Linux

If I had to guess on why people get issues during updates I'd say it's because they add a million third-party repos that point to the specific version of Debian they were running and now that they've upgraded they've got tons of outdated packages from those repos fudging up their system.

I used/tried Ubuntu a few times -just because some solutions announce it as their supported platform- but I got tired of how they push snaps, and so I stay on Debian. Last week I went to deb13 on various machines and so far had no other task then fixing deprecated python functions in my own scripts, which isn't abnormal. The one 'issue' I had was a PHP version mismatch in an apache2 config. So I'm (still) happy with Debian! And like @eugenia@lemmy.ml wrote, every 2 years (give or take) a fresh install is how I like to do it.

I wait for the first point release to upgrade, usually most of the issues have been worked out by then.

No experience with debian 13 yet, but I once upgraded a server from 7 to 12 without a single issue which was quite amazing.

I had absolutely no problems updating Debian to 13 from 11 to 12 to 13 one after the other. I also had no problems upgrading between Debian versions when I ran it as my main driver from the Potato release up until Ubuntu came out. Conversely, when I used Ubuntu from its original Warty release to around 2012 or so I had issues on literally every single version upgrade. Most relatively minor, but more than a couple requiring full reinstalls.

I would bet money that the vast majority of those having problems upgrading Debian are on "FrankenDebian" systems. Not all, but I am confident the majority are.

I've been doing debian upgrades without significant issues. With debian 13 I find I'm getting some deprecation messages from python and I have had to make some small code patches to fix them. I see that as more of a python issue than a debian issue.

2/3 of my computers were completely fine after upgrading. Unfortunately, the one that was fucked was the one I game on.

Personally I had zero issues with upgrading my server to Debian 13; it's an installation dating back to Debian 9 or 10 with a lot of services installed.

The only inconvenience I had was that somehow Transmission 4.1.0 beta made it into debian stable, and beta clients are usually not allowed by private trackers. I switched to deluge and called it a day.

I use Debian-Testing, so I never go from a major release to another, and it's very stable that way. But yes, a big upgrade is never smooth with Debian, even if Debian itself is very stable (when installed from scratch). I think the solution is a clean install every 2 years. Or use Debian-Testing, so things don't blow up from a small release to another. Even Linux Mint is not very stable from a major release to another (meaning, from one LTS to another). But Ubuntu is more stable between interim releases, but also not very stable between LTS releases.

So either you go with a "stable-ish" rolling release like Debian-Testing (which in my opinion is the most stable rolling release distro), or you re-install every 2 years.

Among the people I know in real life, some post (non-tech stuff) to Reddit, some write reviews on Yelp, and some have called customer support hotlines for tech products. But none have ever posted online to ask for tech help, at least not to my awareness. Neither did I back when I used Windows, and not for a couple years even after switching to Linux.

I suspect most Ubuntu users are among that common crowd. They might look up an issue on the internet, but expect to ask for help from a dedicated support center. Or can't be bothered to sign up for an account and post to the places that can answer their questions, which are usually very "techy" and possibly even intimidating to beginners.

As for my setup, the upgrade from Debian 12 to 13 went very smoothly. I had to fix a few obscure config files, but nobody else really touches them, and it didn't stop it from booting. Replaced a deprecated package with its Flatpak equivalent as well. Only unsolved issue is the xfce4-panel consuming all of one core on occasion for no apparent reason.

Ubuntu has issues in every LTS (this time with APT version shipped) because Ubuntu releases are based on Debian Sid (basically unreleased Debian software which they "patch" later including unstable version of tools).

I suffer this in my job every time a Ubuntu LTS is shipped previous to the release of the Debian version equivalent to it (Ubuntu 24.04 is Debian 13 with mixed versions of packages and "patches") and a customer or a teammate upgrade a container-image or workstation to it...

I even use Debian new versions after either 1 year or the first .1 release.

It's been out for 10 days? As an elite lemmy user, I'm not going to gamble my setup on any 10 day old release.

I've happily upgraded to Debian 13 with no issues (other than having to fix some of my python projects to deal with python 3.13)

“Ubuntu has money for better quality assurance”

That's utter BS, money does not equal quality.
I just borked an Ubuntu Noble installation by running apt upgrade on it. Yeah it's ZFS-based, why didn't Canonical ensure the upgrade would be smooth?

Ive had Ubuntu shit itself 6 different times after upgrade. People still use ubuntu??

... plebeians do not come to complain to elite Lemmy users about their puny problems ...

how does one identify elite lemmy users?