Re: Please clarify...
On Tue, Jun 16, 1998 at 09:52:12AM -0700, Steve Lamb wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Jun 1998 18:50:15 +0200, Marcus Brinkmann wrote:
>
> >Yes, but *there is no need for a re-install*! Debian has a great and
> >superior upgrading mechanism, and your system will update cleanly through
> >every version, even major version changes.
>
> Riiiight, that is why we see people in here complaining about problems
> with a bo->hamm upgrade. I'm sorry, but some things should have a reinstall.
> That is why the "superior" method it to seperate the static OS directories
> on their own partitions and just wipe them out. All you really need to save
> is /etc.
Steve,
there are two cases where an upgrade can fail:
1) You waited to long. It may be hard to upgrade a rexx system (although
possible), and even harder to upgrade a buzz system, because interim
releases are not available.
2) You changed the system in places unknown to dpkg. I'm not sure how much
this can do harm. Dpkg has configuration file handling, but installing local
software elsewhere than in /usr/local can rise problems. PLease use
/usr/local and the appropriate places instead.
3) A bug in either a package or dpkg. Please report the bug, we'll try to
fix it, thank you.
People complaining about bo->hamm upgrade should not try to upgrade at all.
Hamm is not released software yet. Everyone installing it before release
time knows that he must expect problems. We appreciate testing reports, but
not at the cost of disappointing our users. This is the reason why we don't
encourage installing hamm, although it's quite stable.
There are many boxes, where outtime does cost real money and "wiping" out
the partition is not possible. Debian works fine there, and many people used
Debian without reinstall up from the very first beginning.
Please don't spread FUD about it. I upgraded more than one system from bo to
hamm manually, not only recently but also in earlier states of hamm. The
success varied, but made me optimistic that mostly all users can upgrade
easily (either using autoup.sh or apt) to hamm *without* reinstall.
My observations on the various debian lists, including debian-testing,
only support this opinion.
BTW: You also want to keep /usr/local, /home and parts of /var.
Marcus
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