[ale] supported upgrading for debian and ubuntu [was: Re: Ubuntu help]

[James Sumners]

I suppose I have never actually waited for a second release before
upgrading. That would be a very silly thing to do with a Debian
machine.

2009/1/26 Daniel Kahn Gillmor <dkg at fifthhorseman.net>:
> On 01/25/2009 10:14 PM, James Sumners wrote:
>> I call BS on that. Ubuntu is derivative of Debian. Unless they have
>> royally screwed up apt, then editing the sources.list and doing
>> `apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade` will upgrade any older
>> version to any newer version.
>
> Actually, debian doesn't support doing upgrades across multiple releases
> at the same time either.  e.g. if you had a sarge machine, and tried to
> do the upgrade directly to lenny (skipping etch), it wouldn't be
> guaranteed to work, and if you reported bugs about such an upgrade, the
> likely response would be "don't do that; upgrade from release to release".
>
> At any rate, even for release to release upgrades, it's not apt itself
> that makes debian's upgrade process so famously smooth and stable; it's
> actually debian's well-formulated policy (and rigorous adherence to it)
> that provides the baseline guarantees.  apt is a necessary technical
> component, but it's not sufficient.
>
> ubuntu uses apt, but it does not explicitly adhere to debian's policies
> afaict.
>
>        --dkg
>



-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
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