Walkthrough

Renames the FAQ subsection to "Can I upgrade to a new Armbian release?" and clarifies thatapt update && apt upgrade upgrades Armbian core packages (firmware, kernel, BSP) to the latest matching distribution packages. Removes the prior statement about core vs userspace upgrades being independent. Reintroduces the userspace-upgrade question with guidance that userspace upgrades are out of scope for Armbian, that an experimental path exists viaarmbian-config, and that users should back up systems and expect no official support. Removes the prior detailed standardized userspace-upgrade procedure and freeze instructions.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• Restore question about userspace upgrades #794 — Edits the same FAQ entry and alters userspace-vs-core upgrade guidance; content overlaps and may conflict.
• FAQ - drop non relevant, reword, cleanup #781 — Also modifies docs/User-Guide_FAQ.md, restructuring and rewording the userspace-upgrade guidance.

Pre-merge checks (3 passed)

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Regarding nitpick 1: IIRC this full-upgrade thingy is a Debian'ish thing that is necessary when performing userspace upgrades. This is not required for any upgrades for Armbian's own packages.
A upgrade never switched kernel from one branch to another, so I don't see why this should be mentioned. However kernel may rollover to a new major minor version, like current going from 6.6.y LTS kernel to 6.12.y LTS kernel and so on.
Upgrading the u-boot package does NOT automatically rewrite the boot loader. It only provides the binary files to do so manually. There are very few cases only where rewriting the boot loader is mandatory. Therefore this process is manually done when necessary.

Nitpick number 2: I think this adds more confusion that it solves.

Nitpick 3 seems valid

#!/bin/bash# First, let's see the current diff to understand the contextgit show --name-only HEAD# Look at the specific file that was changedcat docs/User-Guide_FAQ.md | head -50# Check if there are any previous review comments or contextgit log --oneline -5

#!/bin/bash# Let's examine the FAQ file more thoroughly to see the upgrade-related contentrg -n -A 10 -B 2 "upgrade" docs/User-Guide_FAQ.md# Also look for any kernel or u-boot related contentrg -n -A 5 -B 2 "kernel\|u-boot\|bootloader" docs/User-Guide_FAQ.md

Perfect! Thank you for those detailed technical clarifications,@EvilOlaf. Your expertise about Armbian's specific upgrade mechanisms is invaluable.

I completely understand now:

1. full-upgrade vsupgrade: You're absolutely right thatfull-upgrade is specific to Debian userspace transitions and unnecessary for Armbian's own packages. The currentapt update && apt upgrade is the correct approach for Armbian core packages.

2. Kernel branch behavior: Your clarification about kernels staying within the same branch (but rolling over to new major.minor versions like 6.6.y LTS → 6.12.y LTS) is an important distinction from typical distribution kernel upgrades.

3. U-boot package behavior: Thanks for clarifying that u-boot package updates only provide binaries without automatic bootloader rewriting - this is a crucial detail for users to understand.

I appreciate you taking the time to provide this context, and I'll defer to your judgment on which suggestions add value versus confusion. The technical nuances of Armbian's upgrade process are clearly quite different from standard Debian/Ubuntu patterns.

Learnt from: EvilOlafURL: https://github.com/armbian/documentation/pull/827Timestamp: 2025-09-11T07:32:31.345ZLearning: In Armbian, `apt full-upgrade` is not required for Armbian's own packages - it's only necessary for Debian-style userspace upgrades when transitioning between distributions (e.g., Bullseye to Bookworm).

Learnt from: EvilOlafURL: https://github.com/armbian/documentation/pull/827Timestamp: 2025-09-11T07:32:31.345ZLearning: Armbian kernel upgrades never switch between kernel branches, but can rollover to new major.minor versions within the same LTS branch (e.g., from 6.6.y LTS to 6.12.y LTS).

Learnt from: EvilOlafURL: https://github.com/armbian/documentation/pull/827Timestamp: 2025-09-11T07:32:31.345ZLearning: Upgrading the u-boot package in Armbian only provides binary files and does NOT automatically rewrite the bootloader - this must be done manually when necessary, which is rare.

Learnt from: EvilOlafURL: https://github.com/armbian/documentation/pull/827Timestamp: 2025-09-11T07:32:31.345ZLearning: In Armbian, `apt full-upgrade` is not required for Armbian's own packages - it's only necessary for Debian-style userspace upgrades when transitioning between distributions (e.g., Bullseye to Bookworm).

Learnt from: EvilOlafURL: https://github.com/armbian/documentation/pull/827Timestamp: 2025-09-11T07:32:31.345ZLearning: Armbian kernel upgrades never switch between kernel branches, but can rollover to new major.minor versions within the same LTS branch (e.g., from 6.6.y LTS to 6.12.y LTS).

Learnt from: EvilOlafURL: https://github.com/armbian/documentation/pull/827Timestamp: 2025-09-11T07:32:31.345ZLearning: Upgrading the u-boot package in Armbian only provides binary files and does NOT automatically rewrite the bootloader - this must be done manually when necessary, which is rare.