On 30 October 2013 17:50, mick mbm@rlogin.net wrote:
A true "rolling update" distro never needs re-installing. In the rolling update model individual /packages/ get rolled out when they are upgraded. There is no "point release" of a complete new working distribution a la *buntu or debian.
That was my understanding, thanks for confirming.
Mint does NOT do a rolling release.
It does: LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition: http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php)
Basically Debian Testing with Mint niceness on top. Well they describe it as "semi-rolling", I haven't looked into quite what they mean by this, but it's close enough for our purposes.
As an aside, if you are really bothered about the risk of trashing your users' data at a point release, why not have all their home directories as network mounts?
That assumes they have networks to mount to. These aren't people I live/work with, but friends and family, using standalone XP PCs.