[colug-432] Install new version at / ?

[Rick Hornsby]

On Wed, Jun 11, 2014 at 3:04 PM, Roberto C. Sánchez <roberto at connexer.com>
wrote:

> I've not used Mint, but after reading that page I only have one
> question: "Why?!?!"
>
> As a distribution, Debian goes to great lengths to make sure that one
> release can be easily and painlessly upgraded to the next.  Why on earth
> would a Debian-based distribution break this amazingly valuable feature?
> Or, if they don't break it, why characterize it as "slow, unreliable,
> risky, complicated"?  I don't mean to cast aspersions, to someone
> familiar with Debian's reputation for reliability and the ease of the
> upgrade process, such a statement reeks of ignorance or malice.
>

I think you have a point, but I wonder if the key to your question is here:

> This way of upgrading Linux Mint should only be recommended to advanced
users.

>From reading that page, it feels like the warning and suggestion to not try
to upgrade (rather, reinstall) is really targeted at non-advanced users.

An inexperienced user may have monkeyed around with the system, or
installed things from a third party, in ways that the upgrade process
cannot predict or handle.  They try the upgrade, it gets part way through
and either can't complete -- or it completes and something is broken.  Now
the user is mad because the Mint upgrade sucks and broke his Linux!
 Frankly, as far as I'm concerned,  rather than blame the upgrade process,
that's a great way to learn both what not to do and how to fix it (which
may mean a full reinstall).
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