I am running a basic Debian stable (Wheezy) using Xfce desktop ( installed from Debian Live CD).For me the attration of stable is the fact that, other than security, there are not constant upgrades to be dealt with.

However as a result of this thread http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...in-4175505941/ and also some discussion over at solydx forums I am wondering what will happen when Jessie goes stable.

Is it practical ( as opposed to theoretically possible - I know Debian issues detailed upgrade instructions) for an average desktop user to simply upgrade at that time or will a re-install be called for ?

It should be easy to do the upgrade. No re-install should be necessary. A simple "apt-get dist-upgrade" should do the job, assuming you have Stable in your sources.list. If you have Wheezy instead, you'll need to change that to either Stable or Jessie. If you intend to use whatever version of stable is current, then put stable there and you won't need to make any other changes.

Had you read that thread more carefully you'd noticed that OP is using an OLDstable (Squeeze) system, as to your Wheezy install. No need to panic, once Jessie is stable you'll find the detailed upgrade instructions you've already mentioned

The problem with having "stable" in the sources.list rather than the release codename ("squeeze", "wheezy" etc.) is that when the next release is made any further upgrade or install operations pull packages from the new "stable" without taking account of any other things that should be done first.

There can be quite big changes in the base system between stable releases (wheezy to jessie will involve moving the init system to systemd) and just pulling new packages without following the recommended (and tested) upgrade path in the release notes could cause lots of breakage.

It is MUCH better to prepare in advance for a dist-upgrade and perform the operation in a controlled manner at a suitable time.

In the linked thread, the OP was bitten by changes to the init script structure between squeeze and wheezy, where his existing scripts that had not been upgraded did not conform to what the upgraded init was expecting.
If he had followed a proper upgrade process as per the release notes, this would all have been upgraded properly at once.

I too would causion against changing your sources.list to "stable" as opposed to "wheezy" until you know more about what you are doing. I am using stable in my sources.list but I run an update/upgrade cycle every day to make sure my system is up to date all the time.

I will also be reading the release notes for Debian 8 before running said cycles when it is released.

All that said, Debian is designed to be upgraded. It actually upgrades very reliably if you know what you are doing. Get all your ducks in a row before doing so.

It is one of those basic things that work better if you, before hand, RTFM.

I think that they are stil a ways off, they still haven't fixed the
Atleast I haven't been able to fix it, on my system.

Thank you for the replies.

My original post may have been unclear , sorry - I was aware of the difference between having "wheezy" as opposed to "stable" in the sources list.

My enquiry was more of the nature as to whether it is practical , having read the relevant Debian upgrade notes, to do an upgrade ( rather than a re-install) . The consensus here seems to be that an upgrade is indeed practical

There are people using this board that are still running upgraded systems that go back several versions.

I prefer a clean install because I tend to add and remove a lot of packages, that is to say I play with my system way too much because it is so much fun. This builds up a lot of cruft.

There are a number of tools duplicating all your installed packages and saving your ~./foo files comes in handy for configuring the new install.

If you haven't messed with your system much and you make a good backup of data, or the whole install first if you are really paranoid, a version upgrade should be faster. And should go fine.

I have used Debian's on-line version upgrade to go from Lenny to Squeeze to Wheezy with no issues whatsoever. If you follow Debian's instructions carefully, you should be okay. I use my Debian box as my home file server, not as my primary "do stuff on" computer.

Nevertheless, make preparations in case something does go wrong. Back stuff up just as if you were going to install from scratch--if all goes well, just delete the back-ups (at least the ones you don't want to keep as a matter of good back-up practice).

I do, too, so that's what I always do with Debian. But a good friend of mine is just the opposite -- he's been taking the upgrade path for years now. After everything he's told me, I'd feel comfortable doing that, if I wanted to go that route.

I have a number of boxes (production servers and desktops) that started life as Etch 4.0 and are now on Wheezy.
I've only reinstalled clean when moving from 32 to 64bit. (or for a brand new instance - unless I can clone an existing one for the purpose).
My current daily drive started out on a desktop running Lenny and has moved to 2 different laptops and has been Sid since upgrading from Squeeze.
(I'm not a very good person to give advice about the installer ... it's been a while since I used it )

My homeserver started as Lenny installation, was upgraded to Squeeze and later to Wheezy, without any problems. Of course reading the release notes is mandatory, especially when upgrading from Wheezy to Jessie, when a new init system will get the default status.