[SOLVED] How to update Plasma ?

[dagmann]

I have Plasma v5.12.9 and it appears that v5.16 is available.
https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.16.0.php

Question is how do you update Plasma? Is updating safe?

I am using Kubuntu 18.04 LTS

Update; it doesn't seem possible at this time to udpate plasma on 18.14

[claydoh]

As you are using 18.04 LTS, which by design will only have Plasma 5.12 LTS, the only way to get a newer version is to upgrade to Kubuntu 19.04, and then to 19.10 once that is released.
Plasma version upgrades are quite safe, as they normally have updates regularly, and non-LTS users can get them via PPAs if they can't wait for the next Kubuntu release every six months.
Now, upgrading the whole OS, that can for some be troublesome as there is always a risk of breakage. I have had great luck as I only upgrade my main systems, bar any hardware failures. My desktop has been upgraded every 6 months since 12.10, except for a hard drive replacement on 17.10.

Others swear by clean installs.

[Don B. Cilly]

Just my 2ç, take with grain of salt:
In my (very limited) experience, upgrading distros never led to ·breakage", only minor glitches.

If you do decide do make a clean install, and are mainly interested in the Plasma part, you may want to consider Neon unstable.
It's "semi-rolling", in the way that the current one is based on 18.04 - and will stay there - but the plasma, it updates pretty much constantly.
I'm currently using 5.17.80 (which is pretty much 5.18 beta).

So if you're curious about how the latest plasma is doing (and for my part I'd say it's doing really quite well) Neon unstable is the way to go.
Downside, some of the updates you get, will malfunction.
For example, for the past week or so, right-clicking on the desktop (shutdown, widgets, configure, etc.) and on the panel (options, etc.) does nothing.
I've reported it, it's not fixed yet.
Usually they fix them more quickly, tough.

One upside I really like is the handling of updates. Probably because they are so often. No unattended ones whatsoever, they don't bug you, and the xapian index is updated when you want.

[oshunluvr]

I use KDEneon User Edition and it's on 5.16.5.

No KDE related issues I'm aware of except the continuous and annoying (old) bug where some of my widgets shift position on their own.

I still only do fresh installs. I'm fearful of old cruft causing shenanigans. Plus, each major release usually has fixes and changes in functionality so I like to give it a chance to perform on it's own.

[claydoh]

So if you're curious about how the latest plasma is doing (and for my part I'd say it's doing really quite well) Neon unstable is the way to go.

lololololol.
No, just no.

This translates into running pre-pre-release quality software, as opposed to Neon User edition, which has the latest, official, stable releases. A bit fresher than the latest Kubuntu + official updates PPAs

Neon Dev stable is a better choice to see what the next plasma version will actually be like, as it is beta software, and is extremely close to what the next Plasma version will be, as opposed to the more wild west playground that the Unstable is.

[oshunluvr]

lololololol.
No, just no.

This translates into running pre-pre-release quality software, as opposed to Neon User edition, which has the latest, official, stable releases. A bit fresher than the latest Kubuntu + official updates PPAs

Neon Dev stable is a better choice to see what the next plasma version will actually be like, as it is beta software, and is extremely close to what the next Plasma version will be, as opposed to the more wild west playground that the Unstable is.

Right. That's what VMs are for...

[claydoh]

Right. That's what VMs are for...

Sure, but the dev-unstable is still not necessarily the best choice to see where Plasma is going, as features and code are not always in a settled state.

[dagmann]

I suppose that I will wait for 19.04 LTS ... hopefully there will be one.

[claydoh]

The next *ubuntu LTS will be 20.04. There is one every two years. It should have the next LTS release of Plasma as well, 5.18.


*buntu releases are numbered by year and month, so 19.10 is coming this month, and 20.04 this coming next April.

[oshunluvr]

I suppose that I will wait for 19.04 LTS ... hopefully there will be one.

Nope. LTS releases are every two years so April 2020 (20.04) is the next LTS release.
For some reason IME, the .04 releases are pretty solid but the .10 releases are always a problem. Starting 2014 or so I stopped bothering with October releases at all. So if you want to upgrade to get newer Plasma, you might as well go ahead and install 19.04. Either that or what it out until next April.

I will say there have been a lot of improvements since 18.04 so it might be worth the trouble. That's the main reason I use KDEneon instead of Kubuntu - fastest possible KDE updated but riding on an LTS core so less drama.

[vinnywright]

lololololol.
No, just no.

This translates into running pre-pre-release quality software, as opposed to Neon User edition, which has the latest, official, stable releases. A bit fresher than the latest Kubuntu + official updates PPAs

Neon Dev stable is a better choice to see what the next plasma version will actually be like, as it is beta software, and is extremely close to what the next Plasma version will be, as opposed to the more wild west playground that the Unstable is.

I think that one is officially "testing" now , we had to change the source list from

archive.neon.kde.org/dev/stable

to

archive.neon.kde.org/testing/

and IS what my main boot is .

and at the moment is as such

Operating System: KDE neon Testing Edition
KDE Plasma Version: 5.16.90
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.63.0
Qt Version: 5.13.1
Kernel Version: 4.15.0-66-generic
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-4910MQ CPU @ 2.90GHz
Memory: 15.6 GiB of RAM

VINNY

[dagmann]

Next April is a long time to wait. I just have the O/S installed to become familiar with it. I have nothing important on the Kubuntu system.

[claydoh]

19.10 is here in about two weeks, and of course one can upgrade early if they are impatient. At the beta stage, *buntu are solid, and all hard 'freezes are coming up in a week or so.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EoanErmine/Beta/Kubuntu

[Don B. Cilly]

Neon Dev stable is a better choice to see what the next plasma version will actually be like, as it is beta software, and is extremely close to what the next Plasma version will be, as opposed to the more wild west playground that the Unstable is.

Oh well. I managed to suss out that the current Testing edition has Plasma 5.16.90.
Since all I needed was 5.16+ for my clock to work, :·) I moved to Testing in about two hours. Not bad, considering some custom database/python stuff I have.



I now have the same setup I had on Unstable, except things here work... and it does not have unattended-upgrades either :·)
So I'm quite happy.
I guess when you suggested I use Unstable (which I really liked, mind you, except lately it was getting a bit Unusable), Testing didn't have 5.16.

[daihard]

As you are using 18.04 LTS, which by design will only have Plasma 5.12 LTS, the only way to get a newer version is to upgrade to Kubuntu 19.04, and then to 19.10 once that is released.
Plasma version upgrades are quite safe, as they normally have updates regularly, and non-LTS users can get them via PPAs if they can't wait for the next Kubuntu release every six months.
Now, upgrading the whole OS, that can for some be troublesome as there is always a risk of breakage. I have had great luck as I only upgrade my main systems, bar any hardware failures. My desktop has been upgraded every 6 months since 12.10, except for a hard drive replacement on 17.10.

Others swear by clean installs.

I have a related question. I've encountered issues with the current version of KDE Plasma and learned that they have been (or will be) fixed for a new version of Plasma. I'd like to get those fixes onto my LTS (18.04, for instance), but fixes like that, unless security-related, don't seem to be backported. In that case, what are my options? Some of those issues have been severe enough for me to consider downgrading to an older LTS version when a newer LTS isn't available yet.