I’ve been using openSUSE for awhile now, from version 9.x. Back then I stayed on 9.x for so long I just built a new computer and did a fresh install of 12.3.
This time I want to try to stay a little more current as long as it is low risk.
So is it ‘safe’ to upgrade a 12.3 system to 13.2 or will I be spending hours getting things working again? It is only being used as a file server, Plex media server and a few other things – it’s not a desktop or gaming system.
Well depends on your set up that is a large change. If you like longer support you should install 13.1 and use evergreen once it comes on line with next version release.
https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Evergreen
Often you can upgrade but if you do have problems they can be hard to find.
In any case keep your home partition and just mount it as /home
On 2015-07-07 03:36, soosehey wrote:
> So is it ‘safe’ to upgrade a 12.3 system to 13.2 or will I be spending
> hours getting things working again? It is only being used as a file
> server, Plex media server and a few other things – it’s not a desktop
> or gaming system.
It is a safe as can be, and as easy and can be… :-))
Meaning: make a full backup before starting, and be prepared to spend
hours on it 
Besides that, I’d go for 13.1, as it is an LTS release. Better for a
server type machine.
An online upgrade, aka zypper dup, is quite difficult to achieve over
two releases, and certainly not supported. An offline upgrade, ie, boot
DVD, choose upgrade, is more or less supported and can work, with caveats.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))
ok, thanks. I think I will just wait then and let it sit on the current version until I’m ready to build a new computer (years from now). It’s working fine on 12.3 so I can live with it.
Maybe I am doing something dumb when I do a new install of openSUSE on a fresh machine. I am able to easily keep all my files in /home – but any settings for things like Samba and rsync, etc. I end up having to “learn” all over again and re-do all the configuration work. Maybe that’s expected anyway since waiting so long to go to the new version of the OS means there are newer versions of the apps as well, so impossible to keep the old configuration settings (?)
Samba and such are all in /etc keep a copy for reference.
12.3 is out of support so you get no patches or fixes
On 2015-07-08 13:46, soosehey wrote:
>
> ok, thanks. I think I will just wait then and let it sit on the current
> version until I’m ready to build a new computer (years from now). It’s
> working fine on 12.3 so I can live with it.
As long as you don’t ever use anything with Internet on that machine,
yes you are (possibly) fine.
If you use email or a web browser, please upgrade as soon as possible.
> Maybe I am doing something dumb when I do a new install of openSUSE on a
> fresh machine. I am able to easily keep all my files in /home – but
> any settings for things like Samba and rsync, etc. I end up having to
> “learn” all over again and re-do all the configuration work. Maybe
> that’s expected anyway since waiting so long to go to the new version of
> the OS means there are newer versions of the apps as well, so impossible
> to keep the old configuration settings (?)
That’s because you are not doing an upgrade, but you are installing a
fresh system that reuses your old home. Instead, if you really do a
System Upgrade, all the things like rsync, samba, etc, should remain the
same. With new features, perhaps some configuration changes, but mostly
working.
Wit exceptions now and then: Samba was overhauled recently.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))