On 2018-10-15, Martin Gregorie  wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Oct 2018 17:29:31 +0000, Alister wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 15 Oct 2018 16:53:22 +0000, RRansil wrote:
>>
>>> I'm currently using Raspbian Stretch with no problems, but recently
>>> noticed there is a new version of Raspbian available. Every month I use
>>> apt-get update/apt-get dist-upgrade, so I'm getting kernel changes to
>>> the installed Raspbian that way. The Pi's only use at the moment is to
>>> run a BOINC project headlessly. Are there any reasons why I should
>>> routinely install the latest Raspbian operating systems as they are
>>> released?
>>
>> there are 2 schools of though on this one
>>
>> 1st - if it aint broke dont fix it, afterall if the project is working
>> perfectly why risk something breaking
>>
>> 2nd upgrading the operating system keeps you up to date with security
>> fixes reducing the chances of something(or someone) untoward happening.
>>
>>
>> I tend to option 1 unless the item his accessible via external
>> connections (such as but not limited to the internet). even being behind
>> a firewall is no guarantee, what happens if someone on the inside of the
>> network becomes infected?
>>
> Good summary, though I'd tighten it up a little as:
>
> 1)if its working well and HAS NO ETHERNET OR WIFI CONNECTIONS
>   then leave it alone
>
> 2)2nd in all other cases, keep Raspbian up to date with versions and
>   patches
>
> Extension to (2): if it exchanges data with any other system that can
> transfer software, e.g. by exchanging SD cards, then keep it fully
> patched.
>
> In addition, and I think this applies to both cases 1 and 2; if you
> upgrade or replace the application/script/whatever that you've installed
> to make it to do whatever it does, then its a good idea to bring Raspbian
> fully up to date as part of that process.

Thank you for the helpful information. I'll be updating the OS. I was
hoping to avoid that due to the fact that it's running headless,
although I may try to use VNC Connect to do the configurations.


--
Ray

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