# Why does juliaup delete the old versions?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** juliaup\
**Created:** [December 30, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193 "2023-12-30T18:58:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tetrakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4da419/32.png) [@Tetrakai](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tetrakai)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/1 "2023-12-30T18:58:23Z")

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I started with this:

```julia
$ juliaup status
 Default Channel Version Update                                     
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       * rc 1.10.0-rc2+0.x64.linux.gnu Update to 1.10.0+0.x64.linux.gnu available 
          release 1.9.4+0.x64.linux.gnu Update to 1.10.0+0.x64.linux.gnu available

```

And ended with this:

```julia
 $ juliaup update
Installing Julia 1.10.0+0.x64.linux.gnu
$ juliaup status
 Default Channel Version Update 
--------------------------------------------------
       * rc 1.10.0+0.x64.linux.gnu         
          release 1.10.0+0.x64.linux.gnu

```

I see it lists both as ready to be updated to 1.10.0, but assumed that was a bookkeeping entry and the older versions would still be available on my system.

In particular, it deleted my startup.jl files. In that case I can use `~/.julia/config/startup.jl`, but in general I assumed the purpose of juliaup was to let me have multiple versions simultaneously installed on my system. Eg, in case I had code depending on a specific older version.

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**Author:** ![davidanthoff](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/davidanthoff/32/223493_2.png) [@davidanthoff](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/davidanthoff)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/2 "2023-12-30T19:35:37Z")

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Well, the release version of Julia is now 1.10, so the `release` channel now holds that. If you want to use Julia 1.9, you can add the `1.9` channel: `juliaup add 1.9`, and then version 1.9 will stay around. Or you can also add a specific version, say `juliaup add 1.9.2`.

> In particular, it deleted my startup.jl files.

That must have been something else, `juliaup` never does anything to that file.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tetrakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4da419/32.png) [@Tetrakai](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tetrakai)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/3 "2023-12-30T19:40:07Z")

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It deletes the entire directory for the old version, including the startup.jl file.

Ie, when installing the new version it created a new (empty) startup file here

```julia
~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.10.0+0.x64.linux.gnu/etc/julia$ ls
startup.jl

```

Apparently anything I place in that file will be deleted (by default, at least) if I update again.

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**Author:** ![oheil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oheil/32/220745_2.png) [@oheil](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oheil)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/4 "2023-12-30T19:53:33Z")

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Your `startup.jl` should better be in `.julia\config\`

EDIT: Sorry, you know it, just saw it in your OP.

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**Author:** ![davidanthoff](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/davidanthoff/32/223493_2.png) [@davidanthoff](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/davidanthoff)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/5 "2023-12-30T20:12:05Z")

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Ah, also missed the details on the `startup.jl` in the original post 🙂

@oheil is right, the `startup.jl` in the Julia specific folders is not the right place to add modifications, in general with Juliaup you should consider everything inside the `~/.julia/juliaup` folder as managed by Juliaup and you should not modify anything there by hand. `~/.julia/config/startup.jl` is the right place to put your own custom startup code into. If you want to do different things for different Julia versions you can just use a `if VERSION` block in the `startup.jl`.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tetrakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4da419/32.png) [@Tetrakai](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tetrakai)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/6 "2023-12-31T16:06:12Z")

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> [@davidanthoff](#):
>
> consider everything inside the `~/.julia/juliaup` folder as managed by Juliaup

Thanks, this is a helpful way to look at it.

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**Author:** ![mike.ingold](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mike.ingold/32/203749_2.png) [@mike.ingold](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mike.ingold)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/7 "2023-12-31T19:08:04Z")

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I’ve not been a huge fan of juliaup’s `release` channel since I realized this. If I remember correctly, the first time it updated me from one minor release to the next I suddenly loaded Julia to a blank slate install. I know it maybe isn’t exactly “best practice”, but I have a fair number of packages installed in the default environment that I like to have at the ready when loading up Julia for quick calculations. Since then I’ve made a habit of just having the `1.x` channels installed.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![davidanthoff](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/davidanthoff/32/223493_2.png) [@davidanthoff](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/davidanthoff)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/8 "2023-12-31T19:45:26Z")

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@mike.ingold yeah that is more of a Julia design choice to have separate projects for each Julia version. I think it would be quite reasonable for Julia itself to ask the user if they want to copy a previous `Project.toml` over when Julia starts and detects that there is no project for the current minor version yet.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mike.ingold](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mike.ingold/32/203749_2.png) [@mike.ingold](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mike.ingold)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 1:57am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/9 "2024-01-01T01:57:12Z")

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It wouldn’t be the simplest thing to implement, but it would be nice if juliaup could attempt to migrate the default Project environment when upgrading the release install to a new blank install.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![davidanthoff](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/davidanthoff/32/223493_2.png) [@davidanthoff](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/davidanthoff)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 5:29pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/10 "2024-01-01T17:29:09Z")

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I think that kind of default project migration would be better implemented in Julia itself.

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**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-juliaup-delete-the-old-versions/108193/11 "2024-01-01T19:44:54Z")

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I put together a registered package EnvironmentMigrators.jl to assist with this issue a few years ago.

> **[GitHub - mkitti/EnvironmentMigrators.jl: Utility package to help migrate...](https://github.com/mkitti/EnvironmentMigrators.jl)**
>
> Utility package to help migrate environments by copying Project.toml and Manifest.toml - GitHub - mkitti/EnvironmentMigrators.jl: Utility package to help migrate environments by copying Project.tom...

```julia
julia> using EnvironmentMigrators
[ Info: Thank you for using EnvironmentMigrators.jl. Please run `EnvironmentMigrators.wizard()` to begin.

julia> EnvironmentMigrators.wizard()
Use the arrow keys to move the cursor. Press enter to select.
Please select a shared environment to copy to /home/mkitti/.julia/environments/v1.10/Project.toml:

...

```

It could use some attention, but I just tested it and it still seems to work just fine. I would appreciate feedback.

In general, I do not recommend populating your default `@#.#` environment with anything but small utility packages (Revise.jl, BenchmarkTools.jl). I highly recommend using shared environments such as `@mkitti` instead.