update vs upgrade vs dist-upgrade vs do-release-upgrade

[Avi Greenbury]

Kaushal Shriyan wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> We have ubuntu desktops and servers in our organization. Can some one
> please help me understand "update vs upgrade vs dist-upgrade vs
> do-release-upgrade"

In short:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Packaging_Tool#Update.2C_upgrade_and_dist-upgrade

do-release-upgrade is aware of differences between releases, and so
generally does a better job of going from one release to another than
the traditional dist-upgrade

> on what conditions do i need to use these utilities if it is a desktop
> or a server.

Well, you use the one that does whatever it is you want to do.
Generally, each of apt-gt upgrade, apt-get dist-upgrade and
do-release-upgrade requires an apt-get update first.

-- 
Avi