Lately I've been thinking about updating my 14.2 systems to Current.

I don't need to update. My current hardware is well covered by 14.2. After 15.0 is released I would not mind buying newer AMD based hardware. So Current/15.0 is in my future one way or another.

Since using Slackware with 10.0, the only time I performed a fresh install was moving from 32-bit to 64-bit. Otherwise, perhaps remarkably I have updated each release in line. There were always speed bumps with each update, but nothing to scream about.

There are so many changes in the next release. I am wondering whether the volume of changes might lean toward a fresh install. The caveat is 16 years of customizing and tweaking that need to be migrated too. When I moved from 32-bit to 64-bit the dust shaking and settling took a few months because of little corner case issues that don't bubble out immediately.

I suspect that whether I choose to update or install fresh, this specific release will require more sweat equity than with past releases.

This isn't a critical discussion. Perhaps other Slackers are pondering the same question. Just looking for opinions on updating vs. a fresh install!

I have ran 64-current since it came out. I reinstalled a fresh current about two years ago, just to clean out old cruft from builds and such. I have an old partition with the previous install still viable. From the old install, I copied over settings and other stuff that I wanted to keep - pics and docs, etc. I have all the space in the world, so if I need to clean install, the work isn't that much. That said, it still takes a few days to get it all. But at least I'm not in a hurry in case I forget something. I keep an iso updated with Alien's mirror script.

I also started with Slackware 10.0; it's been an awesome 16 years of Slacking.
I am at the moment running Slackware64-current on all 5 of my desktops and laptops so when 15.0 arrives I'll just change my mirror in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors and have it point to 15.0 on several of my units. I'll likely keep a few units on -current.
I guess it depends on how adventurous you're feeling. For me If I was going to move from 14.2 to 15.0 I would back-up everything and do a clean install of 15.0 and then bring in my back-ups. It sounds to me like you thoroughly enjoy upgrading to new releases!
If you do upgrade from 14.2 to 15.0 that may give you an opportunity to document the process for other people considering that move; that would make a very informative, useful post here on LQ.
I'm looking forward to 15.0.

I also cut my teeth on Slackware 10 (after migrating from Mandrake). Impressive that you've been able to keep current going like you have - a testament to the robustness of Slackware's current branch.

With LVM, doing that type of stuff is easy-peasy (assuming you don't fully allocate your physical volumes).

I think I still haven't nuked all of my old 32 bit logical volumes on one machine at home; I should go do that. That was a 13.37 32 bit install, if I remember correctly.

Good point. Fortunately file storage never has and won't ever be a problem for me. Long ago, going back to my MS-DOS days, possibly even my 1980s Amiga days, I segregated data storage from the operating system. Seemed so common sensible to me. These days I can't fathom the overall Windows design with the way files are stored in line with the operating system. I mildly empathize with people when their Windows crashes and they lose precious data. Then again, even way back then I found the whole A:, B:, C: designations to just be -- weird. Oddly, even in the late 1980s when I first used MS-DOS, I asked what happens when exceeding 26 devices? Unlikely that anybody could actually afford that many devices, but the question -- bothered me. And I wasn't even into 'nix back then.

Hmm. You must have been talking to that fly on the wall in the house. I have considered just that. I was waiting for some of the known missing links. Then again, perhaps a pre-pre-pre beta article might still be useful.

I took that road. I still have my original store bought Mandrake CDs, which included source CDs. I give Gael Duval credit for what he accomplished in those days, although burpmi frustrated me a lot. Then again, perhaps the dial-up connection was the root cause of my urpmi frustrations.

Oh no, not Current, just official releases. Nonetheless a testament to Slackware design to be able to update in place all those years with only minor bumps. Funny or odd thing is, outside the 32-bit to 64-bit migration, I never considered doing a fresh install. Updating in place seemed natural and normal. Just that this time around seems the changes are massive.

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upnort, you are my hero! Sincerely! I find so many of your posts relevant to things I'm experiencing/doing/finding in Slackware that I've wondered if you're watching me through secretly placed cameras at times...

