[OpenIndiana-discuss] Recommended way to migrate to a new release?

[Reginald Beardsley]

I tried a text-install of 2021.04.30  into an existing 2020.10.31 pool, but the user information didn't propagate to the new BE.  Is this a bug, install mistake or the wrong way to update?

All the stuff I found on the wiki was quite old.  Nothing discussed updates from one Hipster release to the next.   Particularly bothersome was the "uninstall a bunch of packages" part.  Everything I read appeared to apply to the situation 7-8 years ago.

I'd like to create a BE for each release so I can revert back if needed.  I'd also like to update from the ISO image in order to stay in sync with it.

A corollary question is does a "stable" branch exist?  From the wiki:

"Hipster is a rapid development branch where software versions are frequently updated. While every package is tested to ensure stability, caution is nevertheless warranted when deploying Hipster into mission critical production environments."

i gather that there are people running OI in a  production environment as opposed to my single user home environment.  How do you address the issue?

Reg