Upgrading a Tarball installation - what files need to be preserved between versions?

[Remco Viëtor]

On samedi 1 juillet 2023 10:26:45 CEST Paul Norman wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> If using a tarball like:
> 
>     https://download.kde.org/stable/digikam/8.0.0/
>     digiKam-8.0.0-Win64.tar.xz
> 
>     https://files.kde.org/digikam/
>     digiKam-8.1.0-20230628T051544-Win64.tar.xz
> 
> And you later wanted to use the tarball for 8.1.0 when it is released
> (or in the meanwhile a new pre-release from
> https://files.kde.org/digikam/ ) — what files would you need to first
> copy/backup safely, then after the new tarball (8.1.0) was unpacked over
> the earlier 8.0.0  (or earlier 8.1.0 pre-release) – copy back into place
> please?
> 
> TIA,
> 
> Paul

As far as files from the tarball are concerned, none as long as you keep the 
8.0.0 archive: IMO it's better to redo the full compilation if needed, it 
avoids stupid mistakes and trouble due to library changes. 

I'd also unpack the 8.1.0-x tarball besides the 8.0.0 tree, in case I ever 
want/need to compare the two. If you don't want to do that, and still have the 
8.0.0 archive, I'd probably delete the 8.0.0 tree prior to unpacking the 
8.1.0-x archive. Same when you switch to a stable version later.
As far as the installed program is concerned, it depends on how/where the 
program files are installed. If you keep the 8.0.0 source tree, I'd uninstall 
that version before installing a new one (avoiding subtle bugs when some 
installed files change, but are not overwritten/removed). Note that that is 
for the program files, NOT the user data (which should be completely separate, 
and not touched by an uninstall)