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If you take a look at Joomla!'s official updates download page you will see that the only upgrade available is from 1.5.0 and 1.5.24. Therefore, there is no direct upgrade path from 1.5.23. You can use the re-install method instead, as it will only replace Joomla! 1.5.23's files with 1.5.25's files without touching your database. This is exactly what an update would do.

The only difference between an update and reinstallation is that the former overwrites ONLY the files which have changed between the two releases, whereas the latter overwrites ALL Joomla! core files, regardless if they have been modified or not.

Well, we have a fine manual which explains what this button does:

""Reinstall 1.5.22. This will download and install the full installation package of the latest release, overwriting all Joomla! core files.""

It will not replace, remove or in any way alter non-core Joomla! files and ALL database contents. In other words, it only refreshes the Joomla! core files. You can safely use it any time. It does exactly the same thing you'd do if you were manually updating your site to 1.5.25.

No need to be scared. Since Joomla! 1.5.24, the Joomla! project only provides three packages:
- Full installation package: all files + installation directory
- 1.5.0 to 1.5.x: all files (without the installation directory)
- 1.5.(x-1) to 1.5.x: only the files changed between x-1 and x (e.g. 1.5.24 to 1.5.25).

As you can see, the 1.5.0 to 1.5.x installation package is equivalent to the full installation package WITHOUT the installation directory and you are supposed to extract that in your site's root. What does the "Reinstall" button does in Admin Tools? It extracts the full installation package in your site's root SKIPPING the installation directory. In other words, it does EXACTLY what the official 1.5.0-to-1.5.x upgrade package does.

Therefore, there is no reason to worry because we are doing exactly the same thing as what the Joomla! core team does in the official upgrade packages.

I know that the lack of a direct upgrade package sounds scary, but it isn't. IMHO, the silent decision of the Joomla! core team to remove the individual upgrade packages was right from a developer's perspective, but it was the worst possible move in terms of user psychology. The lack of distinct upgrade packages makes users feel insecure. Even for no other reason than simple reassurance, they should keep the distinct packages. My $0.02.

IMHO, the situation is exactly the opposite. Before Joomla! 1.6.0 was released, there was a 7-month beta period. I did monitor it and made sure that my software worked with Joomla! 1.6.0 the day it was released. Many developers decided not to bother, until 1.6.3 was released, forced to start developing for the new Joomla! version because their clients demanded it. Essentially, the developers CHOSE to fall behind the curve. Some developers have not bothered at all, saying that they will do when 2.5 is released.

Bullocks. The migration will take them so long that their software will be superseded by something else. In case you missed it, Joom!Fish was forked into FaLang which works under Joomla! 1.7. Same goes for all software in wide use right now.

Now, regarding the update packages, as I said I can understand the decision from a developer's perspective. I would appreciate still having those packages for Joomla! 1.5 from a user's perspective, merely as a psychological assurance. Regarding Admin Tools, I am going to release a new version today which addresses this change. It's not such a big deal. And the release is mostly for psychological reasons: using Reinstall would work just fine, albeit the chance of a timeout due to the bigger file which has to be downloaded is a concern - but not any bigger than downloading the 1.5.0-to-1.5.25 package either ;)