Hi y’all. Fedora 42 is my first linux daily driver. I left mircosoft after 30 years. I have been on Fedora 42 for about 4 months now. Learned alot, and it’s been… ok. Good enough to not feel the need to go back.
Anyway. With windows, I never did an upgrade, always a clean install. That was just my method as I felt it gave the best results.
What do you guys do with linux when its time to upgrade? Is a clean install better here too?
I reinstall every release (or two releases) after saving my personal data on a USB stick. This is only my personal method, because I think it gives the best results in every situation.
I always do an upgrade following these instructions Upgrading Fedora Linux Using DNF System Plugin :: Fedora Docs
I have systems that have been upgrade over many years.
Other people like to clean install to clear out cruft that they may have accumulated.
In either case make sure you have a backup of the data you cannot afford to lose. I usually back up /etc (system’s config) and /home (my user’s config and data).
I should have said you should not restore /etc.
Better to compare the backup file to the new file in /etc and make the edits again.
It is still a good idea to do clean install.
As another former MS ecosystem user, I’d say it will be a great opportunity to refresh the things you have learned, configure your system using only the tools you really need, and maybe set up some things differently based on the things you’ve practiced recently.
Also 43 upgrades went bumpy for some (according to this forum), I’d go the clean install way just to be safe.
You know, I think that is good advice. I will go get a new NVME drive and keep my Fedora 42 on the side.
I usually perform a dnf system-upgrade first, see the link in Barry’s post. If I have issues afterwards, I can always reinstall later. The process is pretty quick and runs unattended, and if it works (which for me, it mostly does), you have saved quite a bit of time.
If you elect to go the upgrade route using the link @barryascott pointed you to, I highly recommend doing the post-installation steps in that section of the documentation. This will cut down on the so-called cruft, at least in the system files, which, I’ve found, makes it far less likely to encounter a problem with an upgrade far into the future.
There are users who go several years at a time between doing clean installs. There’s no reason why you cannot be one of those if you wish.
Good luck
Usually, there is no good reason to reinstall, unless you’ve screwed up the old system pretty badly. Reinstalling is most of the time just wasted time.
I always use the route recommended by @barryascott above. I only do a clean install about once every 4-5 years (when hardware is replaced or upgraded).
I have never needed to perform any of the post-installation steps in that document with any version of fedora Workstation.
I always just do the upgrade with the method shown in that link. It went very easy this last time around. But then a few problems started creeping in. Nothing that could not get figured out however. The one that my son had to fix was an issue with volumeicon. But he is a computer genius so that was easy for him He tracked it down right away. Usually the upgrade goes very smoothly and without issue. I have never done any of the post installation steps either. Reinstalling does just seem like a waste of time and a lot more work.
I’m not surprised, because the upgrade process is so robust.
But I’d be willing to be your “cruft” level ain’t zero, either. 
F43 introduced a new disk layout ( /boot has grown up and now measures 2GB in height. 
)
so it’s a good idea, to take the new install approach.
nonsense. That is certainly no reason to completely reinstall the system. 2GB is not really required even on nvidia systems if you know what you’re doing.
The 2GB /boot is only required for new installs or reinstalls since that is a failing point for the installer when /boot is <2GB.
At present the great majority of users are quite happy with system upgrades using the earlier 1GB size for /boot. The only issue seems to occur when they run out of space there – and that seems mostly to be limited to those who have nvidia gpus and run out of space because of the driver/firmware issues and the larger sizes of the initramfs images created by dracut. Those who are knowledgeable can easily avoid even that occasional problem.
yeahhh… no.
they wouldn’t change the size if there were no issues with it. Of course, if you know that you are doing, you’ll be fine, to leave it as is.
but it doesn’t hurt if you reinstall and be prepared fore the future - as long as you know, that you’re doing
Doing a reinstall is user choice, but is NOT required for anyone.
The size change was done last minute in an abundance of caution because of an issue that occurred with a change in dracut which creates the initramfs images and increased space needs for a few. Most users were never impacted by the changes and only those who are doing a new installation are forced to use the new size for /boot.
If you were following discussions here over the last couple months you could have seen the reasons and resolutions for the extra /boot size, as well as when it became part of the f43 installation.
Calm down, jeff, i never say that. i just said, it’s a good idea - nothing more or less
I suspect only a small minority follow discussions. It is all to common to see posts for a problem that already has a solution, but we never see posts from people who found an existing solution so don’t post about it. It would be useful to have a “worked for me” count for posts with solutions.
Fresh installs avoid hidden differences carried over from an earlier version that make troubleshooting more difficult. The Fedora Community can benefit from efforts to minimize diffences across systems with a given inxi -Szxx (kernel, Desktop, Distro)) report.