[opensuse] Howto Backup and Save Working kernel and config before YOU kernel update?
Listmates, How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update? What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system? I recall this discussion, but googling, I can't find the old posts. With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks! -- David C. Rankin, J.D., P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
David C. Rankin wrote:
Listmates,
How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update?
It isn't deleted. Your old kernel will still be in /boot, and will there will be a symbolic link /boot/vmlinuz.old pointing to it. To boot the previous kernel, you intervene during the boot-up process, and add ".old" appropriately to the boot-line when it comes up in grub. Additionally, you can always add an entry to grub to make this even easier. NOTE... I don't have an "old" kernel on my machine right now, so my reply is based on personal memory.
What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system? I recall this discussion, but googling, I can't find the old posts. With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Aaron Kulkis wrote:
David C. Rankin wrote:
Listmates,
How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update?
It isn't deleted.
Your old kernel will still be in /boot, and will there will be a symbolic link /boot/vmlinuz.old pointing to it.
To boot the previous kernel, you intervene during the boot-up process, and add ".old" appropriately to the boot-line when it comes up in grub.
Additionally, you can always add an entry to grub to make this even easier.
NOTE... I don't have an "old" kernel on my machine right now, so my reply is based on personal memory.
What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system? I recall this discussion, but googling, I can't find the old posts. With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
I wish it worked that way, but yast in 10.3 does _delete_ the old kernel and _removes_ the installed modules for the old kernel. The module tree for the old kernel remains in /lib/modules, but any custom modules (wifi, etc) are deleted on the kernel upgrade. This killed a production box when kernel update crashed after setting the vmlinuz and initrd links to the new kernel even though the crash occurred before the new kernel was actually installed. I have used the method suggested by Ken to download the kernel, kernel-source and kernel-syms and then install manually with rpm -ivh. This works the way yast use-to-work. The new kernel is installed and the old kernel and all old modules are left intact. Proper grub menu.lst entries are created for both the new and old kernels. Once verified, the old kernel can be removed either through yast or with rpm -e and the menu.lst entries are properly removed as well. The only negative side effect of the rpm -ivh install is on online-update that still thinks it needs to install the new kernel. Manually changing the OU select options for the kernel fixes this problem. -- David C. Rankin, J.D., P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
David C. Rankin wrote:
Aaron Kulkis wrote:
David C. Rankin wrote:
Listmates,
How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update?
It isn't deleted.
Your old kernel will still be in /boot, and will there will be a symbolic link /boot/vmlinuz.old pointing to it.
To boot the previous kernel, you intervene during the boot-up process, and add ".old" appropriately to the boot-line when it comes up in grub.
Additionally, you can always add an entry to grub to make this even easier.
NOTE... I don't have an "old" kernel on my machine right now, so my reply is based on personal memory.
What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system? I recall this discussion, but googling, I can't find the old posts. With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
I wish it worked that way, but yast in 10.3 does _delete_ the old kernel and _removes_ the installed modules for the old kernel. The module tree for the old kernel remains in /lib/modules, but any custom modules (wifi, etc) are deleted on the kernel upgrade. This killed a production box when kernel update crashed after setting the vmlinuz and initrd links to the new kernel even though the crash occurred before the new kernel was actually installed.
I have used the method suggested by Ken to download the kernel, kernel-source and kernel-syms and then install manually with rpm -ivh. This works the way yast use-to-work. The new kernel is installed and the old kernel and all old modules are left intact. Proper grub menu.lst entries are created for both the new and old kernels. Once verified, the old kernel can be removed either through yast or with rpm -e and the menu.lst entries are properly removed as well.
The only negative side effect of the rpm -ivh install is on online-update that still thinks it needs to install the new kernel. Manually changing the OU select options for the kernel fixes this problem.
Hi, I actually got it right with yast somehow. I think it is because I locked (it displays a padlock symbol) my kernel in yast to stop it from trying to upgrade and mess up my configuration. then I upgraded to a 2.6.24 strain and I ended up with a dual boot screen, for both kernels, on startup. It might also be part of the new 11.0 yast of course. Use 11.0 yast very carefully as it still has some irritating bugs. I haven't destroyed my system yet though. Try locking it and see what happens. Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Feb 5, 2008 1:09 AM, Dave Plater
Hi, I actually got it right with yast somehow. I think it is because I locked (it displays a padlock symbol) my kernel in yast to stop it from trying to upgrade and mess up my configuration. then I upgraded to a 2.6.24 strain and I ended up with a dual boot screen, for both kernels, on startup. It might also be part of the new 11.0 yast of course. Use 11.0 yast very carefully as it still has some irritating bugs. I haven't destroyed my system yet though. Try locking it and see what happens. Dave
That's a nice trick. Can any one verify if this is a workable workaround? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
David C. Rankin wrote:
Aaron Kulkis wrote:
David C. Rankin wrote:
Listmates,
How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update?
