Should I do a direct upgrade from 16.04 to 19.04?

Question

I have a laptop running 16.04 and plan to upgrade to 19.04 in a few weeks and I was wondering if it matters if I directly upgrade to it, if I should first upgrade to 18.04 in preparation, or just do a complete clean install. Yes, I know a complete clean install is often recommended, but it is necessary because of the 3 year jump?

Options:

• Directly to 19.04
• 18.04, then upgrade to 19.04
• Clean Install

Solution

There is no way to upgrade directly from 16.04 to 19.04

Ubuntu only allows upgrade to the immediately next version with one exception. The exception is for Long Term Support (LTS) versions. You can upgrade one LTS version to the immediate next LTS version as well.

Ubuntu 16.04 is LTS

When Ubuntu 16.10 came out in October of 2016, you could upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to 16.10 (non-LTS). However, the non-LTS versions are supported only for 9 months. That is, in July of 2017 Ubuntu 16.10 reached the end of its life. From that point onward you couldn't upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to any non-LTS versions.

If you upgrade from 16.04 LTS to 18.04 LTS, there is still no direct way to get to 19.04. The only non-LTS upgrade from 18.04 LTS was to 18.10. So you will have to get to 19.04 in three steps:

16.04 LTS > 18.04 LTS > 18.10 non-LTS > 19.04 non-LTS.

One option is to upgrade to 18.04 LTS.

I recommend this, as non-LTS versions reach the end of life in a short nine months. After the end of life, Ubuntu 19.04 will not get any security (or other) updates. If you don't upgrade Ubuntu 19.04 to 19.10 within the first three months after 19.10 comes out in October of 2019, then you will be left with an obsolete version of Ubuntu and no path to upgrade it any further (other than a clean install).

LTS get released every two years. Once you are in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, you will able to upgrade to 20.04 LTS in next April.

Other option is to clean Install Ubuntu 19.04

You can backup your data and install Ubuntu 19.04 when the final version is released later this month.

Hope this helps

Comments

[Trumpkintin]

Awesome, just what I was looking for. I knew 16.04 to 18.04 was possible, but I didn't realize this was an exception case.