Upgrade versus fresh install
 

I finally want to upgrade from 10.0 to 10.2. I am trying to decide between a fresh install and doing an upgrade. When I went from 9.? to 10.0, I did the upgrade route without much trouble as I recall.

I guess the piece of an upgrade I'm most wary about is the jump from KDE 3.3 to 3.4 since when I've looked at upgrading KDE on my SuSE box it looks like a bit of nightmare.

Suggestions? Advice?

Also, if I can slip another question in, I've never quite wrapped my head around getting current. I know how to download a package and install it, but how does one efficeintly determine which packages to make current? I hope what I'm asking makes sense, I'm only on my first cup of coffee. :)

Thanks

I would be wary about upgrading straight from 10.0 to 10.2 without going through 10.1. I have tried upgrading and skipping a release and ended up with a broken installation.

I kind of agree w/arubin. Also, a clean install lets you get rid of the old crap that's just laying around the hdd not doing anything. Just remember to back up your special config files you have slaved over, and any d/l'd stuff you can't live without.

You can TRY installing 10.2 over 10.0.....It may work. Just keep in mind that if you do, you may need to cfdisk the hdd afterwards and start from a blank slate.

Well, I don't totally agree.
I jumped from 10.0 to 10.2 in a "single" jump (well, they were more like lots of mini-jumps). I ended with a workable installation, but with a few packages which had been removed still wandering around.
The basic is to run in single-user, upgrade glibcs first and then the pkgtools, then I went upgrading a/ l/ and ap/, and then everything else. Between every step I've made a few checks to make sure nothing was wrong (I can't remember if anything went wrong at somepoint... but I'd bet it did). I read the HOWTOs on upgrading Slackware before and after (to make sure I didn't missed a thing). And then started reading through the changelogs (both, 10.1 and 10.2) to remove stuff which should not be there and some special notes which Pat might have made.

Also: I didn't update kernel stuff (kernel nor alsa) when I did the jump (I was running a custom kernel anyway).

If you ask me, it is a BAD idea. It's much safer to make a different partition for /home (where you save your data) and /usr/local (to install custom software) and /, and just reinstall over / (AND make sure the installer DOESN'T format /home and /usr/local).

But if you are willing to the danger... go ahead, remember that even if you end up with an unbootable system your data should still be there... you will just need to boot from another media (like a LiveCD or a USB disk/pen or the Slack 10.0 CD2) and copy valuable data and either reinstall or try to fix the problem (I'd prefer the later, it's a rewarding experience when you just fix something screwed :) )

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EDIT:
As for your Slackware -current question I just need 2 things:
-A web browser (or kslackcheck which could be found somewhere in the kde-look.org site) to look the Slackware-current change log (http://www.slackware.com/changelog/current.php?cpu=i386)
-I like to use Slackpkg to keep up with Slackware -current (it comes in the extra/ directory of your CDs or favorite mirror). But be aware that it could bring you back to a pasture/ version of a package if you're not careful enough.

Slackpkg could also help you to upgrade to 10.2. Look /etc/slackpkg/mirrors for info.

I haven't done a slack upgrade yet, but I've had mixed results with other distributions. I upgraded Mandrake 10 to Mandriva 2005, and that went really well, but it was the next release. I tried upgrading Fedora Core 1 to Fedora Core 5, and completely lost all X functionality, and had to do a fresh install anyway.

I say go for the upgrade. Just back everything up first. If it doesn't work, you get the opportunity to enjoy installing again :)

Upgrading will probably work, but, back-up your critical files. I'm running 10.2 on two boxes and am very happy with them.
I'll be doing clean installs of 11.0:-)

Upgrading might work, but you keep all the old gnome stuff of 10.0 which 10.2 hasn´t anymore.
If your 10.0 installation contains any gnome packages and dependencies don´t forget this if you make a decision.

Thanks for all the great advice. I am leaning towards a clean install. My /home is on a separate partition, so as long as I don't do anything stupid, that will be fine and gives me a place to backup some important files.

With the KDE upgrade, should I nuke my ~/.kde directory?