Risks of updating LO?

[LonePeregrine]

My LO version is 4.4.5.2. I have two fairly simple questions which I haven’t been able to find much information about.

1. If I update to the most recent version 4 (4.4.7), could that present any risk to my existing docs? In addition, if a version 4 past 4.4 existed (e.g. 4.5 – I know this is not actual), could updating to that present risk?

2. I I update to any version 5, could that present any risk to my existing docs?

Specifically, could either conceivably corrupt pre-existing documents or mess with pre-existing templates? I’m concerned about this because I have a large number of documents all based on a single template, and I don’t want to rock the boat. My current version of LO is performing with almost no problems, but I would prefer to update LO regularly as long as it doesn’t entail the risk of disrupting the documents or template at some point down the line.

I’m anticipating keeping and working with these documents for a long time (we’re talking decades), so I don’t want corruption to crawl in through a chain of updates. I’m worried about the possibility that a document could only withstand so many updates before somehow losing stability.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice on this issue.

[oweng]

Updating v4.4.5.2 to a later version in the same series (e.g., v4.4.7.2, which in this case is the last release in the same series) poses minimal risk. The update should only contain bug fixes.

Upgrading from one series to the next always poses greater risk as new features are included and in the past there have been instances of releases early in a series writing out problematic files. The degree of problem is naturally highly variable, but is generally low and often inconsequential. For this reason each new series (“Fresh”) was advised (refer the quote here) as being suitable for “early adopters and private power users”. The wording has now been toned down to read “suitable for all users” to encourage greater testing / feedback.

[LonePeregrine]

Thanks, this was a good explanation.

[petermau]

Don’t forget that LibreOffice does not use its own document architectures. Open document Format (ODF) with its specific .odt, .ods etc. is an international carefully documented standard. LibO is not using proprietary undocumented formats that can adjust from one version of the software to another. Therefore the majority of changing LibO code is concerned with the user interface and function and also input/output filters for poorly, if at all, proprietary documents formats not with reading and writing to the ODF documents. This does mean that you should keep long term documents in ODF (odt, ods, ott etc) formats… Peter

[LonePeregrine]

Thanks, this was a helpful clarification.