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Possible Duplicate:
I installed an alpha or beta, am I up to date with the final release if I keep upgrading?

When the Beta version of 13.4 comes out, I would like to install it and therefore put all my programs, files, and data on it. On the 18th when the original version of 13.4 comes out, will I be able to upgrade the beta into the original without any issues and successfully run it without bugs. I'm asking this because when i upgraded 12.4 to 12.10 it had a lot of glitches to it. Will the 13.4 run the same after upgrading as if I was to install the it directly as it is?

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Nick Bailuc
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Technically, a system which has been upgraded from a beta to a final release should be identical to a system on which the final version was installed from installation medium, so any bugs should affect both systems equally. This is what package managers are for, after all.

At least, this worked fine for me during the 12.10 development cycle - maybe one trick is to make sure you upgrade your system often, so there's no large gap between packages' versions. In this case upgrading to "real" final release is just a minor upgrade which is unlikely to break anything any more than any of the previous interim updates.

Still, running a Beta release on a machine which holds "all my programs, files, and data on it" is not advisable - make sure you back up your documents often. And be prepared to cope with occasional glitches.

Sergey
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  • alright thanks, but if i have the first beta and the second beta comes out will the update manager recognize the newer version or will i have to write a command in the terminal like (sudo apt-get update -r -s -f) – Nick Bailuc Dec 10 '12 at 05:32
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    @NickyBailuc: in my experience, once you upgrade to a pre-release, it's almost like a "rolling release" which takes you from alpha to beta, from beta to final and beyond, using only apt-get update && apt-get upgrade. – Sergey Dec 10 '12 at 06:39