IIRC I have read somewhere Clem saying more or less that as soon as LMDE 2 is out (both iso and upgrade path), LMDE will not see any new updates.
Would be nice to know where he wrote that.
My bet is that LMDE1 is dead in May.
I am just trying to gauge the time line. There should be an overlap or grace period. Cutting off users abruptly is not a welcomed idea. That LMDE 1 has a certain EOL is not the issue. The suddenness of being forced to act is what end users don't like.
By the way woodsman, the probability that the upgrade path works only with terminal is really high.
Yes, my testing sadly more or less leads me to conclude as much. I can well imagine Windows or Mac users tolerating as much, which is not a good observation about Linux.
Then again, my
latest testing resulted in no breakage. I don't know how the Mint Updater is designed but perhaps updates can be performed in steps --- if the Updater supports that. Still would take 2-3 hours, but would be all pointy-clicky and end users would not need to pay me to update.
Think about that: 2-3 hours. Wow.
A fresh install would be faster, but there are too many local changes. Printers, scanners, /etc/passwd, /etc/group, etc., whatever. A fresh install loses that important information. Even with a separate /home and a good backup plan, which I installed for the people I help, how do I know all system config files that need to be restored after a fresh install?
The people I support won't be happy about being forced to update with little notice or be told they can choose not to update but expect no security updates anymore. Windows XP deja vu.
I did warn them in autumn that a large update was coming --- when many folks thought LMDE 2 was going to be released in November. I am sure they all have forgotten about that. Yet even at that time, nobody discussed or contemplated needing to update from the command line.
Of course, I could choose not to charge them for my time and skills to update their systems. Yet the update process takes at least 2 hours --- on fast machines. When I started using LMDE I never anticipated updates that end users would not be able to perform on their own. One reason I selected LMDE was because of the Mint Updater and Notifier tools. No command line required, which is important for the people I help. Now that important element is gone.
Another reason for using LMDE was in case anything happened to the Mint project, falling back to Debian would be mostly pain free.
Another reason I selected LMDE was the semi-rolling release model. At the time, a semi-rolling release was a nice choice for users --- controlled updates without bleeding edge breakage. Fresh installs are something most non technical users can't do and do not understand. A rolling or semi-rolling release avoids that nonsense. Now that important element is gone too.
Decisions were made long before the format and nature of LMDE changed. Nobody can predict the future with certainty, so who knew this was going to happen? Nobody. Customers won't be happy. I can't blame them if they give up on Linux and move back to Windows. Especially with Windows 10 likely to be a rolling release model. They could pay me to help them update or pay to move back to Windows.
Sorry to sound so frustrated.
). So I'll answer instead.
