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Help me understand Linux distros updates.
(startrek.website)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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You can update your version of Fedora through the updater software as well but it's a very clear separate process that is initiated manually.
Distro version updates bring major updates to key packages - the one you'd notice most would be to Gnome, the desktop environment. There will be other things too that get only bugfix and security updates during the life of that version, and then after a while that version will lose support and you won't get any updates at all (https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/releases/lifecycle/).
Updating is very safe and reliable. I've had my Fedora install at work for 3 years, updating periodically and it's working extremely well.
To OP: this is a much clearer & better explanation for what I was trying to say.