Every time there’s a new Ubuntu version coming up it’s interesting to test it using the Desktop edition live CD. This however requires burning a CD, rebooting from it, but doesn’t include the “full” test experience – your personal files and customization are not there.

Putting a full working Ubuntu install on a USB key and linking to an existing home directory may be the closest to an actual full-upgrade: it doesn’t touch your hard disk (so no need to reverse any changes). Well, mostly. For example if you use Firefox, a new version will upgrade extensions, etc.

One of my colleagues, Shang Wu, has put together a little script to automate this setup, and a basic document on how to install Ubuntu on a stick to test Karmic as I described, see: Testing Ubuntu Beta Releases off a USB stick. Please do read the code before executing it in one of your systems

If anyone has comments or suggestions for this script or if you have better recipes to let existing Ubuntu users test/try future releases, I’d like to hear about it.

Every time there’s a new Ubuntu version coming up it’s interesting to test it using the Desktop edition live CD. This however requires burning a CD, rebooting from it, but...