It isn't deleted.
Your old kernel will still be in /boot, and will there will be a symbolic link /boot/vmlinuz.old pointing to it.
To boot the previous kernel, you intervene during the boot-up process, and add ".old" appropriately to the boot-line when it comes up in grub.
Additionally, you can always add an entry to grub to make this even easier.
NOTE... I don't have an "old" kernel on my machine right now, so my reply is based on personal memory.
What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system? I recall this discussion, but googling, I can't find the old posts. With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
I wish it worked that way, but yast in 10.3 does _delete_ the old kernel and _removes_ the installed modules for the old kernel. The
Oh shit. What knucklehead broke that? </rhetorical> Damn, this is frustrating. Why are the YaST developers taking code that worked (and quite well at that) and replacing it with code that is completely anti-thetical to good administrative practices?
module tree for the old kernel remains in /lib/modules, but any custom modules (wifi, etc) are deleted on the kernel upgrade. This killed a production box when kernel update crashed after setting the vmlinuz and initrd links to the new kernel even though the crash occurred before the new kernel was actually installed.
I'll bet it did. And I can fully sympathize with you're unhappiness... I would be too. I'm only on 10.1 right now... Online Update, which used to work flawlessly, is broken -- even on a 2nd installation. (and yes, MD5sums did check out). All of the polished bits have been getting marred, scratched, dented and generally going downhill since 9.3 :-( And then we have SuSE's devs starting pointless discussions about re-arranging the deck chairs on the sinking YaST ship.
I have used the method suggested by Ken to download the kernel, kernel-source and kernel-syms and then install manually with rpm -ivh. This works the way yast use-to-work. The new kernel is installed and the old kernel and all old modules are left intact. Proper grub menu.lst entries are created for both the new and old kernels. Once verified, the old kernel can be removed either through yast or with rpm -e and the menu.lst entries are properly removed as well.
The only negative side effect of the rpm -ivh install is on online-update that still thinks it needs to install the new kernel. Manually changing the OU select options for the kernel fixes this problem.
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 03:52:45PM -0500, Aaron Kulkis wrote:
David C. Rankin wrote:
Aaron Kulkis wrote:
David C. Rankin wrote:
Listmates,
How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update?
It isn't deleted.
Your old kernel will still be in /boot, and will there will be a symbolic link /boot/vmlinuz.old pointing to it.
To boot the previous kernel, you intervene during the boot-up process, and add ".old" appropriately to the boot-line when it comes up in grub.
Additionally, you can always add an entry to grub to make this even easier.
NOTE... I don't have an "old" kernel on my machine right now, so my reply is based on personal memory.
What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system? I recall this discussion, but googling, I can't find the old posts. With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
I wish it worked that way, but yast in 10.3 does _delete_ the old kernel and _removes_ the installed modules for the old kernel. The
Oh shit. What knucklehead broke that? </rhetorical>
It never was done any other way, the kernel was and is always replaced. Ciao, Marcus -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Wednesday 06 February 2008, Marcus Meissner wrote:
With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
I wish it worked that way, but yast in 10.3 does _delete_ the old kernel and _removes_ the installed modules for the old kernel. The
Oh shit. What knucklehead broke that? </rhetorical>
It never was done any other way, the kernel was and is always replaced.
Ciao, Marcus
Back in the 7.x, 8.x, and 9.x days, problems with kernel updates were very unusual. Since early in the 10.x series every single kernel update has had numerous people reporting serious problems. For me, not a single kernel update in 10.x has worked without a manual repair of a corrupt menu.lst after working with grub command line to boot the system. I and others have reported this problem (bugs 346638, 348257, 272989 and probably others) without any response from SuSE. So it would seem reasonable that YaST provide users with an option to install a kernel update without destroying the previous one and without corrupting menu.lst. mike. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Wed, Feb 06, 2008 at 07:01:57AM -0500, Mike wrote:
On Wednesday 06 February 2008, Marcus Meissner wrote:
With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
I wish it worked that way, but yast in 10.3 does _delete_ the old kernel and _removes_ the installed modules for the old kernel. The
Oh shit. What knucklehead broke that? </rhetorical>
It never was done any other way, the kernel was and is always replaced.
Ciao, Marcus
Back in the 7.x, 8.x, and 9.x days, problems with kernel updates were very unusual. Since early in the 10.x series every single kernel update has had numerous people reporting serious problems.
For me, not a single kernel update in 10.x has worked without a manual repair of a corrupt menu.lst after working with grub command line to boot the system. I and others have reported this problem (bugs 346638, 348257, 272989 and probably others) without any response from SuSE.
So it would seem reasonable that YaST provide users with an option to install a kernel update without destroying the previous one and without corrupting menu.lst.
