On Tue, 12 May 2020 at 11:40, stan via users <users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 12 May 2020 19:49:41 +0800
Ed Greshko <ed.greshko@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> <rant>
> I have a issue in the way words are used in the "Fedora Project". I
> think my issue stems from my days as a hardware engineer.
>
> It seems that the words "upgrade" and "update" are used
> interchangeably. I personally don't see it that way. To me "update"
> means to apply changes to the current "release" release. While
> "upgrade" means to go from one release to a newer release. <\rant>
I agree. I think this would be the common interpretation for native
speakers of English, though I certainly don't know that for sure. It
has always bothered me, like a small grain of sand in my shoe while I'm
walking.
For me, a native English speaker (living in Canada with many native French
speaking colleagues), update implies bringing something up to the current
state, while upgrade implies adding some new capabilities. The difference
IS confusing to non-native speakers. As Mike says, Debian-based
distros use "update" in reference to package metadata. Having multiple
tools (dnf, Gnome) indicates neither tool is fully satisfactory. Debian also
suffers from having multiple tools with different behaviours.
Our understanding of package management has improved over the years, but
the terminology has lagged. Debian Reference Table 2.6 gives a number of
command-line examples. The first 7 lines are basic operations needed to
install, upgrade, or remove packages with variations (include dependencies,
remove packages while preserving configuration files or not, handling of conflicts).
I like Debian aptitude's ability to show you conflicts and offer a variety of
resolutions, but sometimes misses the appropriate solution.
There is the macports project on macOS, but since it doesn't touch the OS
it has an easier job than linux package managers. Macports' package
manager is called "port":
port sync -- downloads current package metadata
port list outdated -- shows candidates for upgrading
port upgrade outdated except <list of packages to keep at current version>
Certainly "sync" is a better term for metadata "updating" as it implies making
a local metadata store match the master store.
George N. White III
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