Upgrade Info 23.10 to 24.04 to 24.10

[RydenMyles]

I may have royally screwed up here.

I was using Neon and when the Plasma 6 "upgrade" came along it totally screwed up my machine. So, I looked around a bit and decided to install Kubuntu 23.10, thinking that I would get the same Plasma 5 version I had on Neon and life would be good again. And so far it has.

But now the new 24.04 LTS version is out and I am reminded constantly that I should upgrade to that. But I don't really want to do that. If I upgrade to 24.04, I feel like I will be locked into Plasma 5 for the next several years. I was hoping that by the time, say 24.10 came out, Plasma 6 would be debugged enough to be used.

If I upgrade to 24.04 can I "upgrade" to 24.10 when it comes out (It has Plasma 6, I understand)? Or if I ignore the current upgrade, is there an upgrade path from 23.10 to 24.10? Or, in either case, will I have to completely reinstall Kubuntu to get 24.10 when it comes out?

Any advice would be most appreicated!

[claydoh]

If I upgrade to 24.04 can I "upgrade" to 24.10 when it comes out

Definitely. You will need to change a setting to allow upgrades to non-LTS releases.
Do note that if you decide to wait longer, say for 25.04, you would need to upgrade to 24.10 first, as you can't skip releases.

(It has Plasma 6, I understand

Definitely.

[Schwarzer Kater]

[…]
But now the new 24.04 LTS version is out and I am reminded constantly that I should upgrade to that. But I don't really want to do that. If I upgrade to 24.04, I feel like I will be locked into Plasma 5 for the next several years. I was hoping that by the time, say 24.10 came out, Plasma 6 would be debugged enough to be used.
[…]

Welcome.

Of course it will be possible to release-upgrade from Kubuntu 24.04 LTS to Kubuntu 24.10… Otherwise this would be a first.
Just check in 24.04's sudo software-properties-qt that in --> "Updates" tab --> "Release upgrade" the "Normal Releases" option is selected.

To keep up-to-date you can also have a look at Overview: Kubuntu, its parent and some of its siblings from time to time.

[RydenMyles]

Thanks very much to all who replied. This process is very non-intuitive. Turns out "normal releases" is already on (apparently by default). It seems very weird to me that essentially I will be running an unsupported OS for several months if I wait until 24.10 comes out. I am not too concerned by that but why isn't a X.10 release not supported until the next one comes out?

Again, thanks to everyone who replied!

[Schwarzer Kater]

[…] It seems very weird to me that essentially I will be running an unsupported OS for several months if I wait until 24.10 comes out. I am not too concerned by that but why isn't a X.10 release not supported until the next one comes out? […]

Because there is a Kubuntu release every 6 months and the interim releases are supported for 9 months - so you always have 3 more months to release-upgrade.
Only that every (even) 2 years the April interim release is replaced by the LTS release.

If you always want to be up-to-date the release-upgrade path would be e.g.:
… 21.04 --> 21.10 --> 22.04 LTS --> 22.10 --> 23.04 --> 23.10 --> 24.04 LTS --> 24.10 --> 25.04 --> 25.10 --> 26.04 LTS --> 26.10 --> …
So every 6 months (and for interim releases there is support for 9 months).
And one should always check in the LTS version then that the the "Normal Releases" option is enabled.

Or if you want to have a more stable (in the Debian sense) system, e.g.:
… 20.04 LTS --> 22.04 LTS --> 24.04 LTS --> 26.04 LTS --> …
So every 2 even years (and for LTS releases there is support for 3 years).
And one should always check that the the "Long term support releases only" option is enabled.

Got it?

[claydoh]

Non LTS releases are supported for 9 months. So you have until July to upgrade to 24.04, for example. There's never a gap.

Turns out "normal releases" is already on (apparently by default).

When upgrading to an LTS, this setting will change, so those intending to stick to the 6 months release cadence will want to change it.

[RydenMyles]

Because there is a Kubuntu release every 6 months and the interim releases are supported for 9 months - so you always have 3 more months to release-upgrade.
Only that every (even) 2 years the April interim release is replaced by the LTS release.

Or if you want to have a more stable (in the Debian sense) system, e.g.:
… 20.04 LTS --> 22.04 LTS --> 24.04 LTS --> 26.04 LTS --> …
So every 2 even years (and for LTS releases there is support for 3 years).
And one should always check that the the "Long term support releases only" option is enabled.

Got it?

Oh, I "got it." Thanks.

It is still non-intuitive switching between "interim" and LTS editions, but I guess if that is the way things are...

[Schwarzer Kater]

I am not sure if in hindsight the "Got it?" could have been understood as rude - it was not meant to be, sorry.

And yes, you are right. But there is not much Kubuntu can do about it. This is an issue that affects all "flavours" of *Ubuntu and could only be changed directly by Canonical/Ubuntu.

[oshunluvr]

I may have royally screwed up here.

I was using Neon and when the Plasma 6 "upgrade" came along it totally screwed up my machine...

...Any advice would be most appreicated!

I'm curious what "...totally screwed up my machine..." means? You couldn't just log into an X11 session instead of Plasma?

When I initially changed over to Wayland I had to make adjustments to my desktop because it works differently than X11. Now when I log into an X11 session my desktop is a mess - but I wouldn't classify that as totally screwing up my computer.

It does seem inevitable that X11 will be less and less supported as the Linux ecosystem moves toward Wayland. At some point we will all have to adjust to Wayland or leave the main distros behind.

You asked for advise, so here's mine:

• Forge ahead with Kubuntu or KDEneon.
• Create a second user for yourself.
• Log into your main user account with an X11 session to do your daily stuff.
• When you have extra time, log into the second user account with a Wayland session and dive into the differences, make adjustments, see what's good and what's not.

In the end you'll have had a usable time with X11 but maybe at some point you'll have Wayland figured out and be able to move into the future with less headaches.

[claydoh]

It is still non-intuitive switching between "interim" and LTS editions, but I guess if that is the way things are...

These aren't separate 'editions'.
Every 6 months, a new release is out. Every fourth release ( in April on even numbered years) is given a bit more effort, a longer support life, regular kernel updates (backported from following releases) and the ability to not need to upgrade until the next LTS. So, really, the only time one can switch upgrade cycles is when they are on an LTS release.

The only oddball part is that those who are on the non-LTS 6-month track have to adjust that setting I mentioned every two years when the update cycle brings them to the next LTS.

[smf9002]

If you are going to 23.10 I'd recommend staying there as long as you can before moving to 24.04 (I wish I had) - nVidia drivers support / and Wayland installed and working by default would be the reasons I'd recommend that.

I do wish there was a Non - LTS upgrade path without moving to the LTS version as well. I know you "could" stay on 23.10 but then you would be without updates for 3 or more months.

In some ways (like nVidia Driver support and Wayland Suport I'd consider 24.04 a downgrade). Personally on my system with X11 I get MANY plasma desktop crashes and I've found Wayland much more stable - however I'm not sure if others have seen that as well.