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I installed Ubuntu (not Kubuntu) 12.04 LTS, and afterwards switched desktop from Unity to KDE. I have two related questions:

  • If I upgrade to 12.10 using the updater, would it delete the KDE?

  • And if I install it using the KDE updater (from the pop-up announcing Kubuntu 12.10 is available), would it install Kubuntu and not Ubuntu?

How should I proceed without messing up my system?

Mechanical snail
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1 Answers1

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I previously switched a GNOME Ubuntu Maverick system to KDE and then upgraded it through Precise using the upgrade manager, without significant issues.

  • The upgrade manager will not remove KDE. It normally preserves the packages and settings you have before the upgrade. It only removes obsolete packages that have been removed from the repositories; since KDE packages are still in Quantal this isn't an issue.

  • I believe the Kubuntu updater and the regular Ubuntu (GTK-based) updater are both interfaces to the same program. Running either of them should have the same effect. Kubuntu is pretty much the same as Ubuntu, except with different packages pre-installed and some different global settings (like the choice of display manager and startup splash screen), so it's moot whether the upgrade results in Ubuntu vs. Kubuntu. It will normally keep the settings you previously had.

    Of course, it's recommended to back up your data before upgrading, regardless of which you run. There are several ways to make an image backup. One way is to run a live CD and use dd: sudo dd bs=1M if=/dev/sdX | lzop > /media/your_backup_drive/backup.dd.lzo, where sdX stands for your hard disk (e.g. sda). There's also Partimage. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DriveImaging.

Mechanical snail
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