Should I uninstall old hotfixes or not?

[Hnk]

This is something that I have been wondering for some time recently.

Usually whenever I install a new jumbo hotfix I simply import a new J. HF and install it but that made me wonder
if there is some point in uninstalling the old  J HFs before installing a new one?

I can think of a few reason as to why this would be done like making system backups simpler because
if, at least according to my lab testing, you don't have the right DA installed and the correct hotfixes installed in the right order
then the system backup will not work.

Another reason I can think of which I heard a while ago, is certain hotfixes not being compatible with other hotfixes.

But the question still remains: should I uninstall old hotfixes before installing a new one and is it recommended?

[Chris_Atkinson]

Typically this is not required for JHF but is  necessary for private fixes to allow subsequent JHFs to be installed.

Some customers/partners like to perform periodic clean installs to avoid a system that has undergone continual in-place upgrades across multiple major versions.

[G_W_Albrecht · Accepted solution]

You have to see the two different kinds of HFs:

1. Jumbo HF GA or ongoing

2. special HF (based on a Jumbo Take version)

1 - The only reason imho to uninstall a Jumbo Take before installing a new one is disk space (together with the backup before install of a new take, a lot of space is consumed)

2 - You have a Jumbo Take as a basis for the HF. If you want to install a later Jumbo, you will need a new special HF version based on the new Jumbo in most of the cases.

While restore of backups may give the error Error: 'verify_restore_f': hotfix file does not match to current machine" (sk105883), installation order is not an issue with current versions.

[the_rock]

Guys are definitely right, both @Chris_Atkinson  and @G_W_Albrecht . Personally, I dont bother uninstalling old hotfixes and here is why. It happened before when I did so that it complained about files missing for new hotfix install, so you might be safer to leave it as is.