I recently upgraded to Breezy. I have a tri-boot with XP and two versions of Ubuntu.

The Ubuntu I upgraded before the preview release of Breezy. I found my X got screwed up if I upgraded using a terminal inside of a Gnome session. When I upgraded in text-only, the upgrade went quite smoothly.

The Kubuntu I tried upgrading after the preview release came out. I upgraded within a KDE session, and the same thing happened. Then, I tried upgrading in text-only, and X was still screwed up. So I downloaded the ISO for the preview release and did a fresh install of Kubuntu. It all went quite smoothly.

This is just my experience, and this is just Breezy before the official release.

drogoh

September 16th, 2005, 09:35 PM

My $0.02 on the topic of upgrade or fresh install is: Upgrade if possible. Linux is much easier to upgrade, even major revisions, than other operating systems. Take FreeBSD's 4.x to 5.x migration for example.

My reasoning for this is simple: Ubuntu has Debian roots and as Debian users were able to easily go from Potato to Sid or Sarge to Sid, such things should not be very different with Ubuntu.

You may run into a couple of package conflicts along the way but it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

If you do not feel comfortable with this approach, by all means back your config files in /etc up and back your home director(y/ies) up and do a fresh install.

The latter will work, the former has a variable of maybe.

Leif

September 16th, 2005, 09:54 PM

I'm going to upgrade. Warty to hoary worked just fine for me, and I'm hoping breezy will be the same way.

I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised with the average experience with upgrading here though. Clearly it doesn't work all that well. And I've been touting the ease of upgrade to people with great pride. The comment that set me aback was oddabe's "because I need a fresh install (it's been over a year, and it shows)". I guess I'm just going to have to stop telling windows users that they have to reinstall every year because their OS is inferior.

angkor

September 16th, 2005, 10:10 PM

Definately upgrade.

If it goes *bork*, which I highly doubt, there's always the possibility of a re-install. I don't even bother backing up my /home (seperate partition) cause I will always be able to recover the data from that partition with a LiveCD or something.

Technoviking

September 16th, 2005, 10:16 PM

Probably re-install. Between having a twitching laptop, backports and OpenOffice2 installing from the script off the wiki a upgrade would probably not suceed.

Mike

Goober

September 17th, 2005, 12:02 AM

Just wondering, if you just Upgrade to Breezy, does all your saved stuff stay where it is? I remember Updating from Warty to Hoary (Ok, granted, the first time I tried it, I didn't have the foggiest of what I was doing), but I lost all my stuff I had saved. Will that happen again? Also, if I do an upgrade, will all the stuff I have installed still be there? I mean programs like VLC and Azureus and such.

I would much prefer not to have to totally re-install, I just lack the time for that.

ssck

September 17th, 2005, 02:11 AM

i would like to upgrade but it seems like there are issues with x, etc.as hoary is my primary work machine, what would be the best advice ?

aysiu

September 17th, 2005, 02:21 AM

i would like to upgrade but it seems like there are issues with x, etc.as hoary is my primary work machine, what would be the best advice ? My advice would be to wait until Breezy's officially released. It's still in the beta release phase right now. Then, back up your work, and update it. You can even use PartImage (http://www.partimage.org/) to make an exact replica of your partitions that can be restored should something go wrong.

ssck

September 17th, 2005, 02:48 AM

My advice would be to wait until Breezy's officially released. It's still in the beta release phase right now. Then, back up your work, and update it. You can even use PartImage (http://www.partimage.org/) to make an exact replica of your partitions that can be restored should something go wrong.

thank you for your advice.will do theupgrade once the stable release is out. :)

GreyFox503

September 17th, 2005, 06:41 AM

Since I'm unsure as how to procede (or whether the upgrade will be smooth), I will just try the easier way first (do the upgrade), and if I run into problems, then go ahead and reinstall. But I don't see the need to reinstall if I don't have to.

papangul

September 18th, 2005, 02:08 AM

I have decided to upgrade now, since I don't run any mission critical programs on my desktop, I can afford a few instability issues. Afterall, I have lived with instability for years, until recently. ;-)
Can any body please tell me if the backports repository is critical. ubuntuguide.org provides the following setting for upgrade to breezy:
http://ubuntuguide.org/sample/sources.list_upgradehoarytobreezy
the backports repository is mentioned for hoary in my current sources.list.

## Backports
deb http://ubuntu-backports.mirrormax.net/ hoary-backports main universe multiverse restricted
deb http://ubuntu-backports.mirrormax.net/ hoary-extras main universe multiverse restricted
Is it OK not to have that in the sources.list for breezy. Maybe this is a dumb question, I don't know what is "backports" repos.

FNM

September 18th, 2005, 02:20 AM

I might try and upgrade, and if it fails, or creates alot of problems, I'll just do a clean install.

racecat

September 18th, 2005, 02:51 AM

I'm fortunate enough to have 3 boxes and 6 drives to swap around and play with. So, while Hoary is my primary, I have Breezy loaded on another box to play with (I pulled my XP drive out of it; I just don't seem to need it any more).

Bill

jyank

September 18th, 2005, 02:57 AM

I upgraded about a week or two ago and everything went pretty smooth. But, when Breezy is finally released I'm going to do a fresh install because even though the upgrade went well, theres still some minor bugs/slowdown which I think are connected to the upgrade.

Qrk

September 18th, 2005, 03:05 AM

I always do a clean install. Over the six months using Ubuntu I get a lot of crap that I don't really need. Its just that I love to apt-surf, where I try out random programs in apt. After six months I reinstall and do it all over again. That way I only keep what I really need.

Goober

September 18th, 2005, 05:57 AM

Well, actually, I just had a thought. Would it be possible for me to install 5.10 on a partition of my HD (which is 160 Gb, my Linux HD), then copy over the files from 5.04 that I want to keep, and wipe out 5.04, and have the whole HD for 5.10? Or would that be too complicated?