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If it is, then will it be a stable install ? If I'm not wrong, Ubuntu supports upgrades between 2 LTS versions. Since I have already downloaded the .iso file at work, I would like to use it instead of upgrading it using the software-updater option.

If that is not possible then do I need to wait till June/July for a stable build? Some people are recommending a clean install, instead. I want to weigh in the pros and cons before doing it.

Jenson Pais
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    My opinion: Wait for 16.04.01 build and make a clean install. – NonStandardModel Apr 28 '16 at 10:34
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    I strongly agree with @NonStandardModel. Make a clean install, this way is much better. – user300458 Apr 28 '16 at 11:08
  • I am currently dual-booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu 14.04, so I guess I am better off with a clean install. Also it was a Wubi install and I believe there is no support for Wubi anymore. Cheers for the inputs, much appreciated. – Jenson Pais Apr 28 '16 at 11:22
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    Possible duplicate of How to upgrade Ubuntu from an ISO image – muru Apr 29 '16 at 03:23
  • Muru, I'll give you that. But I believe I had installed Ubuntu using wubi. If I am not wrong, wubi installations aren't supported anymore ?! So can I still upgrade in a smooth manner or take the difficult path of clean installing it.

    If there is grub, it will detect any previous version of ubuntu so an upgrade should be a straight forward affair.

     – Jenson Pais Apr 29 '16 at 05:03

2 Answers2

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Upgrading between 2 LTS releases will be available on .1 point release of the later release. In this case, you'll have to wait until 16.04.1 is released, which, according to release schedule, will come out on July 21st.

But upgrading using live ISO is not possible. Upgrading system will need individual packages to be installed. You'll have to download another type of ISO called alternate ISO which installs packages from CD. In the past, Ubuntu used to provide alternate ISO for desktop flavors, but it's not available anymore. For server flavor, alternate ISO has been the only available ISO for downloading. In your case, I think you should upgrade over the internet as ISO you downloaded is useless anyway.

I personally never upgrade between 2 LTS releases but have upgraded between 2 consecutive releases from 13.04 all the way up to 16.04 today. Of course, some problems do pop up, but with the power of Google, I can fix those problems. If you're upgrading a desktop, don't hesitate to try. If anything goes wrong, you can always reinstall. But if you're upgrading server, you may want to set up test server before proceeding to upgrade.

Ratchanan Srirattanamet
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    So, it is not possible at all to upgrade to next LTS with point release ISO ? but i heard that .. Live iso would offer upgrade option (it available on installation prompt) , doesn't it? – Yuvaraj V Jun 04 '16 at 00:19
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If you're seeking to minimize your data downloaded, you can try setting up an apt package cache with apt-cacher-ng. It's mostly a transparent install, but you do need to set up apt on the client(s). I did this:

 echo 'Acquire::http::Proxy "http://hostname:3142";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01proxy

From here, changing hostname of course. You may also need to enable https passthrough if you have some non-standard repositories. Some fuller instructions are here: https://www.tecmint.com/apt-cache-server-in-ubuntu/

If you want to copy the cache between computers that aren't networked to each other, I believe you can copy the contents of /var/cache/apt-cacher-ng/.

Ken_g6
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