Feature changed by: Jan Engelhardt (jengelh) Feature #308189, revision 10 Title: Consolidating terminology: update and upgrade openSUSE-11.3: Evaluation by product manager Priority Requester: Mandatory openSUSE 12.1: New Priority Requester: Mandatory Requested by: Karl Eichwalder (keichwa) Partner organization: openSUSE.org Description: In the past, we just used the term "update" for all update related things, because we were told "upgrade" is suitable for hardware related upgrades only. With the advent of zypper, the term "upgrade" (dup, dist-upgrade) is back for upgrading the system complete from one version "n" to the next version "n+1" (yes, you can "upgrade" within one version, but that's a special case...). The term is fine and I'd like us to use "upgrade" in YaST and everywhere else where suitable. Business case (Partner benefit): openSUSE.org: Avoid confusion. ATM, I'm forced to use different terms in the chapter of the manual, if I describe the same task. Discussion: #1: Ján Kupec (jkupec) (2009-10-23 12:03:06) I'm not an expert on English, but my understanding of these terms as should be used with software is as follows: upgrade = installation of newer (major) version of a package or distribution, which brings NEW FEATURES update = installation of ANY NEWER VERSION of a package or distro In short, upgrade is 'feature-wise', update is 'time-wise'. If we'd agree on this definition, then: * upgrades are a subset of updates * bug fixes (e.g. openSUSE updates/patches), are mere 'updates' - they should not bring new features * distribution update is always an upgrade - it always brings new features So if one wants to emphasize that the update brings new features, s/he should use 'upgrade'. In all other cases just 'update' is fine. What do you think? What do experts on English think? #2: Karl Eichwalder (keichwa) (2009-10-23 13:18:38) (reply to #1) Yes, but let's decide with customer focus in mind ;) The customer does only package updates (via online maintenace updates) and system upgrades (e.g., from 11.1 to 11.2). Those who do "zypper dup" within Factory or from from one milestone to the next, are developers and not the default audience of our manuals. This means, zypper messages are fine and yast needs adjustments. + #5: Jan Engelhardt (jengelh) (2011-08-12 02:15:25) (reply to #1) + >What do you think? What do experts on English think? From a math + standpoint, it's clearly defined by action/source code: update = offer + all packages with an increased version number and the same vendor for + installation upgrade = move all installed packages to the version + present in enabled repositories, allowing for downgrades and vendor + changes. In that regard, an upgrade is actually a superset, because it + allows more actions to be carried out. On an English note, the words + update/upgrade are closely related, and for starters the different may + not be intuitive. Adding to the problem is that other rpm managers, + here yum, make update and upgrade the same thing, due to 1. downgrades + being realized by increased EVR using the rpm epoch field that is + deprecated in SUSE, 2. not doing any vendor locks. + Once the very definition of up and dup (see above) is conveyed to the + user by documentation though, I see no issue with continuing to use + these terms, also because changing them now would cause a unnecessary + stir. #3: Juergen Weigert (jnweiger) (2009-10-23 15:18:43) Jan, I like your definition in #1, feature-wise vs. time-wise. Although the distinction is not very precise. Karl, I haven't seen any reason why the term upgrade should only apply to hardware. Do we have a reference for this? I'd like to go one step further and suggest: "Upgrade" applies to changes in the version of a distribution. Whenever /etc/SuSE-release changes, it is an upgrade (or downgrade). When going from one milestone (aka alpha .. beta .. RC) to another, this is also an upgrade, even if the exact milestone is not visible in /etc/SuSE-release. "Update" applies to changes in the version of a packages. when installing a newer package version that is still released for the same version of the distribution, then it is an update. (No Idea, what installing an older version should be called ...) Installing a new package that would belong to the next distribution, into a system, would qualify as a package upgrade with Jan's definition. For disambiguation, I'd rather call it a cross-distribution package update, or something else. How do other linux distros (or windows?) use these terms? This fate requires two things: a) come up with sound definitions. b) implement the definition. I am aware that implementing exact definitions here may create additional workload for yast, zypper, and documentation team. For my part, I'd say, it is worth the effort. -- openSUSE Feature: https://features.opensuse.org/308189