In my distro of choice, desktop upgrade from KDE4.5.x was broken by 4.6.1. Is this a distro problem or KDE issue?

When can desktop users count on stability to get work done? I understand the rush to satisfy the smartphone market but how can we desktop users use our computers if each upgrade damages the last? This is what MicroSoft has done for the past 20 years.

When can we count on stability? I don't need a smartphone interface on my computer. I need a reliable, transparent DE to run my business.

What do you mean by broken?

I had read a warning that next distro upgrade would replace/bork 4.5.x desktop with 4.6.1 so did not have personal data on laptop. This was a fresh install and I immediately upgraded.

After upgrade, Upon opening home folder, dialog box opened asking which application I wanted to use to open it. This means broken. Sorry I did not have the time to pursue reasons. Maybe it was Dolphin, maybe kio slave, who knows, It just broke it. Fortunately I have removed all personal data and upgraded again to 4.6.3.

All seems well but point is that KDE4 broke/changed 3.5 and 4.6.x broke 4.5.x

Can I load my data on to 4.6.3 and count on it (the personal data) staying there for at least the next several years without fear of another upgrade problem? I'm trying to use KDE for production level business and I prefer KDE not tinkering with a smartphone UI for my business Desktop.

Thanks

Not sure what you mean by a 'fresh install.' I have routinely done a 'fresh install' of / but left the /home partition alone. There have been occasional problems with individual applications but all my general settings from the previous version have been carried over into the new version of the desktop.

It could be your distro. I know Sabayon presented some issues upgrading to 4.6. If you want a stable production environment, it'd be wise to steer clear of the rolling release distros.

Trio3b wrote:I had read a warning that next distro upgrade would replace/bork 4.5.x desktop with 4.6.1 so did not have personal data on laptop. This was a fresh install and I immediately upgraded.

After upgrade, Upon opening home folder, dialog box opened asking which application I wanted to use to open it. This means broken. Sorry I did not have the time to pursue reasons. Maybe it was Dolphin, maybe kio slave, who knows, It just broke it. Fortunately I have removed all personal data and upgraded again to 4.6.3.

I've never had this issue after upgrading. However, I've had problems with Plasma config files in the past, but it seems to have gotten better with each release.

Can I load my data on to 4.6.3 and count on it (the personal data) staying there for at least the next several years without fear of another upgrade problem? I'm trying to use KDE for production level business and I prefer KDE not tinkering with a smartphone UI for my business Desktop.

Sorry, I can't guarantee anything, and I don't think you can find anyone who can do that. However, there are a few things I can say:
1. There shouldn't be a large transition like 3.5 -> 4.x anytime soon, not even with 5.x. But then again, I can't say for sure that nothing will break after the upgrade.
2. The developers have stated that they are not interested in turning Plasma Desktop into a smartphone UI (Plasma Desktop is just one workspace KDE offers, there are also workspaces for netbooks, smartphones etc.).

I too heard about this particular issue with PCLinuxOS (which I think is a really excellent distro, by the way, although I no longer use it in its KDE incarnation).

Trio3b wrote:When can we count on stability? I don't need a smartphone interface on my computer. I need a reliable, transparent DE to run my business.

Rolling distros are complex animals!

I too depend upon Linux for running a (very small ...) business. Like CraigPaleo, I've decided that it is best to avoid rolling release distros in this context. There are plenty of non-rolling distros to choose from (!), you are far less likely to have a routine update suddenly change or break some aspect of your workflow, and re-installation of a more modern version every year or two is not especially difficult if you have a partitioning scheme that separates the OS from data.

I have done several changes of distro and even over from 32 to 64bit and back again several times. I'm not fond of upgrades as in my experience they can cause more problems than I am prepared to take on so all of these changes were made with fresh install keeping the partitioning, my user name and password the same. Setting are often maintained even when the distro is changed so if a particular distro makes a mess of this there may be an need to back up and force a complete re install by formatting the home partition during installation. It may also be sensible to tar the mail directory even if setting were ok when the change is made. One one switch from 64 to 32 mail went awol. The tar even remained on the home partition but given the cost of usb discs these days I back up anyway.

I find working like this fine but have one concern. Updates are not upgrades they are often bug fixes. I'm not sure updates are going to be available as they were in the past. Given that the whole 4.6.x release should be a bug fix releases I wonder if I will be left just where I am until my distro (opensuse 11.4) decides to do 11.5. Given the reasons for this style of release that's a nonsensical way of going about it. Running a linux based desktop I expect minor irritations sometimes for extended periods but having found one major problem can't help wondering if I am going to be left like that for an unspecified period of time even if fixes are available.

John

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