Release notes contradict admin docs on skipping releases when upgrading

[aaaaalbert]

The upgrading guide for admins (sources here, live docs here) says that

You can safely skip intermediate releases when upgrading from an old version. You do not need to individually check them out. However, you do need to keep track of the instructions with each release. Most instructions overlap, you just need to make sure you execute everything at least once.

In contrast, the release notes since at least v3.3.1 state:

If you are upgrading directly from an earlier release, please carefully read the upgrade notes for the skipped releases as well, as they often require extra steps such as database migrations.

Problems:

• In the docs,
  • "safely skip" is probably quite wrong.
  • "just (...) execute everything at least once" is not very helpful if you don't know what to execute, or under which circumstances it is going to work (think: different version of Mastodon/Ruby/Postgres)
• In the release notes,
  • "carefully read" is clearly asking for something else than the docs' "safely skip".
  • (...although "carefully read" isn't optimal either -- how about following the instructions...?)

I can't really suggest a solution because I don't understand the various interdependencies in the background. (For example, can all database migrations run with either version of Mastodon/Ruby/Postgres/etc.?)

I don't expect official upgrading guides from every old version to every new one, but I do think that a simple, plainly worded, and possibly unified process description would be a good idea. After all, v3.5 is EoL by the end of 2023, and people on 4.1.x will consider upgrading to 4.2.x sooner or later as well.