Been a while for me too, I kinda hate it when software changes how it works. Bugs fixed vs. new bugs introduced tends to be net zero anyway, and major updates often break my customizations, scripts and bug workarounds. If it wasn’t for the security issues, I’d never update my system.
I always used Debian and Debian derivatives for that exact reason. My current main system runs Ubuntu 20.04 which was released in 2020 and officially lost support in May this year. Somehow I’m still getting updates, but I assume that’s not a longterm situation.
Which issue does switching to Debian solve? Debian’s LTS (gratis) release support length is the same as Ubuntu’s, i.e. 5 years. Also, I want to reinstall my OS even less than I want to upgrade it.
More options and configuration flexibility, longer support historically from the community, including security, etc. If youre going to do a huge dist-upgrade, you’re bordering on reinstall territory as is, which is why I mention it.
Ubuntu will be more willing to incorporate newer updates more quickly, Debian will be a more consistently stable upgrade path, avoids unnecessary services from install so less attack vectors and less security update needs from the jump.
So it doesn’t solve any of the issues that prevent me from upgrading? And I really don’t think that reinstalling is more convenient than doing two major upgrades in a row - sure it’s less data used, but it’s definitely not going to be faster to install all the applications and non-default packages I use because I’d have to do that manually, plus I use quite a few flatpaks that probably wouldn’t be touched at all by upgrading the OS.
I haven’t had the “cool free stuff” opinion of software updates since like 2016.
Been a while for me too, I kinda hate it when software changes how it works. Bugs fixed vs. new bugs introduced tends to be net zero anyway, and major updates often break my customizations, scripts and bug workarounds. If it wasn’t for the security issues, I’d never update my system.
have you tried debian? You can install only security updates if you want, and do a distro upgrade every 5 years, if I recall correctly.
I always used Debian and Debian derivatives for that exact reason. My current main system runs Ubuntu 20.04 which was released in 2020 and officially lost support in May this year. Somehow I’m still getting updates, but I assume that’s not a longterm situation.
If youre still on 20.04, I’d really recommend just going vanilla Debian.
Which issue does switching to Debian solve? Debian’s LTS (gratis) release support length is the same as Ubuntu’s, i.e. 5 years. Also, I want to reinstall my OS even less than I want to upgrade it.
For one thing, snaps.
More options and configuration flexibility, longer support historically from the community, including security, etc. If youre going to do a huge dist-upgrade, you’re bordering on reinstall territory as is, which is why I mention it.
Ubuntu will be more willing to incorporate newer updates more quickly, Debian will be a more consistently stable upgrade path, avoids unnecessary services from install so less attack vectors and less security update needs from the jump.
So it doesn’t solve any of the issues that prevent me from upgrading? And I really don’t think that reinstalling is more convenient than doing two major upgrades in a row - sure it’s less data used, but it’s definitely not going to be faster to install all the applications and non-default packages I use because I’d have to do that manually, plus I use quite a few flatpaks that probably wouldn’t be touched at all by upgrading the OS.
Hey, you do you. Good luck with the upgrade.