Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3397 mails)

[Robert Sweet <rsweet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Apr 24, 2005 at 01:02:08PM +0100, Kevanf1 Wrote:
> Hi Robert.  I have no doubt at all that your knowledge of computing is
> way, way in front of mine.  But, perhaps I have the edge on wisdom :-)
> ?  It has been said by others but the mantra is surely 'backup,
> backup, backup, must do backup'.  I learned my lesson and I only run a
> home PC.  Now I tend to get everything set up as I want than back it
> up before anything else is added.  Then, any files that are important
> I back up separately onto CD or removable/external hard drive.  You
> "took a risk"?  Hmmmm, not good for a sys admin to do this really on a
> live running system :-)  After all, it's you job on the line, your
> income, your bread and butter.
> 
Kevan,

I do have back ups...restore would not have been "convenient"
due to my DLT acting flakey at the moment. This is my own
box. I would not have done this with someone else's box. I
got everything working, reinstalled cyrus and fixed my
DBERROR. The thing that bothers me is by the time 9.4 or 10
comes out you won't even be able to use the CD's. Most
servers only have cdroms, so then what do you? Like me I had
to smb mount my DVD to install packages. What would you do,
say if you didn't have a DVD and needed package XXXX? And I
don't mean a Windowmanager or games, I mean necessary rpm's.
Basically my point is that cdroms have become obsolete for
an upgrade path, or maybe I am missing a trick? 

The usb was broken due to uhci ohci modules not being loaded. I manually
loaded them, so I am back up and running 100%. I have done
upgrades in the past, no problems. We could go on and on
about upgrade vs. install. The thing is I love linux and I
have always purchased the latest SuSE (started with
slackware--->Caldera--->Redhat--->SuSE) to contribute to the
Linux community, but if my option is clean install every 6
months, I won't be rushing out to get the latest. A clean
install is much more intensive than an upgrade, which SuSE
has been pretty flawless in. I do clean installs when there
are big changes, like the 2.4 to 2.6 migration. I would not
have thought that the 5 cd's vs 1 DVD would have become as
fragmented as it is, I definately will be more cautious
next time. Sad thing is I like mucking around with all the
new things, so I can't say I won't be tempted. I just should 
not have down a 10:00 pm upgrade, nor should I have posted my
frustation to the list.  

> 
> I do partially agree with what you are getting at there. I personally
> think that there should be a stronger warning about the pitfalls of
> upgrading over clean installs.  I realise (correct me if I'm wrong)
> that sometimes apps don't work with the latest lib files.  I've also
> noticed that SuSE tends to change paths sometimes.  Sublte they may
> be, but it can sometimes break things.
> 
> Anyway, look on the bright side, you've learned a valuable lesson.  Be
> humble and accept it and you will be a far better sys admin today than
> you were yesterday.
> 
> 
> Sorry if it's come out patronising, it's really not meant to be. 
> Check my second sentence ;-)
> 
> -- 
> Take care.
> Kevan Farmer
> 
> 34 Hill Street
> Cheslyn Hay
> Staffordshire
> WS6 7HR

What you have said is not offensive or patronising. 
I got blasted from some others, but I left my self open and I know
better, as my friend said yesterday, everyone gets flamed
sometime. I deserved it.