Should I upgrade to 16.04LTS from 15.10?

Question

I am currently running Ubuntu 15.10 and I am considering upgrading to 16.04LTS when it is released. I have lots of stuff on 15.10 that I don't want to lose, so I would prefer not to do a clean install of 16.04. If I upgraded to 16.04 (when it is released), would there any issues (such as stability)? Thanks guys and sorry for the noobie question.

Solution 1

With an upgrade, there is always risk. You could upgrade and have your computer blow up, or be left with an unbootable installation. Your desktop environment may not work, your files may be gone, graphics may be broken, programs may not open, etc.

With that said, the chance of something like the above going wrong is rather low, if 15.10 was a fresh install, and you haven't modified any system files. With every upgrade and every modified system file, the risk that comes with an update increases. However, unless you've been upgrading since Ubuntu 12.04, you should be fine.

It's always better to back up and do a fresh install. You should be fine doing an upgrade, but definitely back up your data beforehand.

Solution 2

The official documentation states highly recommended to upgrade when 15:10 reaches end of life - by July 2016.

From http://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life:

Ubuntu release end of life

When an Ubuntu release reaches its “end of life” it receives no further maintenance updates, including critical security upgrades. We highly recommend that you upgrade to a recent version of Ubuntu at this point.

Solution 3

Since you are not running an LTS release, I would say yes to 16.04 if that was your only choice. However, Ubuntu is notorious for having problems for a bit of time after a new "stable" upgrade release. If you are doing a clean install, I would recommend 14.04.3. 16.04 is probably going to have a few problems within a few weeks/months after its release. If you can, downgrade to 14.04.3. Also, if you are using a certain ATI graphics card, 16.04 will be dropping support for it. (also, keep in mind that non-LTS releases have a very brief support period, so sticking with LTS releases would be good. 12.04 is an LTS release, and is still supported, while 15.04 is not an LTS release, and support was dropped for it a while back.)http://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life <-- this is a recommended read.

Comments

[cmks]

Possible duplicate of Should I upgrade to ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn?

[NGRhodes]

There is no forced upgrade. Just because support ends does not mean 15:10 will stop working.

[D.Snap]

read @NGRhodes response, I don't even know why someone down voted my answer lol this community is going down

[Pilot6]

Support of 15.10 does NOT end with the 16.04 release.

[dariush]

-1 not a quite an answer, one who could manage to have your computer blow up (not really), or be left with an unbootable installation. considered retarded in computer realm and probably should upgrade his/her computer by its own!

[TheWanderer]

@dariush read the last sentence. I think that's a pretty clear answer. The first parts are mostly an explanation of what my answer is.