upgrade vs clean install

[electricnight]

whenever a new wine version is rolled out/installed and a windows program is started, the existing wine prefix is automatically upgraded in first place.

now i wonder if it makes a difference, when extra software like dotnet has been installed before?

will you benefit from doing a fresh install of wine and dotnet or is the upgraded wine prefix incl dotnet just on par in every aspect?

[DarkShadow44]

Usually the upgrade works just fine, keeping all functionality and programs. Only sometimes a bug breaks it, then a fresh WINEPREFIX is useful.

[electricnight]

hi darkshadow!

ok, i see - good to know, it is not the case.

looking especially at a dotnet (winetricks) installation, i was under the impression, it could make quite a difference and a bugfix / new working feature could be missed / overlooked this way.

[DarkShadow44]

I mean that can happen, just saying that is usually doesn't. But of course, every upgrade is a potential danger.

[Cybermax]

hi darkshadow!

ok, i see - good to know, it is not the case.

looking especially at a dotnet (winetricks) installation, i was under the impression, it could make quite a difference and a bugfix / new working feature could be missed / overlooked this way.

It is worth it SOME TIME to do a fresh install, but probably not every wine version.
This is the point in having many prefixes - preferrably one for each app - so that if a conflict with eg. some custom winetricks install does not break all your games. Easier to maintain, easier to check for bugs and regressions. Doing a fresh install sometimes, with the aim at keeping hacks/overrides and stuff at the bare minimum is a good way to "upgrade".. but it gets tiresome to do every fortnight