Should kernels be upgraded or installed.

[Michael Schwendt]

On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 14:19:25 +0100, David Woodhouse wrote:

> On Fri, 2004-08-13 at 12:18 +0200, Michael Schwendt wrote:
> > Default of upgrade installation should be to boot the upgraded system with
> > the upgraded kernel, not a mixture of an upgraded system with some old
> > unknown kernel.
> 
> True -- but that doesn't mean we can't keep the old one around just in
> case. I wouldn't suggest the old kernel should be the _default_.

The new kernel should just work. Everything else would be a bug.

> Btw, I wouldn't refer to the old kernel as 'unknown'. The term you are
> looking for is "last known good".

"Last known good" for some previous release of the distribution. Even if
it still booted fine, what happens if user selected it and it it didn't
include e.g. SELinux or other features needed during first boot? You've
got the boot CD and rescue mode in case the new kernel doesn't boot. And
if the rescue kernel doesn't boot either, it's a bug.