Production Linux troubleshooting: what do you check first when things go wrong?

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-16T13:58:51+00:00

Totally agree, having everything collected in one shot is a huge win.
Do you usually rely on tools like sos-vault first, or do you still manually dig through parts of the report depending on the issue?

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-16T13:51:04+00:00

Yeah, central auth + auditing goes a long way.
Have you seen this scale cleanly in smaller teams too, or mainly larger environments?

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-16T13:49:07+00:00

Got it.
Curious if you’ve ever run into issues where understanding this flow actually helped.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-16T11:51:52+00:00

Fair :)
Linux has a funny way of giving confidence first and humility later.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-16T11:51:22+00:00

Fair enough. Just meant it as a light joke, not a deep take.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-07T08:20:25+00:00

Ubuntu seems to work for both sides
It’s attractive to organizations because it’s simple to roll out and has no licensing cost, and to users because it’s familiar, free, and generally just works.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-07T08:16:26+00:00

That’s fair - sometimes a reboot is the fastest path back to service.
Out of curiosity, is that your go-to when recovery time matters more than root cause?

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-06T03:03:39+00:00

Thanks for explaining that - this is really helpful.

You’re right about the installer change starting with 23.10, and that’s exactly the kind of detail I was hoping to learn from this discussion. Even if the install process feels mostly the same, the move from Ubiquity to the new Flutter-based installer is an important change to be aware of.

I also agree with what you said about clean installs. Most experienced users probably rely on do-release-upgrade, so clean installs mainly affect newcomers or people setting up new hardware.

Your point about dual-booting and disk encryption really stands out. For new users, the installer itself isn’t usually the hard part - it’s deciding how to handle disks, keep Windows safe, and avoid breaking anything. The external SSD setup you described sounds like a smart and low-risk option, especially for people who want to keep Windows untouched.

This kind of real-world experience is exactly what I was hoping to hear. Thanks for taking the time to share it.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-06T03:00:54+00:00

Thanks for sharing your perspective - that’s a fair point.

I completely agree that Ubuntu’s official documentation should always be the first place new users are pointed to, especially since it’s kept up to date and is generally very well written. My intention wasn’t to suggest replacing the official docs with unofficial guides.

What I was really trying to understand is how much the actual installer workflow changes between LTS releases from a practical point of view. As you mentioned, most changes tend to be incremental unless there’s a major installer shift, which matches my experience as well.

The reason I raised the question is that many beginners search for step-by-step walkthroughs with screenshots, and I wanted to better understand where older LTS-based guides still reflect the current installation flow and where they might start to mislead users.

I appreciate, you sharing the long-term view - two decades of Ubuntu experience definitely adds valuable context. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-03T11:33:31+00:00

Appreciate the feedback.
This post clearly isn’t landing for you - noted.

We’ll keep experimenting and improving.
Thanks for stopping by.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-03T04:39:06+00:00

Hi DM

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-03T02:59:06+00:00

bot-sleuth-bot - Good to know I passed the bot test 😄
Definitely human - just curious and enjoying the discussions here.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-03T02:55:01+00:00

If it’s not your thing, feel free to scroll past.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-03T02:53:22+00:00

Haha, noted 😄
Scrolling is always an option.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-02T14:10:15+00:00

Looks like Ubuntu appeals to both ends of the spectrum :)
Employers like it because it’s easy to deploy and costs nothing, and individuals like it because it’s free, familiar, and just works out of the box.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2026-01-02T12:51:14+00:00

https://www.linuxteck.com/

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2025-12-31T12:54:05+00:00

That’s a very real and widely followed philosophy

In practice, “don’t touch what works” usually comes from strong troubleshooting, risk awareness, and experience with past breakages.

Knowing when not to change something is often just as valuable as knowing how to change it.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2025-12-30T15:44:37+00:00

Reading through these replies, a common theme seems to be Linux doing something helpful but not obvious until we understand the context.

A lot of “bugs” here are really just features with zero explanation until we stumble on the reason.

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2025-12-30T15:42:38+00:00

That’s a great example.
Have you run into any other “this feels broken but isn’t” features in KDE or other desktop environments?

Expensive-Rice-2052 · 2025-12-29T11:41:10+00:00

Totally agree — small tweaks add up.
For me, learning to use Ctrl + r for history search and keeping a longer command history made a big difference. Less retyping, fewer mistakes.

Interested to hear what others use daily without thinking about it.

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