With that out of the way, every time that I upgrade to a new version of Slackware stable (the earliest I remember using is 8.1 but I might have played with Slackware earlier than that), I create a tar archive file of my /etc directory, leave the /home directory untouched (unformatted during the install) and then blow away the rest with a clean install. Each time, I increment my "regular" username by one (let's see, this /home directory contains /home/lumpy1 through /home/lumpy8) so as to have a fresh, clean /home/lumpy(?) directory while retaining all of my configuration files for desktops, conkys and such. Between the old /home directories and the tar archive of the /etc from the previous installs, it usually doesn't take me too long to be up and running. As someone else mentioned, I like to clean out all of the cruft from various failed experiments and such where I damaged my installation and had to patch it back to precarious health.

I don't upgrade to every stable "point" release, but have hit all of the major upgrades since Slackware 8.

Maybe it's time to clean out some of the "early lumpys" from the /home directory. I don't know the last time I referred to some of them. Sort of nostalgic about them, though--tough to let 'em go.

All of this, BTW, is for my main workstation. The servers in my home network usually keep running whatever they're on until support ends at which point they jump to the latest stable release. The upgrade method is similar, but it usually results in a week or two of scrambling until the various corner cases present themselves, notes from previous solutions are consulted, DuckDuckGo is scoured for answers and pleas are made in various online fora.

Best,
Uncle Lumpy

The answer to this question is: It depends. I say that because I think that if you have a lot of custom built additional software, then it may be best to do a clean installation. Personally, I like to run as "clean" as possible, with as few additions as I can get away with. My preference is toward the software which is already installed, and I will usually only add things when absolutely necessary. Eg: my daily basher is straight 64 bit (i.e. no multi-lib) with only 30 additional packages from SBo... and that serves all of my purposes, including gaming... although I probably should note that I don't play modern games, and among those 30 packages there are 3 emulators.

Most of my other customisations go under /usr/local... which leads into my next point:
When partitioning a primary drive for Linux, I always create 3 equal sized partitions immediately after the swap partition. On this machine they're 50G each. The purpose of doing this is so that I can install different versions of Slackware alongside each other. The one which ends up becoming my daily driver gets set up to mount my home partition.

This allows me to switch to a new version, while retaining access to the customisations I may have made to solve specific problems. Step 1 whenever I switch to a new version is to copy the contents of the entire /usr/local tree over.
Fresh install for me... But if I was going to upgrade, I'd wait until 15.0 is released, and then thoroughly read the Upgrade-Howto which will likely be on the installation disc.

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Remember what Red Green said, "I'm pullin' for ya -- we're all in this together!"

We're on the same page -- I have partitions made for that too. I also maintain clone disks -- I can restore any partition in a few minutes.

Basically the way of upgrading has already been documented. https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sl...:systemupgrade

I went from 14.2 to current 5.4.12 how did it go ? Well my empirical observation is that deep technical knowledge is not as important as approach or philosophy - I of course follow the philosophy of gino d'acampo

How did it go - like a dream and still using it. Why simple i have complete faith in the docs, made sure I read it several times and followed it to the letter. That documentation also states I can use the same process to go from current to 15 stable when it comes out , from the top of my head simply by changing slackpkg mirror from current to stable 15 but the rest of the procedure will be the same starting with getting the new kernels as packages and installing them.

I think this is a question most long time Slackware users ask them selves. When it comes to Linux, I've been with Slackware from the beginning. I cannot remember the last time I did a fresh install on this system. It has been a few years. An educated guess would be around 2004. Like you @upnort, I come from an age of data separate from system (think DOS and OS/2). I still follow that principle.

This system has gone through three computers. With each new computer or hard drive (been a few of those too) I simply transfer this system from the old, via direct copy of a backup restore. I remember the last fresh install took a while to find and iron out the miscues in configuration files. I try to document the changes I make but always seem to miss a few.

