Replace 32-bit F9 with 64-bit F9

[Chris Snook]

Dave Feustel wrote:
> I think I know the answer to this, but I am asking anyway just in case I
> get a surprise.
> 
> I'm running 32-bit F9. I just got a 64-bit F9 install disk from
> Cheapbytes and I'm wondering if there is a way to install the 64-bit
> system over the 32-bit system without wiping out the current data.
> 
> It may be that I should just wait for the 64-bit F10 before doing
> anything, since it is so close to release.
> 
> Thanks.

The short answer is no.

The long answer is that anaconda and yum have no logic to handle this, so the 
only way to do it is to tell the installer not to format the filesystems you're 
installing on.  This means your installation will have a whole lot of random 
crap, which expects other random crap you've overwritten to be there, and 
anything on the system which scans directories for configuration files and 
scripts will try to use that random crap.  If the packages you install are a 
strict superset of the packages in the original system, and provide the same 
files (which is the case if both are F9 and you haven't installed external 
packages) it will most likely be able to boot, but you'll still probably 
experience see things breaking in bizarre ways.  I've done this to get data off 
a system I could PXE-boot into an installer but couldn't boot into rescue mode, 
but it's very ugly and not something you want to actually use.

The lesson is that you should always put /home on a separate logical volume, and 
the same goes for anything else you want to preserve, like /srv.

-- Chris