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Since there is no semantic version locking between versions of different add-ons and such in HA, you may always be at risk of hitting a wall like you describe. Keep backups and rollback, that's about the best you can do.
In the future, they would be smarter to use semver locking so you don't accidentally update something that is incompatible with other versions of things like a package repo, but that's a lot of heavy lifting that will take awhile to sort out.
I wish HA would have LTS versions, I would absolutely run it, like I do on my servers.
I skim read the changelogs for breaking changes but mostly just YOLO it whenever I'm in the mood to update or a new monthly release drops.
That said, the VM that runs HAOS and the Z2M addon is snapshotted every night with two week's worth of retention, and I let HA do its own scheduled backups in case a snapshot restore doesn't work for whatever reason. So far I've never had a need for either but I rest easy knowing the options are there.
update 2.1.3 once update 2.1.4 becomes available
I wouldn't use that policy because what if 2.1.4 includes a fix for an issue in 2.1.3?
My update policy is wait until a month comes put, then update to the newest previous month's version. Patches for bugs go into mainline and are backported so this minimizes bugs in the new features.
@chaospatterns
It is interesting how many people think that an update could not contain previous bugs, if they just wait long enough for the installation…
There's no guarantee bugs get fixed in a newer version, but there's a higher chance of a software feature working if it's been out for awhile with a few patch releases than it is for a brand new feature to work day one on a YYYY.MM.0 release. Home Assistant generally holds new features for those YYYY.MM.0, but patches get backported.
@chaospatterns
Yeah, No, it makes sense to wait 2-3 hours after a release to see if the update is bricking something, but otherwise the chances for a bug are the same with every update and feature.
There is an uncountable amount of bugs, that has been previously fixed in the wild, and almost every software on the planet is involved…
2.1.4 is fixing things in 2.1.3 and when those broken things effect you because you decided to install a known buggy version, then you'll shift the complaint that it shouldn't have let you install the broken one that would have effected you.
Pay attention to the update notes and let the system take backups, that'll cover you 99% of the time.
I had something similar happen with a Node-Red update a few years ago and I stopped allowing automatic updates and started reading the notes and being proactive about my updates and have had zero issues since because I ensure my system is ready for the updates first.
I have a baby at home and that makes it impossible to keep up with all the updates. Reading the release notes? God damn, I'm glad I have the time hit the update button once a month and then pray to god that it doesn't break anything. If it does then it'll take months before I have time to investigate.
This led me to abonden HA from the summer house already. My dad's HA has been turned off for three months too because I just can't find the time to fix it, and at home it's running but I have only one type of ZigBee things still working, other things are just broken like my script showing random pictures on the TV.
I really wish for a LTS version. I don't have those problems on my Server where I run Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
Yeah, I've been dealing with the fallout of doing a firmware upgrade suggested by zwave2js which - I don't know - changed the IDs on every single one of my 60 z-wave devices. I've been going through fixing dashboards, and automations, and scripts. It's been a major PITA. It is, however, the first time a breakage of this magnitude has happened to me in a decade.
It wasn't just that devices changed; some stayed the same but the entity value IDs of their functions changed. It was so random.
I'm going to think twice about doing that, next time.
I don't use HA so this is confusing me. If the software works for your home setup, why update at all ever? What do you as a user get other than the opportunity to see new ads on the thermostat screen or whatever?
I don't use HA so this is confusing me.
You should check it out whilst you're here 🙂
There are no ads.
A lot of people don't have a fully offline setup and still have at least some devices that talk to the cloud. If that's the case, if they make any changes, HA has to also update in response to those changes, so they really can't treat it as an 'appliance' that can just sit there.
HA devs are also pretty frequently updating HA to make it better (better dashboards, better methods to create automations, etc...) and if you update at least every couple of months you'll be able to adapt pretty easily.
Mine will largely function without internet, at least it will for anything needed, but does still need WiFi, but, I still keep it up to date. They're also constantly updating and adding services that it can tie into, so, keeping up to date adds a lot of features you may not have even known you needed/wanted.