I have to say, if I had for example around 400 programs installed into Whonix Workstation via apt-get, then custom-configured as I want them, all sorts of interface tweaks and changes and modifications to KDE etc to get everything just as I want it, I would absolutely hate the idea of starting over from scratch again with a new version, and having to re-download, re-install, and re-configure each and every one of those 400 programs, all over again. It would take months to get back to where I was.
A clear and smooth upgrade path from one version to the next should always be provided for every OS, and in this case it is indeed here:
Cloudydaysfar, depending on which virtualization tool you are using (Virtualbox or KVM) you might easily be able to “clone” your entire Workstation as a backup just in case something goes wrong, and then attempt the direct 10-to-11 upgrade steps from the link above. A lot of them can be ignored because they are “Qubes specific”, and it might be an easier way to preserve all the gigabytes of software and data you already have installed on Whonix. If something gets messed up, just make another clone of the original and try again. Snapshots might also be an option, again depending on VBox/KVM.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a Whonix-specific complaint. Even mainstream Linux distros like Debian encourage users to just scrap everything and start fresh with a new major version when it is released. I just happen to think this is an absolutely horrible and unrealistic way to expect end users to conduct things. It might have taken years to get everything set up just right, and now you have to wipe everything clean and start again? Horrible. Every operating system in the world should allow for “rolling” upgrades to new versions, and never require a start-from-scratch approach. Again this isn’t a gripe about Whonix, just a general rant about the fixed version system.
Whenever Whonix 12 comes out, I know that I will go extremely out of my way to upgrade directly from version 11 without losing anything, instead of starting over again from scratch. At least Patrick provides instructions for doing so if desired… not so with every other OS.