what has 'yum update' done?

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Heinz Diehl <htd at fritha.org>

| Only speaking for myself: I always try to upgrade first, having a
| complete backup, of course. If it doesn't work, I reinstall. There's
| nothing to loose, since I'm expecting to reinstall anyway.

There is a risk: things can be subtly wrong, in such a way that you
don't notice.  At least not right away.

| That said, there are other things too which has been annoying me the
| last years, and contributes further to *not* upgrading: systems which
| had been upgraded showed often some weird behaviour the next few weeks
| after upgrading. Small things didn't work, which worked for many
| others. After doing a reinstall, these things worked for me too..

This sounds like an example of a subtle problem that you didn't notice
at first.

=====================

Backing up an OS seems like a bit of a waste of time.  I try to record
my customization and back that up.  That's why I like text-based
config files: I use RCS to record changes.

In a GUI world, it is seductively easy to change things.
Unfortunately there is no audit trail.  I need an audit trail for
anything more serious than a screenbackground setting.  I was going to
say volume setting, but there have been times where I've found that
tricky.

Any result you cannot reproduce is suspect.  So too with OS
configuration.

======================

Advice: upgrade or re-install Fedora often (at least every other
release!).  But you can choose your level of adventure by choosing
which week after the release to do the upgrade.

I find it worthwhile to read the release notes and common error lists.
It appears that most people don't bother.