Btw, installing additional kernels does not fix the "broken menu.lst" problem. This is another buildingsite. Ciao, Marcus -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 02/06/2008 08:01 PM, Mike wrote:
Back in the 7.x, 8.x, and 9.x days, problems with kernel updates were very unusual. Since early in the 10.x series every single kernel update has had numerous people reporting serious problems.
For me, not a single kernel update in 10.x has worked without a manual repair of a corrupt menu.lst after working with grub command line to boot the system. I and others have reported this problem (bugs 346638, 348257, 272989 and probably others) without any response from SuSE.
I had that in 10.1, but I think getting the grub settings in Yast Bootloader has it all working for me. My situation is booting a raid 1 /, with /boot as a directory on /. Grub cannot boot raid 1 with a generic master boot record. I could always install to the MBR via the grub CLI, and it worked with no problems, but kernel updates would mess up. 10.2 was better. I have not had ANY problems with a kernel update with 10.3. I have made sure grub is set in Yast to install in the MBR of sda (and I manually install it in the MBR of sdb), and it has not messed up my system in a long while now. Even openSUSE Updater works to replace my kernel. -- Joe Morris Registered Linux user 231871 running openSUSE 10.3 x86_64 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2008/02/06 07:01 (GMT-0500) Mike apparently typed:
On Wednesday 06 February 2008, Marcus Meissner wrote:
With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
I wish it worked that way, but yast in 10.3 does _delete_ the old kernel and _removes_ the installed modules for the old kernel. The
Oh shit. What knucklehead broke that? </rhetorical>
It never was done any other way, the kernel was and is always replaced.
Back in the 7.x, 8.x, and 9.x days, problems with kernel updates were very unusual. Since early in the 10.x series every single kernel update has had numerous people reporting serious problems.
For me, not a single kernel update in 10.x has worked without a manual repair of a corrupt menu.lst after working with grub command line to boot the system. I and others have reported this problem (bugs 346638, 348257, 272989 and probably others) without any response from SuSE.
So it would seem reasonable that YaST provide users with an option to install a kernel update without destroying the previous one and without corrupting menu.lst.
Back about the time SMBFS was removed from the kernel rpm packages I found this YOU behavior unacceptable. Since then I've been skipping updates until such time as I was in the mood for a kernel recompile, and using Smart instead of YOU, to ensure I don't lose a fully functional kernel. -- "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
David C. Rankin pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
Listmates,
How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update? What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system? I recall this discussion, but googling, I can't find the old posts. With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
Until the powers that be realize that _problems_ with kernel updates _WILL_ occur the only solution I can think of is to manually download the kernel for your system from the update site which for 10.3 is: http://download.opensuse.org/update/10.3/rpm Install using rpm -ivh instead of rpm -Uvh. This will leave the previous kernel installed. You can also re-install an older kernel version this way. -- Ken Schneider SuSe since Version 5.2, June 1998 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Ken Schneider wrote:
David C. Rankin pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
Listmates,
How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update? What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system? I recall this discussion, but googling, I can't find the old posts. With all the recent YOU kernel update problems, I want to make sure I can get back to my old kernel and config. Thanks!
Until the powers that be realize that _problems_ with kernel updates _WILL_ occur the only solution I can think of is to manually download the kernel for your system from the update site which for 10.3 is:
http://download.opensuse.org/update/10.3/rpm
Install using rpm -ivh instead of rpm -Uvh. This will leave the previous kernel installed. You can also re-install an older kernel version this way.
That sucks. When did Yast stop saving the old kernel? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 02/03/2008 04:50 AM, Ken Schneider wrote:
David C. Rankin pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
How do I prevent Yast from deleting my working kernel when I do a kernel update? What do I need to copy or rename so I can restore a working config if Yast and/or the new kernel borks my system?
Until the powers that be realize that _problems_ with kernel updates _WILL_ occur the only solution I can think of is to manually download the kernel for your system from the update site which for 10.3 is:
http://download.opensuse.org/update/10.3/rpm
Install using rpm -ivh instead of rpm -Uvh. This will leave the previous kernel installed. You can also re-install an older kernel version this way.
I wonder just how effective this is with the increasing number of kmp modules and the like. For example, newest kernel updates this and that module, which updates this and that package, which may no longer work with the older original kernel and module that would be backed up by installing the kernel with rpm -ivh instead of -Uvh. IOW, with binary only modules, I think the backup scheme may not be a working answer for many as well. -- Joe Morris Registered Linux user 231871 running openSUSE 10.3 x86_64 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (9)
-
Aaron Kulkis -
Chee How Chua -
Dave Plater -
David C. Rankin -
Felix Miata -
Joe Morris -
Ken Schneider -
Marcus Meissner -
Mike