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Argh, and I just deployed a Debian 10 system last week! Serves me right for not checking when the next release was due . :D

wongarsu 5y ago
Me too. Well, still have three years to update before LTS runs out for Debian 10. The system probably won't survive that long anyways
- doubled112 5y ago
  Obviously YMMV, but the machines I've upgraded from 10 to 11 have been running smoothly, and the upgrade was as simple as one could imagine. You know your systems better than I do though.
gspr 5y ago
Debian upgrades are notoriously smooth.
viccuad 5y ago
Debian upgrades between major versions are supported and tested (contrary to other OSes). Reading the release notes of 11 is a good idea though :).
- user5994461 5y ago
  In theory it's supported, in practice you might lose the machine. Tried on 3 tests VM last month, nuked 1 out of them, failed somewhere mid process after removing half of the system packages. That machine never rebooted.
  - blibble 5y ago
    you've been pretty unlucky I must have upgraded at least 1000 times over 20 years and I've only had a machine become unbootable once
    - lostmsu 5y ago
      If Debian were Windows, that would be 3+ millions of users with unbootable PCs.
      - blibble 5y ago
        the machine it broken on was prehistoric, vs. the Microsoft approach for Windows 11 of not supporting machines less than 5 years old also: Debian and its derivitaves likely runs on more machines than Windows does
        user5994461 5y ago
        For the anecdote, it's possible to upgrade a windows machine in place from XP to Windows 7 to Windows 10. I've done it at home for multiple computers and it works. I don't do that sort of things at work however. There are obvious limitations on the hardware if you really want to go all the way from XP (32 bits), don't expect it to take SSD or high core modern CPU. P.S. Debian has order of magnitudes less desktops/servers than Windows. There's a tremendous amount of embedded devices on Debian but that's a completely different use case, if anything they never get an upgrade from the manufacturer.
        rixed 5y ago
        > Debian has order of magnitudes less desktops/servers than Windows Source for Debian running orders of magnitude fewer servers than Windows ?
        lostmsu 5y ago
        I doubt this myself, but here you go: https://www.t4.ai/industry/server-operating-system-market-share https://www.t4.ai/industry/server-operating-system-market-sh... TL;DC; 2018: 48% Windows 34% Red Hat 18% rest. Again, servers are probably largely irrelevant for dist upgrade. On desktop the prevalence is clear.
  - goodpoint 5y ago
    I've been upgrading company servers and personal desktops and laptops for 21+ years without getting an unbootable machine.
scaryclam 5y ago
I have a new work laptop on the way. It was delayed, otherwise I'd have 10 on it now, so I'm pretty happy about this news :D
Jenda_ 5y ago
I use the next Debian release for new systems a few months before it is officially released. It's OK after hard freeze (https://release.debian.org/bullseye/freeze_policy.html https://release.debian.org/bullseye/freeze_policy.html).
thedmstdmstdmst 5y ago
Actually I was setting up a new laptop two weeks ago and installed Debian 10 because I had it on USB, when I booted I couldn't get the WiFi to work, because the kernel for Debian 10 was too old. So using the ethernet port I updated to debian testing (which was had frozen for 11) and installed the wifi firmware. Boom I had my wifi working. Today I apt-get updated again and the same machine now reports it's on debian 11. It's pretty painless to be honest upgrading. Just follow the basic apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade.

wongarsu 5y ago

Me too. Well, still have three years to update before LTS runs out for Debian 10. The system probably won't survive that long anyways

doubled112 5y ago
Obviously YMMV, but the machines I've upgraded from 10 to 11 have been running smoothly, and the upgrade was as simple as one could imagine. You know your systems better than I do though.

gspr 5y ago

Debian upgrades are notoriously smooth.

viccuad 5y ago

Debian upgrades between major versions are supported and tested (contrary to other OSes). Reading the release notes of 11 is a good idea though :).

user5994461 5y ago
In theory it's supported, in practice you might lose the machine. Tried on 3 tests VM last month, nuked 1 out of them, failed somewhere mid process after removing half of the system packages. That machine never rebooted.
- blibble 5y ago
  you've been pretty unlucky I must have upgraded at least 1000 times over 20 years and I've only had a machine become unbootable once
  - lostmsu 5y ago
    If Debian were Windows, that would be 3+ millions of users with unbootable PCs.
    - blibble 5y ago
      the machine it broken on was prehistoric, vs. the Microsoft approach for Windows 11 of not supporting machines less than 5 years old also: Debian and its derivitaves likely runs on more machines than Windows does
      - user5994461 5y ago
        For the anecdote, it's possible to upgrade a windows machine in place from XP to Windows 7 to Windows 10. I've done it at home for multiple computers and it works. I don't do that sort of things at work however. There are obvious limitations on the hardware if you really want to go all the way from XP (32 bits), don't expect it to take SSD or high core modern CPU. P.S. Debian has order of magnitudes less desktops/servers than Windows. There's a tremendous amount of embedded devices on Debian but that's a completely different use case, if anything they never get an upgrade from the manufacturer.
        rixed 5y ago
        > Debian has order of magnitudes less desktops/servers than Windows Source for Debian running orders of magnitude fewer servers than Windows ?
        lostmsu 5y ago
        I doubt this myself, but here you go: https://www.t4.ai/industry/server-operating-system-market-share https://www.t4.ai/industry/server-operating-system-market-sh... TL;DC; 2018: 48% Windows 34% Red Hat 18% rest. Again, servers are probably largely irrelevant for dist upgrade. On desktop the prevalence is clear.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  I've been upgrading company servers and personal desktops and laptops for 21+ years without getting an unbootable machine.

scaryclam 5y ago

I have a new work laptop on the way. It was delayed, otherwise I'd have 10 on it now, so I'm pretty happy about this news :D

Jenda_ 5y ago

I use the next Debian release for new systems a few months before it is officially released. It's OK after hard freeze (https://release.debian.org/bullseye/freeze_policy.html https://release.debian.org/bullseye/freeze_policy.html).

thedmstdmstdmst 5y ago

Actually I was setting up a new laptop two weeks ago and installed Debian 10 because I had it on USB, when I booted I couldn't get the WiFi to work, because the kernel for Debian 10 was too old. So using the ethernet port I updated to debian testing (which was had frozen for 11) and installed the wifi firmware. Boom I had my wifi working. Today I apt-get updated again and the same machine now reports it's on debian 11. It's pretty painless to be honest upgrading. Just follow the basic apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade.