On Fri, Nov 28, 2025 at 10:53:20PM -0800, Otto Kekäläinen wrote: > Package: debian-policy > Found: 4.7.2 > > Officially Debian does not support skipping major releases when > upgrading from one version to another, as noted in > https://www.debian.org/releases/trixie/release-notes/about.en.html#introduction > > > Please note that we only support and document upgrading from the previous > > release > > of Debian (in this case, the upgrade from bookworm). If you need to upgrade > > from older > > releases, we suggest you read previous editions of the release notes and > > upgrade to > > bookworm first. > > Debian is however commonly used in long-lived physical instances, and > it is common for users to aim for maximally stable systems and minimal > amount of changes, often leading to users also skipping releases. Even > though not officially supported, it does often work, as documented by > a DD in e.g. https://diziet.dreamwidth.org/13087.html > > Upgrading from Buster to Bullseye is known to work with a small > workaround that was documented in > https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/release-notes/ch-information.en.html#libcrypt-upgrade-from-buster
You need to explain the advantage of skipping a release instead of performing two upgrades back to back as recommended. Whatever policy says, the less tested an upgrade path is, the more likely problem will appear, and we barely have enough time to test upgrade already. Most of the important transition require preparatory work in release n so that the upgrade to n+1 is smooth, so they need to be done before release n is made stable, which require a two-years lead. Supporting direct upgrade to n+2 would require a four-years lead which is not sustainable. Cheers, -- Bill. <[email protected]> Imagine a large red swirl here.
