Keep official in-place upgrades between major Linux Mint releases

[Sameiflovi]

Hello Linux Mint team!

With the transition to a yearly release cycle, I would like to suggest keeping an official and reliable in-place upgrade path between major Linux Mint releases.

Many users spend a lot of time customizing their systems, installing applications, configuring desktop environments and creating workflows. Having to reinstall the entire operating system for every major release can be frustrating and time-consuming.

I would love to see users being able to upgrade directly from Linux Mint 22.3 to Linux Mint 27 (Adrien), without having to perform a fresh installation.

An official upgrade tool, similar to "mintupgrade", would be a great solution.

A fresh installation should always remain an option, but it shouldn't be the only practical way to move to a newer release.

Please consider keeping major-version in-place upgrades supported in the new release cycle.

Thank you for your work on Linux Mint!

Best regards,
Sameiflovi, a Linux Mint user 💚

[mtwebster]

I'm not sure I understand... Mintupgrade is the official upgrade tool, specifically for major releases (like 22.3 -> 27)

Point releases are going away - https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=5086 - these were always handled by mintupdate directly, not mintupgrade.

[Sameiflovi]

Ohhh, now I understand! 😅 I wasn't aware that mintupgrade already supports major version upgrades.

That's awesome news! I was hoping users could upgrade from Linux Mint 22.3 to 27 without having to reinstall everything.

It's great to know that this is already part of the plan! 💚🐧

Thanks for clarifying this and for all your hard work on Linux Mint! ✨

[cplittlfield]

Ohhh, now I understand! 😅 I wasn't aware that mintupgrade already supports major version upgrades.

What seems to happen is that when an upgrade is available, the Update Manager displays a big alert that there is a new version of MintUpgrade ready. Once it is installed, the option to upgrade is added to the Edit menu.

For what it's worth, the standard advice on the forums has been that major upgrades are generally worth a fresh installation of Linux Mint. The general feeling seems to be that it clears out accumulated cruft and makes things smoother after the upgrade. I'm of two minds about this advice. It is also very helpful to be able to upgrade in place.

However, I have had to re-install Linux Mint a few times, for various reasons, and I find that it greatly minimizes the pain to use the Mint Backup Tool to save a list of my installed applications, for re-installation. That, combined with a complete backup of my files, makes it easy and safe to re-install at any time. If you save the hidden configuration files in your home folder, there is almost no time needed for reconfiguring applications.

These suggestions are just food for thought. I like it very much that Linux Mint provides multiple ways to achieve the same goal.

[Sameiflovi]

Thanks for sharing your experience! 😁💚

I agree that a fresh installation can be beneficial, especially when a system has accumulated old configurations and unnecessary files over time.

However, I really like customizing my Linux Mint installation, so reinstalling everything and setting up my entire environment again would take quite a bit of time. 😅

That's why I would love to have the option to upgrade in place while keeping my applications, files, and personal configurations.

The Mint Backup Tool is also a great suggestion! I'll definitely keep it in mind. Thanks for the tips! 🐧