update & upgrade or reinstall?

FatRakoon · 20 Mar 2016 at 13:16

I am obviously missing something here, but, I was wondering whether simply making sure my systems are up to date is the same or not, as doig a new install with my Linux Machines?

For example:-
My Laptop is currently on MiNT 17.2 and it is fully up to date.
Would I benefit in any way, if I was to simply reinstall MiNT, using the 17.3 Distro?
Similarly, my Linux PC, is using Sabayon 15.03 and the same question goes with my latest ISO?

With KDE, How do I find out what the core version is on these distros? - or cn I find out if I am still on 17.2 or whether it has upgraded to 17.3, or will it always be 17.2 just with all the updates?

Am I clear in asking these? Im confusing myself now LOL

I could use uname but it does not quite give me the info Im after, or Im too thick to realise that it does.

KIA · 20 Mar 2016 at 19:51

You should read https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2

joeyjojo · 20 Mar 2016 at 20:41

17.3 (Rosa) has a nice automated upgrade tool from 17.2. It popped up on my mint machine when it came out and was very easy.

In general though complete reinstalls are more straightforward. If you keep /home on a separate partition it becomes very easy to switch around.

FatRakoon · 20 Mar 2016 at 22:51

KIA said:
You should read https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2

Ok, I will have a look in a few minutes. Thank you.

joeyjojo said:
17.3 (Rosa) has a nice automated upgrade tool from 17.2. It popped up on my mint machine when it came out and was very easy.

it popped up for you?
Ok, I never saw it myself on mine, and thats a cool thing to do, but itsz not a long term solution is it? it is only 17.2 to 17.3 but does that also include 17.1 and even earlier versions?

joeyjojo said:
In general though complete reinstalls are more straightforward. If you keep /home on a separate partition it becomes very easy to switch around.

Absolutely and that is EXACTLY how I have it.

My Laptops all have had their DVD removed and swapped for a Caddy so that I can use an SSD for C: or root and a standard HD in the caddy as D: or home.

In the case of both my Linux Laptop and Desktop PC, I am using a 120GB SSD with2 partitions

The first being ext4fs and thats "/" and then a swap typically of 8192MB and then the second HD is always /home.

Whenever I do a fresh install, almost every time, I dont need to format /home as that keeps the settings for most things and of course the data.

Doing this within the same distro like mint is fine, but going between various distros can, and often is, flaky!

Edward78 · 20 Mar 2016 at 23:57

joeyjojo said:
17.3 (Rosa) has a nice automated upgrade tool from 17.2. It popped up on my mint machine when it came out and was very easy.

In general though complete reinstalls are more straightforward. If you keep /home on a separate partition it becomes very easy to switch around.

No popups here about a upgrade, what do I open to upgrade?

joeyjojo · 21 Mar 2016 at 11:01

I can't remember exactly as it was a few months ago. I think it appeared as a little bar in the software update window.

Or

2. To upgrade to Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa in the menu of the Update Manager, click edit, where you should see the line - upgrade to Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa:

https://mintguide.org/system/548-official-update-linux-mint-from-17-2-to-17-3-rosa.html

Outcast · 22 Mar 2016 at 11:02

Remember though that if you have /Home on a separate partition and you re-install that /Home is where your .config files live and strange things can...and do occur !

I know.. Victim of experience.

FatRakoon · 22 Mar 2016 at 17:24

I am aware yes, and this a very handy thing, because it means that many things are kept, so after a fresh install, many apps still work exactly as I left them before the install and thats exactly what I want for the most part.
I can always go in and delete any bits that I dont want to keep, and indeed, simply renaming the user name folder will allow me to still use the same name I always do for the user, but I can then copy the files I need and just dlete the rest of the junk. This more often than not requires me to chown/chgrp to free it up, depending on the distro really.

But yeah, sometimes it goes in smooth as silk, and other times it completely fails, and again, this seem to depend on what distro to what other distro???