Mike C wrote: > Indeed - and in addition as far as I am aware the depsolv bug that hit > many people trying to upgrade was a problem with trying to upgrade rather > than > clean install. There is a method I use where all the user areas and /opt > are kept on a non-root partition and before installing a new system I make > a backup copy of all the /etc /var /root files on the non-root partition. > Then I do a clean install on the root partition, and do not add users > apart > from root. Then I copy back the password data for the users and ensure > that the previous /opt and /home partitions are visible - and then edit > back the important files from /etc /var and /root and that is it - reboot > and I am on the new system after a clean install - I might write this up > in detail as a web page so others can see it if they wish to try this > method - but in general it gives a much better result than trying to > upgrade. It is also quicker in the long run. This seems to me more or less useless advice unless you say what you consider the "important files", and how you "edit" them. Also you'd have to say what services you are running. A HOWTO that said that would indeed be useful. I don't think most people are worried about the time it takes. They are worried that the new system may not work. In my view it is much better to upgrade first. Then if the upgrade works and you want, do a clean install. (I do a clean install on a separate partition.)
