On Thu 02 Aug 2018 at 08:03:32 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
For the first time I did a system upgrade against the online repository.
In the past, due to local conditions, my upgrades were by doing a
fresh install from purchased DVD sets of latest point release.
I was greeted by list of locales to added or upgraded. Not seeing
any possible harm I allowed it. I then got a screen asking to accept
my current locale. If it already knew my locale, why didn't just
initially ask if I wanted my current locale updated?
I was then greeted with choices to update several subsystems. I
rather blindly accepted the recommendations. The explanations
display seemed safe - would they be of use or just add bloat?
I found Synaptic's Help - un-helpful (didn't give enough info on
what was happening). Is there a web page aimed at a
beginner/intermediate user to understand what is happening?
As a first-timer, the best thing to do is let synaptic install
whatever it wants. Bloat will probably do you no harm.
As you gain experience, you'll be able to make your own judgments
as to what's really necessary, and then be a little more selective.
Again, as a greenhorn, you could just reinstall from scratch with
your new-found experience.
One idea that you might try is to have a drive partitioned with
several partitions, so that you can do these reinstalls on one
partition while leaving usable system(s) untouched until
you're happy with their successor.