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Re: How to upgrade old abi lenny to squeeze



Hi Tim

On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 13:13, Tim Froidcoeur
<tim.froidcoeur@googlemail.com> wrote:

> I suppose the problem is that this machine still has the old arm abi and
> squeeze only supports the new abi.
> Is there any alternative to either sticking with lenny or doing a
> complete fresh install of squeeze?

There isn't supported way to migrate from arm to armel. I tried using
the method posted at http://wiki.debian.org/ArmEabiHowto. It is not
for the faint of heart, and it didn't work for me. I think that the
problem I ran into is that the OABI_COMPAT mode isn't perfect. I got
the right kernel running, but too many OABI userspace programs
wouldn't work properly, so I could never get the EABI chroot
installed. If I remember correctly, I couldn't get networking up.
Eventually, I just installed armel lenny and then upgraded to squeeze
(the squeeze installer doesn't run on the NSLU2 because it uses too
much memory these days).

My advice: don't try the method unless you've cloned your entire
system (so you can recover), and you've got a serial port attached.
You'll also need to be comfortable compiling kernels. I seem to
remember having to manually build my own initramfs with an eabi
modprobe, but that was because I didn't compile all the required
modules into the kernel.

Based on my experience, I think that you'd make better use of your
time by installing armel lenny and then upgrading to squeeze. If
anything, it will certainly encourage you to make notes about how you
customized your system (if you haven't already).

Gordon

-- 
Gordon Farquharson
GnuPG Key ID: 32D6D676


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