Hi, On Thu, Dec 26, 2024 at 07:39:23PM +0100, Thomas Anderson wrote: > I have been delayed with upgrading my debian distro, and want to upgrade to > 12. According to the documentation, I should remove all non-debian > applications first, before upgrading. Almost all the applications I use are > non-debian (postfix, dovecot, apache, mysql, etc..), so it almost makes it > seem like I should just do a full new install??
The advice to "remove all non-Debian applications first" means to remove things installed from non-Debian package repositories. It seems unlikely that you have installed postfix, dovecot, apache, mysql, etc. from outside of Debian, i.e. from third party repositories. If you have installed them from the main Debian archive then that's fine. > Thinking out loud, I guess best bet would be to backup the systems most > important to me (outside of clonezilla), and just re-apply the configuration > files after a re-install of the required software systems? Do you really need to remove any software? Most people don't need to. > "What is the difference between upgrading my system (after remove all > non-debian apps) and simply doing a brand new, clean install??" > > "Is one better than the other?? If you have good backups of your configuration and user data and a good understanding of what will change with the new versions of all your apps then a reinstall can often make for a shorter downtime than an in-place upgrade. Taken to the extreme, one can automate a reinstall a bit easier than one can automate an upgrade, and have it done in a matter of minutes. The hardest part of any upgrade is when the new versions of the packages are configured in different ways. You can go into it blind either with a reinstall or an upgrade and who knows how long it will take for you to work out what has changed, how it changed and how to make it work again. Sometimes when the changes are extensive (like a whole restructuring of config layout for example) then trying to change in place what you had before to what is now required can be rather confusing, while looking what the new default is and adjusting that to be how you want may be easier. It is still largely a matter of taste and I expect you will get replies saying they have never reinstalled since Debian 0.90 and never had a problem. I upgrade in place a lot, sometimes even when I know it will probably be faster/simpler to reinstall. Thanks, Andy -- https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting
