WARNING:DO NOT UPGRADE TO CORE 4

[Guy Fraser]

On Wed, 2005-13-07 at 14:42 +0100, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> M.Lewis wrote:
> 
> > I installed FC4 last night. Tonight I was doing yum upgrades. I didn't
> > touch a thing. I just gave the command yum -y upgrade. Everything
> > started downloading fine. 279 packages I think it was. Sound works, just
> > plug in the speakers, no fiddling with anything.
> > 
> > I decided to reinstall though as the partitioning wasn't what I wanted.
> > Not FC4's fault, it was mine. I should have paid more attention during
> > the partitioning last night.
> > 
> > Other than the reinstall due to my lack of attention, I was quite
> > pleased with what I saw. NO PROBLEMS.
> > 
> > Perhaps one of the key issues here backup your data, DO A CLEAN INSTALL.
> 
> You seem to me to be somewhat lacking in imagination.
> "I have never had a crash in my car. KEEP YOUR CAR CLEAN."
> 
> Consider the possibility that an installation might not work on machine X,
> but an upgrade might.
> 
> Also consider the possibility that it might make more sense
> to keep /home on a separate partition, and leave this alone even if
> installing.
That can and does cause problems as well.

Using old configuration files can and does cause lots of 
problems when the software that uses them is updated, that
includes to user level config files in the home directories.

Unless the update process has a way of updating all the configuration 
files under /home it is better to tar it up and store it 
somewhere. You can restore it in an alternate location and 
move the files that don't exist after the upgrade then use diff
to determine what needs to changed in with the files that are left.

That is basically what I do when I upgrade a server.

> 
> > I've been on these lists since ver 5.2 I believe it was. There are
> > several others who have been here perhaps longer than me. I have NEVER
> > done an UPGRADE. Always a clean install. I simply do not have the issues
> >   that I see people complaining about here.
> 
> Consider the possibility that this is 
> because you are using a different computer.
> 
> -- 
> Timothy Murphy  
> e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
> tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
> s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland