Confusing terminology when performing update/upgrade.

[Stuart Gillies]

Binary package hint: update-manager

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Summary: For the benefit of newer users, use the word "Update" to update/upgrade already installed packages. Use "Upgrade" to perform a system upgrade to the next Ubuntu release.
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Ubuntu 10.04 offers UPDATES which are changes within 10.04, and distribution UPGRADES, which would be the conversion of 10.04 to 10.10, for example. However, due to a confusion of terminology, 10.04 is offering UPGRADES which are in fact UPDATES. I have just run update-manager on my wife's machine to perform an UPDATE. However, it was described by the software as an UPGRADE. It was therefore unclear whether it was improving 10.04 or converting 10.04 to 10.10. After the UPDATE/ UPGRADE, 10.04 was still on the machine (fortunately, as this is what I wanted), so it was in fact an UPDATE.

On the assumption that this issue remains in future versions, please clarify in the code the use of the terms, and restrict the term UPGRADE to transitions between version numbers, and use UPDATES for within a version number. Then non-geek users that really only want Ubuntu to just work, and don't want to launch major system upgrades by mistake when they would prefer to stay with the 10.04 LTS version, with all the implications for production usage, won't be concerned or confused.

thanks.

ProblemType: BugDistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: update-manager 1:0.134.11
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-30.59-generic 2.6.32.29+drm33.13
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-30-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: i386
Date: Sat Mar 12 20:47:17 2011InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bashSourcePackage: update-manager

[RedSingularity (redsingularity)]

Technically you are "upgrading" your system. An update just checks the repos in your sources.list for newer versions of packages. An upgrade actually installs the latest packages that update has found. Here is the man page for upgrade in apt-get:

--upgrade--
upgrade is used to install the newest versions of all packages
currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
/etc/apt/sources.list. Packages currently installed with new
versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no
circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages
not already installed retrieved and installed. New versions of
currently installed packages that cannot be upgraded without
changing the install status of another package will be left at
their current version. An update must be performed first so that
apt-get knows that new versions of packages are available.

[Stuart Gillies (gillies)]

Thanks for your feedback. However, you seem to be saying that the terminology is intended to be confusing. Yet you have a situation in which there are two courses of action, one minor and one with major implications, and it doesn't matter that Ubuntu does not make clear to the novice user which they are about to experience.

In fact, update-manager offers me updates and asks me to click on 'install updates' and then later tells me that the update is complete. So an update is not a check, it is the whole process, never mind what an arcane man-page thinks. The Upgrade that I was offered is an extension of that process with undefined results, which looks awfully like a version change even though in the event it wasn't.

The test for usability for Ubuntu is not whether geeks can rationalise their problems, it is whether your mother would understand it. In this case, my mother (if she were alive) would probably think you are playing with words.

Ubuntu is a great system with a great support community and I would like it to succeed. But it won't do that if users are told to look in complex and out of date documents to understand simple things.

[RedSingularity (redsingularity)]

You bring a valid point up and therefore have swayed me. Thanks for clarifying. I will set this to confirmed now and move it to "Wishlist" as soon as possible.

[Draycen DeCator (ddecator)]

Thank you for reporting this to Ubuntu. After further review and collaboration, we have decided that this problem can be considered a usability issue since it makes the application more confusing. This report is also addressing a current feature and not requesting an addition to the program. As a result, I will be marking this report as having a Low importance instead of Wishlist. I will also mark it Triaged since it has enough information for the developers to work on the issue.

Please continue to report any problems that you encounter!

[CarbonPepper (carbonpepper)]

This is still present in 12.10 when performing an update that results in a "Not all updates can be installed" message.

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Not all Updates can be installed
Run a partial upgrade, to install as many updates as possible.

This can be caused by:
* A previous upgrade which didn't complete
* Problems with some of the installed software
* Inofficial software packages not provided by Ubuntu
* Normal changes of a pre-release version of Ubuntu

Partial Upgrade Close"
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In this case, when you click the update button, it announces that you have to run a partial upGRADE, and then there is a confusion of update / upgrade in the wording.