Full Circle Magazine FR

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Ask the New Guy! If you have a simple question, and you think a “zero-day remote root bug” is something you can catch from bad sushi, contact me at copil.yanez@gmail.com. Today’s question is: Q: What’s the difference between an update and an upgrade? Which one should I do? And when? A: So you finally caught the wave and decided to install Ubuntu on your desktop (or laptop or Internet-enabled bike helmet, or whatever). You’ve made a great choice! Ubuntu users are the most intelligent, innovative, handsome human beings ever to walk the face of the earth. It’s true, I read it on Wikipedia.

Salut à tous ! Bon retour dans Demandez au Petit Nouveau !

Si vous avez une question simple, et que vous pensez que un “zero-day remote root bug” est quelque chose que vous pouvez attraper en mangeant un mauvais sushi, contactez-moi à copil.yanez@gmail.com.

La question du jour est:

Q: Quelle est la différence entre une mise à jour (update) et une mise à niveau (upgrade)? Laquelle dois-je faire? Et quand?

R: Donc vous avez enfin pris la vague et a décidé d'installer Ubuntu sur votre bureau (ou portable ou casque de moto branché sur Internet, ou autre). Vous avez fait un excellent choix! Les utilisateurs d'Ubuntu sont les êtres humains les plus intelligents, innovants, et beaux qui ont jamais marché à la surface de la terre. C'est vrai, je l'ai lu sur Wikipedia.

The first thing you want to do is make sure you’re keeping your install up-to-date. Sure, everything seems to be working beautifully right now, so you might be tempted to just leave well enough alone. If so, you’re like my dad and his 1982 Buick Electra Estate Wagon. That baby was state-of- the-art when Reagan was still in office. Every gear, cog and belt was designed to throw you down the highway at 70mph in absolute comfort, even going so far as to warm your butt because cold-butt is apparently a very serious condition in old people. But no matter how gently he treats it (the car, not his butt), the belts have started to dry out and crack, the oil lines have developed leaks, and the idler arm broke loose when he loaned me the car and I unadvisedly went four- wheeling in a rock quarry because my buddy, Kevin, who never, ever offers to pay for gas, dared me to. So, yeah, unless you’re a mechanic, you never really know exactly what’s going on under the hood.

La première chose que vous voulez faire est de vous assurer que vous gardez votre installation mise à jour. Bien sûr, tout semble fonctionner admirablement en ce moment, alors vous pourriez être tenté de simplement laisser les choses aller assez bien. Si oui, vous êtes comme mon père et sa Buick Electra Estate Wagon de 1982. Ce bébé était à l'état de l'art quand Reagan était encore en fonction. Chaque vitesse, engrenage et courroie a été conçu pour vous jeter sur l'autoroute à 110 km/h dans un confort absolu, allant même jusqu'à réchauffer vos fesses car le froid aux fesses est apparemment un état très grave pour les personnes âgées.

Mais peu importe qu'il le bichonne (le véhicule, pas son fessier), les ceintures ont commencé à sécher et à craquer, les durites d'huile ont développé des fuites, et la bielle pendante se déchaîna quand il m'a prêté la voiture et que je suis allé imprudemment faire du 4×4 dans une carrière de roche parce que mon copain Kevin, qui n'a jamais, vraiment jamais proposé de payer l'essence, m'a défié de le faire. Alors, oui, sauf si vous êtes mécanicien, vous ne savez jamais vraiment exactement ce qui se passe sous le capot.

Thankfully, in Ubuntu at least, you don’t have to. Sure, you can get your hands as dirty as you want, chowning files and piping output to your heart’s content. But if you’re like me, you have more important things to do, like write Walter White/Jesse Pinkman erotica. If that’s the case, you’re in luck. Ubuntu is super easy to keep running at peak performance. First, let’s address the most basic part of the question. What’s the difference between updating and upgrading? In Ubuntu, when we talk about updating, we’re really talking about asking a trusted source, “hey, what’s the latest version of the programs installed on my computer?” It’s like asking your bookie for the line on the Manchester United game. He’ll give you the odds, but he’s not going to place a bet on your behalf until you tell him to.

