kernel update warning

[Kam Leo]

2008/2/25 Mikkel L. Ellertson <mikkel at infinity-ltd.com>:
> Valent Turkovic wrote:
>  > On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 12:01 AM, Kam Leo <kam.leo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>  You are nit-picking. Most users want kernel security updates. Those
>  >>  who have special requirements, e.g. only one particular version works
>  >>  with their setup, will disable updating the kernel.
>  >
>  > There are users who aren't aware that kernel updates can stop their
>  > vmware, vitualbox and other apps that use custom compiled kernel
>  > modules... I know that you can argue that users should know that
>  > breaks and what doesn't break their apps, but still a finer grained
>  > updates would be nice.
>  >
>  > I also think that OpenSuse has some think like this "install only
>  > updates that don't require a restart" (I don't use OpenSuse regulary
>  > so I can't be absolute sure) and Mint Linux has even updates grained
>  > with numbers 1-5, 5 being updates that are potentially dangerous to
>  > break some functionality you have now (like kernels and graphics
>  > drivers). So you can apply only updates with 3 and lower number and
>  > only when you choose do the other "more dangerous" updates.
>  >
>  > Do you see this as a nonsense or something that fedora would benefit from?
>  >
>  Well, unless you change things, you are presented with a list of the
>  packages that will be installed, removed, and updated. I guess if
>  you blindly accept the list, you could run into problems. You also
>  have the option of telling Yum not to consider packages for update.
>  In any case, if the new kernel breaks things, you always have the
>  current running kernel to fall back on. So you can try the new
>  kernel if you want, and if it breaks things for you, go back to the
>  old one.
>
>  Mikkel

With Fedora you have another kernel to fall back on. For openSUSE the
old/running kernel is removed and only the new kernel package remains.
If things don't work after rebooting you need to boot using safe mode
settings; and, if that fails, dig out the install/rescue CD/DVD.
Perhaps that's why openSUSE issues fewer kernel updates than Fedora.