Ubuntu upgrades (was Re:"NVidia is great!" - Umm, no?)

[Evan Leibovitch]

David Payne wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 31, 2007 at 12:13:32PM -0400, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
>   
>> I'm pissed that Kubuntu hosed my system without apology when I
>> tried to upgrade from Feisty to pre-release Gutsy. If it needs a
>> re-install to be done cleanly -- or if they simply can't get major
>> upgrades down properly -- they should be honest about it and at least
>> have a way to back out. But the new release is quite fine.)
>>     
>
> Like you say, Gusty is still pre-release.  You may not need  a re-install when they releace Gusty.  I think one should understand the risks when using Pre-release software.
>   
I'd be with you on this, except for the fact that I've had similar
failures in the past, doing full upgrades of versions that were not
pre-release. Ubuntu just can't get this right, and there are no
indications that anything has yet been learned from previous mistakes.
For this reason, I did multiple backups in anticipation of an upgrade
failure, and unfortunately the system lived down to my expectations in
this particular regard once again.

This is a substantial enough problem that I doubt it can be licked
before the planned release a little more than a month from now. (FWIW, I
haven't yet mentioned all the nagging little problems which I _do_
anticipate will be fixed before release.) I had at least expected by now
that they'd offer a method to test the results of an upgrade or back
out, but these haven' t emerged and certainly won't be in official
Ubuntu 7.10.

Ubuntu's a great distro -- and probably one I'll stick with -- but this
is a chronic weakness. Just be aware that chances of hosing your system
irreversibly when doing a full-release upgrade are high.

- Evan

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