Can I upgrade Linux Lite to the next Series?

[Şerban S.]

This is a question that gets asked every now and then, so I thought it was time to have something in writing to clear this up.

As of this post, there is no software from us to upgrade you from one Series of LL to the next.

So can it be done?
[...]

Hi, Jerry!
Thanks for the insight! It's good to know "how to...".

From my perspective, this is how I handle the major version upgrade:
1. Moved from the Home directory, to Home partition.
This allows me to make low level backups (CloneZilla) (A) and
(B), allows me to move the Home content, from one machine to another, which provides me the exact same configuration of the custom setup I made over the (last 10) years, on any machine I have and want to use.
2. Wrote an Install script to automate the installation of the custom apps I want to have.
This script allows me to add some PPAs and then, to install all the apps I want to have on the machine, including the ones provided through PPAs.
3. Low level Backup of "/", then install the new major version, from ISO.
This requires some experience using custom partitions, but I guess it's nothing like "rocket science".
4. Perform the Update, if this is the case.
Usually, it does. After completion, I run the Install script mentioned above.
All this procedure, takes less than 2 hours, except for the case when the ISO release got close to its life cycle end. In this case, probably something went very bad so a clean install became necessary. The number of package updates in such cases goes above 180 so, it will take longer (about 1 hour for cca. 190 packages).
So, the worst case scenario, will take 3 hours, 3:30 hours at most.
This includes the Backup/Restore procedures.

On the 10th of September, I did this (LL 5.6 to LL 6.0) on my wife's laptop (ASUS M415U, 6 Cores, 12 Threads) and although I had some annoyances with the boot mediums I use, it took me 1:35 hours, for a "fresh install", fully customized.
What means that?
The amount of time required by moving from a Major version to the next, largely depends on the machine resources and the amount of custom apps installed.

I hope this will help people that are somehow frightened by the process of replacing an old Major version with a new one.
Maybe it worths mentioning: The risks from the software perspective, are close to none.
After 27 years of computing, the only real risk I've been facing, is hardware failure.
Unfortunately, I never came across a solution for this kind of trouble, except the replacement...

All the best and THANKS, again!