On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 09:15:58AM +0000, Joe wrote: > You could literally install any numbered version and upgrade in steps > to the current one, though that would be a lot of wasted work. Any > version 9.x would upgrade in one step to current, and in the fullness > of time (probably at least a year) can be upgraded to the next major > version.
That's a wee bit overly optimistic. In practice, you will find it rather challenging to upgrade from a version of Debian that has been archived (no longer on the regular mirrors, no longer receiving Long Term Support). Right now, the oldest release of Debian that is still receiving LTS is wheezy (7.x). A more reasonable projection for the lifespan of Debian installation media is about 5 years (the length of LTS coverage). With that said, having full DVDs is pretty much a waste. Once you install Debian and get the machine onto the Internet so that you can upgrade it, you'll find that most of the packages you installed from the DVDs have been superseded by newer versions, so you'll end up downloading them all over again anyway. That's why most of us just use the minimal "netinst" installation images. Get the basic system installed from physical media, and then download the packages you want during (or shortly after) the installation, rather than installing old/buggy versions of the packages from physical media and then replacing them with newer versions immediately.
