I should probably mention first that I'm not an Ubuntu user - my gf is.

All the recent talk about Drake has reminded me of a question I never got around to asking when she upgraded from Hoary to Breezy. Basically, I was surprised when the upgrade seemed to call for (re)installing every package installed - even though the version numbers were usually the same.

Most distros I've used, regularly updating your installed packagesis effectively upgrading to the new version bit-by-bit. Is this not the case in Ubuntu, or did my gf make some sort of mistake in the upgrade process?

Your girlfriend did not make a mistake.

Once a new Ubuntu release is out, all you get are security updates for the next 6 months. When she will dist-upgrade to Drake it will install lots of available new versions of the installed applications.

Ah, *that's* the distinction! Security updates for six months and then upgrades all in one go.

That makes sense. Cheers!

I find it easier/nicer to do a fresh install rather than an upgrade. Running Drake alpha now but when officially release I will reinstall.

I don't know about that. When I first got into Ubuntu I installed Warty Warthog and about two weeks later Hoary released so i changed the sources list and did a dist-upgrade to Hoary and it worked like a charm!! Granted I haven't tried since then (ended up doing a fresh insteall for Breezy) but at that time it worked without a hitch!