Clarification wanted on apt upgrade/update and synaptic etc.

[NoOp]

On 10/14/2008 02:04 AM, Chris G wrote:
> I'm moving (probably) to Ubuntu from Fedora.  I'm installing Ubuntu on
> new hardware leaving my Fedora system on the old hardware until I can
> rely on the new system.  
> 
> I'm a mostly command line person (at work I'm a developer on Sun
> Solaris 'legacy' systems), I cut my Linux teeth on Slackware.  Thus I
> tend to use the command line in preference to GUI.
> 
> I have installed Ubuntu 8.10 beta on my new system knowing that by the
> time I have decided to rely on it 8.10 will have been released. I understand
> the fundamentals of what apt/synaptic are doing (having used yum/rpm for
> a while) but I'm still feeling my way a bit as regards the details of what's
> going on. Now on to my questions:-
> 
>     What does 'apt-get update' do?  Is it just updating my local copy
>     of the distribution lists to the latest versions of available
>     software? 
> 
>     If I do 'apt-get upgrade' will it do (have done?) an update of the
>     file lists automatically?  Is there some sort of algorithm used to
>     decide when an 'update' is required?
> 
>     When the GUI (from gnome-panel) pops up and tells me that upgrades
>     are available is it taking me to the 'same place' as I will get to
>     by doing 'apt-get upgrade'?  It seems to take much less time, is
>     this because it has already done some of the work in the
>     background? 
> 
>     If I keep upgrading my 8.10 beta will it become the 8.10 release
>     version in due course or do I need to take any special actions to
>     achieve this?
> 

In addition to the other answers provided, these may help:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/
  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromLinux
<https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromLinux/RedHatEnterpriseLinuxAndFedora>