When to Re-Install the OS?

[Shibblet]

My primary machines are on 20.04, I don't know if I'll go to 22.04 or wait for 24.04.

I really like the changes in the Plasma Desktop, as well as the Open Source AMD Drivers in the 21.10 Release of Kubuntu. I will happily go 22.04 when it releases.

What sparked this question, was that I seemed to be installing an OS every 6 months or so... 20.04, 20.10, 21.04, 21.10... And I hadn't really let my OS stay on my machine for over 6 months.

I saw plenty of articles stating that you should re-install Windows 10 at least once a year. Primarily when a new system update came out. People claimed that it ran better with a clean install. I just wondered if Ubuntu (or it's derivatives) had a similar issue. But from what everyone is saying, Ubuntu doesn't work that way.

[kurt18947]

I have an install that I use as a test machine. I use it to try out commands and software that I feel might make a machine unrecoverable or unreliable. It's probably quicker to simply reinstall than to undo the damage. No data to be concerned with so nuke and repave.

[DuckHook]

I saw plenty of articles stating that you should re-install Windows 10 at least once a year. Primarily when a new system update came out. People claimed that it ran better with a clean install. I just wondered if Ubuntu (or it's derivatives) had a similar issue. But from what everyone is saying, Ubuntu doesn't work that way.

As hard as I try to maintain a squeaky clean system, cruft invariably creeps into it. Things are way better in the last two years since I've started installing new apps into containers, but the vast majority of users don't do that, and it's hard to be so ascetic that one never tries new apps. The leftover config files, changes, orphaned libraries, and now, registry entries/changes will invariably pull a system further and further offside.

I recently experienced a frustrating example of this.

I have three different OS partitions on my main box, two of which are meant to be redundant dependable main usage OSes always running the latest LTS versions. Both partitions have their important data directories linked to the same data files (on yet another partition), so I can access the same browser history, emails, VMs, etc. no matter which partition I'm using. I try to keep both DEs as similar as possible, as simple as possible and as default as possible.

When my old video card gave up the ghost, I installed a new one that was actually too new for Focal. The default AMDGPU driver runs like a pig in a poke on this card and I had to try the proprietary binary. To my consternation, the proprietary driver installs in one OS, but not in the other. For some reason, it chokes with dependency conflicts. Therefore, although I swear the two OSes are as identical as I can make them, I have to run one OS on the inefficient FOSS driver, but get the benefit of performance and full functionality on its twin.

I must have made some change to one OS that I didn't do to the second, but for the life of me, I don't know what I did. But because I have one partition that works well, I haven't bothered to chase down the dependency conflicts on the other.

My point is that even small changes can have big consequences. Just as importantly, such changes can be so subtle that one can't even remember or guess what they are. So, a clean install can indeed give one a clean start. When Jammy is released, I will not be doing a network upgrade on the problem partition. I will instead do a virgin install. The ironic thing is that I won't need the proprietary driver with Jammy. That third partition I mentioned at the start? That is the one I use for experimentation. It has Impish on it and its native FOSS driver runs my new video card tickety‑boo.

I have an install that I use as a test machine. I use it to try out commands and software that I feel might make a machine unrecoverable or unreliable. It's probably quicker to simply reinstall than to undo the damage. No data to be concerned with so nuke and repave.

Have you considered a container or a VM? Most of us have the urge to test drive stuff, but I've found a largely trouble‑free way to do so is to install the app in a VM or a container. Since these platforms have the ability to make snapshots, there's no need to even re-install. Just roll back to the previous snapshot and its like the damage never happened. I do that with all new apps these days. You might find that it saves you a lot of time.

[kurt18947]

.......................
Have you considered a container or a VM? Most of us have the urge to test drive stuff, but I've found a largely trouble‑free way to do so is to install the app in a VM or a container. Since these platforms have the ability to make snapshots, there's no need to even re-install. Just roll back to the previous snapshot and its like the damage never happened. I do that with all new apps these days. You might find that it saves you a lot of time.

I haven't had the time or inclination to venture into the world of VM or containers. Something for down the road I imagine.