Hi Cliff, Aren't you being overly dramatic about this? The step between 6.4 and 7.2 is quite long, and I don't know very many systems that even allow upgrades with distances that far. OS/400 for instance, one of the most stable and predictable OSes in the world, has very well defined upgrade paths, and it's simply not possible to make a jump that far. You'd have to go in stages. As far as file locations are concerned, I'd have to say that standardization is A Good Thing. Once it's a standard, you can trust it to remain that way. Things that aren't standardized, well, where can you ever trust that? To the original question: 6.4 -> 7.2 is best (only?) done with a fresh install. Make sure all configuration of programs you actively use is backed up. Especially config files that store passwords. regards Anders On Wednesday 10 October 2001 07.43, Cliff Sarginson wrote:
On Tue, Oct 09, 2001 at 10:34:49PM -0400, Bruce Marshall wrote:
On Tuesday 09 October 2001 19:44 pm, Gregory Ade wrote:
I think I already know what the answer is, but because my manager is being pushy, what is the recommended way to upgrade?
Given an existing SuSE 6.4 system with a reasonable amount of non-rpm software packages installed and a fair amount of post-installation customization, would it be simpler (in the long run) to stick in my 7.2 cd and let it do an upgrade, or do a fresh install and repeat the work from scratch?
Personally, I'm thinking the latter, mainly because a great many things changed from 6.4->7.2, and we've got a lot of other stuff tucked in around it...
The latter:
1) You can take good notes about things added/changed. 2) You'll get rid of a lot of dead wood. 3) Any extra time spent re-doing the changes would override time spent trying to find/fix the bugs in an upgrade. 4) You always learn something from an install.
What's the general consensus?
Do *not* pass go, do not collect 100 pounds, go straight to jail .. that is if you do an upgrade. A fresh installation my friend, prepare yourself well and I would bet money you will come to less grief than if you try an upgrade. Suse is far far behind in respect to this kind of thing compared to other longer in the tooth UN*X's. But this is a favourite pet-peeve of mine so I will shut up now..
One thing, a lot of things will end up in different places in 7.2 than in 6.4, don't let that alarm you. Suse is keen on the increasing standardisation of where certain things should live on Linux systems. Apache files have particularly itchy feet. Oh and documentation as well roams around a lot.