You shouldn't upgrade between major Ubuntu (-based) releases like that, as it doesn't account for certain configuration changes, you are bound to hose your system if you do it that way. Ubuntu has another script 'do-release-upgrade', but I'm not sure if Mint has it as well. I do know the recommended way to upgrade Mint is to do a full reinstall while preserving $HOME. There are step-by-step instructions how to do an in-place upgrade somewhere on the Mint site, I followed those once (14 to 15 I think) and it worked perfectly, but it's not recommended.
I guess I'll just hold off until I stop getting browser updates then. It's a major hose-off flashing a USB disk, rebooting, clicking partitions, etc. Best to avoid that.
Does linux mint allow to upgrade directly in that way? I remember that older version would suggest to reinstall the os and strongly discourage a dist-upgrade.
At the time that was the only reason I avoided mint
Huh. I would consider it a good sign, a sign that the designers of Mint care about reliability and know how to achieve it even though they probably have fewer developer-hours to devote to a new release than the big distros have.
Not sure I agree. I changed /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list to use qiana and trusty (coming from petra), fired off apt-get update and dist-upgrade, hit "Y" every time it asked if a config file should be replaced, and ended up with a great system.
It just doesn't seem like a very hard problem to solve.
And, despite what the Mint guys claim, Ubuntu appears to have solved it just fine.
You have confused luck in following an unsupported set of steps for your particular configuration and set of installed packages with a solution to the general problem. There was no guarantee your system would continue to function, nor is there any guarantee that your system is not now broken in a subtle, yet-unnoticed way, nor is there any guarantee that your process will work for anyone else, nor that it will work for future releases.
This is the same mindset that blows up production systems with ad-hoc maladministration instead of following sound, documented procedures created with the input of people who actually understand the system and thoroughly tested in advance.
You talking to me? I never said I had the solution to the general problem. I only said that it doesn't seem like as big a problem as the Mint guys claim.
True, I did say that Ubuntu has solved this problem. For them, dist-upgrades are well understood and not blind luck. If you're disagreeing with that statement, I'd like to hear more.
For them, dist-upgrades are well understood and not blind luck.
Ubuntu specifically tells you not to do a dist-upgrade, so your supposed evidence of how easy it must be doesn't even pass the smell test. The "correct" upgrade process is do-release-upgrade.
Unfortunately, that process still is not a complete solution, as demonstrated by the multiple clusterfucks I've had to clean up when people tried to use their upgrade process.
Even if they had succeeded, that would tell you nothing -- Ubuntu is a commercial operation with a substantial amount of money behind it. Linux Mint is not. ReactOS would be a perfect Windows clone if everything a funded corporation accomplished were easy.
Just a warning, I tried the same when upgrading from nadia to petra, and because I had compiled from source my Intel graphics driver, it screwed horribly and I spent hours trying to remove or recompile and reinstall it without success.
In the end, reinstalling Mint from a USB drive (preserving $HOME) took just a few minutes and the driver worked instantly.
So don't forget about this kind of dependencies before considering a dist-upgrade.
Comments
How do I update from 16?
You shouldn't upgrade between major Ubuntu (-based) releases like that, as it doesn't account for certain configuration changes, you are bound to hose your system if you do it that way. Ubuntu has another script 'do-release-upgrade', but I'm not sure if Mint has it as well. I do know the recommended way to upgrade Mint is to do a full reinstall while preserving $HOME. There are step-by-step instructions how to do an in-place upgrade somewhere on the Mint site, I followed those once (14 to 15 I think) and it worked perfectly, but it's not recommended.
I guess I'll just hold off until I stop getting browser updates then. It's a major hose-off flashing a USB disk, rebooting, clicking partitions, etc. Best to avoid that.
Does linux mint allow to upgrade directly in that way? I remember that older version would suggest to reinstall the os and strongly discourage a dist-upgrade.
At the time that was the only reason I avoided mint
The documentation still discourages a dist-upgrade but at least includes it as an option.
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2
Huh. I would consider it a good sign, a sign that the designers of Mint care about reliability and know how to achieve it even though they probably have fewer developer-hours to devote to a new release than the big distros have.
Not sure I agree. I changed /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list to use qiana and trusty (coming from petra), fired off apt-get update and dist-upgrade, hit "Y" every time it asked if a config file should be replaced, and ended up with a great system.
It just doesn't seem like a very hard problem to solve.
And, despite what the Mint guys claim, Ubuntu appears to have solved it just fine.
EDIT: upgraded from petra, not olivia
You have confused luck in following an unsupported set of steps for your particular configuration and set of installed packages with a solution to the general problem. There was no guarantee your system would continue to function, nor is there any guarantee that your system is not now broken in a subtle, yet-unnoticed way, nor is there any guarantee that your process will work for anyone else, nor that it will work for future releases.
This is the same mindset that blows up production systems with ad-hoc maladministration instead of following sound, documented procedures created with the input of people who actually understand the system and thoroughly tested in advance.
You talking to me? I never said I had the solution to the general problem. I only said that it doesn't seem like as big a problem as the Mint guys claim.
True, I did say that Ubuntu has solved this problem. For them, dist-upgrades are well understood and not blind luck. If you're disagreeing with that statement, I'd like to hear more.
Ubuntu specifically tells you not to do a dist-upgrade, so your supposed evidence of how easy it must be doesn't even pass the smell test. The "correct" upgrade process is do-release-upgrade.
Unfortunately, that process still is not a complete solution, as demonstrated by the multiple clusterfucks I've had to clean up when people tried to use their upgrade process.
Even if they had succeeded, that would tell you nothing -- Ubuntu is a commercial operation with a substantial amount of money behind it. Linux Mint is not. ReactOS would be a perfect Windows clone if everything a funded corporation accomplished were easy.
> It just doesn't seem like a very hard problem to solve.
For any given problem, only people who have not tried to solve it will say that.
What about people who have watched others solve it?
Just a warning, I tried the same when upgrading from nadia to petra, and because I had compiled from source my Intel graphics driver, it screwed horribly and I spent hours trying to remove or recompile and reinstall it without success.
In the end, reinstalling Mint from a USB drive (preserving $HOME) took just a few minutes and the driver worked instantly.
So don't forget about this kind of dependencies before considering a dist-upgrade.