I honestly can't remember when I switched to Slackware64-current. If I had to guess perhaps 13.37 or 14.0, then again 12.0 rings bells for me. It could have been to take advantange of Alien Bob's ktown too. I've been with current for a while at any rate.

I am thinking of doing a fresh install on this system with the release of 15.0. To be honest, I think of doing this after each release. I end up skipping the fresh install and just keep it going. You know that old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I am certain there are orphans on this system and a few configuration files that have been modified that I have forgoten about. I still may do this fresh install. I have a daily backups that go back several months to fall back on. Before I do, I will also have a pre-do-the-deed "frozen" backup to draw from.

I can regurgitate what's been said already:

1. Multi partition for parallel Slcakware releases ( old, new ( and -current perhaps) ) with gradual transition from old to new...
2. if the install has a high value payload or some particular customization (SMTP server or whatever) upgrade might be well worth it, besides learning experience
3. possibly storing a final snapshot before formatting the obsolete running partition to a flash drive

From my experience, I usually start leaning on the new release after about half a year or so - due to the SBo lag, which I expect to be quite shorter this time due to efforts of many and our hero ponce.

I'm aware of the official documentation, thank you. I was thinking more of his take on things, a personal journey.

Oooh.. hardware.. new.. shiny!

Anyway.

How I usually do things (wrt upgrading my systems);

Going from one version to a different (presumably newer one);
Full reinstall.

Going from -current to -proper;
Full reinstall.

"Traditionally" I have tended to keep my systems on the latest -proper version.
Right after 14.2 came out I quite soon started going with -current instead. This was, to begin with, only on my primary workstation, but I now have multiple (most of the machines I have on and use from day-to-day) on -current.
I did not have any particular reason to start using -current besides wanting to be able to help out on finding potential problems with it. It has (for the most part) been very stable for me.

If I where to go from a -current which haven't been updated for a really long while, I would tend to want to do a full reinstall, but YMMV.

I do update all -current machines I keep on within a short while, usually. Sometimes I wait for some days (or so), if a reboot is too impractical for some reason (mostly on primary workstation).

So what is a full reinstall (to me)?

Disk setups may vary, obviously, but essentially, back up important data (including /etc just in case).
I would normally also create a new, empty home directory for my primary user and pull in data from the old one if needed. I may or may not copy in stuff like mail directories and particular other software configs. Sometimes it's good to just not since old config might not be too compatible with the new programs anymore. Especially if it's been a while.

If data either is not on separate partitions or (even better) separate disks, I could do a; boot from stick, delete everything but -say- /home, rename particular home directory, and do an install (except, obviously, don't format disk).

One of the reason I tend to (want to) do the reinstalls is to get rid of old cruft in the installs.

I have considered doing a reinstall of -current on my primary rig just to get rid of old cruft since I likely have stuff on here which I have forgotten about installing, etc. But we'll see if/when I do that or just wait til -proper is released.

I think that covers most of it.

--
KarlMag

I have just upgraded (including copying the system between machines along the way) since 13.1 when I when i re-installed to switch to 64-bit. Before that I had a filesystem that began life on Slackware 7.1. I reinstalled the one 32-bit system I still use when 14.1 was released ( I forget why probably to because I wanted to switch to btrfs anyway and it was going to be six of one half dozen of the other in terms of effort ).

The cruft/bit rot is basically orphaned files, I am always very careful to package everything I put on the system outside my home directory and or in those cases where its really prohibitive to build a package ensure it all lands under /opt. So the system really does not build up a lot of left over files and where it does they don't take up much space so what difference does it really make? None. Maybe once in a great while it cause a bit of momentary confusion about if something is used or not but a look at the file dates and 'grep -rin' in /var/log/packages usually resolves that in an instant.

I don't see a compelling reason do a fresh install except in cases where:
1) Something is broken and you don't know why, and it feels like it might be harder to figure out than just copying /home to a fresh installation
2) You were sloppy at some point and have indeed sprayed files all over the system
3) You are switching from 32 to 64
4) You want to move from an older than N-1 release, like you'd like to jump from 14.1 to current and skip 14.2