Uggh, feel bad for them.
I’ve tried for years to get friends and family to have their data sit in a single point in the house and use backup services. That would be a massive improvement.
Family won’t listen, so I’m building minicomputers for them all that will handle it. Just have to configure their devices to store data there.
I don’t do upgrades (well, not in the sense most people think of them).
My approach is that upgrades are too risky, things always break. It’s also why I don’t permit auto updates on anything. I’d rather do manual updates than dedicated time. Keeping things working is more important, and I have backups.
I run everything virtualized (as much as I can), so I can test upgrades by cloning a system and upgrading the clone. If that fails, I simply build a new system based on some templates I keep. Run in parallel, copy config and data as best I can, then migrate. Just migrated my Jellyfin setup this way.
This is a common methodology in enterprise, which virtualization makes a lot easier for us self hosters.
I haven’t had a disruption from updates/upgrades in 5 years.
Thing is, even using this new app it’s still ST underneath, using their Discovery servers. That’s as big an issue as anything.
Bold move, Cotton!
(Not really, Lineage updates are the most seamless I’ve ever seen).