Upgrading, on the other hand, is placing the bet. It’s telling Ubuntu, okay, I’ve got a list of the most current versions of the software installed on my system, go ahead and upgrade to those newer versions. While there’s a difference between updating and upgrading, they’re really just two sides of the same coin. To keep your system running smoothly, you want to run them one after the other (starting with the update, followed by the upgrade). How often should you be doing this? Once a week, at least; more often if you want to be extra safe. As with most Ubuntu functions, you can do this at the command- line or with a mouse. To do this at the command-line (and feel like a complete badass), open a terminal window (CTRL-T) and type: sudo apt-get update

Press enter. You’ll be asked for your password. Give it and press enter. Stuff happens. When it’s done, type: sudo apt-get upgrade Again, press enter and give Ubuntu your password. Press enter. Ubuntu will handle the rest. Now sit back and think about how nice a USB powered butt warmer would feel right about now. If you prefer to use the GUI, no problem. Here’s what you do. First, if there are updates for your computer, Ubuntu will let you know with a popup. If you see this popup, simply follow the prompts until your system is up-to-date. If you don’t have the popup, or want to check for updates yourself, go to the Dash (either click on the icon on the upper left or click on the Superkey, also known as the Windows Key, also known as the key I never use except when I accidentally hit it with my pinky)

With the Dash field open, search for Update Manager. In the window that comes up, click the Check button. This essentially replicates the apt-get update function. If there are any updates to install, click on the Install Updates button. Again, Ubuntu will handle the rest. Done and done. Now you have the most current versions of the software running on your computer. If there were any security patches, they were applied. Your system should be safe and stable. If you ran the updates from the popup, you may see a window telling you that a new version of Ubuntu is available (for example, you’re running 13.04 and 13.10 is available). Or maybe you heard there’s a new version of Ubuntu out in the wild and you want to use it. Should you upgrade? The short answer is maybe.

The longer answer is the choice is up to you. See, distribution upgrades, the kind of upgrades where he version number (12.04, 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, etc) changes, are a little different than just updating, hey add a side dish that’s not included when you order the one-two update/upgrade combo meal. Distribution upgrades add any new software packages that came out after the version you’re running. If you want the newest software and features on your Ubuntu install, then go ahead and pgrade to the newest distribution. But there’s something you should keep in mind. Upgrading your istribution might also remove out-of-date software, or files that conflict with the features on the new ersion. This is all fine and dandy if you don’t need those files and old software. But what if omething that gets removed breaks a program you needed or removes a feature you liked? If you value stability over bleeding-edge software, you may want to err on the side of sticking to pdates and upgrading your installed software only. In fact, you might consider only upgrading distributions when you see one labeled LTS. LTS stands for Long Term Support and refers to versions of Ubuntu that will be supported for the next 5 years, and have undergone more testing and hardening of their existing features. Your LTS version will still get updates and patches for a long time. Time enough for you to find another LTS to jump to. If, on the other hand, you need the bragging rights that come with running your computer flat out, with the newest operating system, do a distribution upgrade.

Okay, so you’ve analyzed your needs and decided you want to upgrade your distribution. To do this sing the GUI, just follow the prompts after running the Update Manager and being told there’s a new version you can install. Believe it or not, this is the officially sanctioned and recommended way of upgrading Ubuntu to a ew release. There are various ways to upgrade using the command-line, but when I went looking for hem, I found talk of “removing PPAs,” and “fixing residual packages,” and “add lye to the phedrine nd agitate.” Pretty sure that last one came from a Breaking Bad website I was surfing while I wrote his. Anyway, the point is that if you’re coming to me to figure out how to do something complex at he command-line, something that could easily bork your system, well, I’m simply not going to nable such self- destructive behavior. Go play Ubuntu Roulette somewhere else, my friend. Keeping your system patched, updated and running smoothly isn’t particularly sexy (unlike most Ubuntu users). But it will keep you cruising like my warm-butted father in his Electra Estate agon. And isn’t that what life’s all about? Good luck and happy Ubuntuing !