Re: Please clarify...
On Tue, Jun 16, 1998 at 10:47:20AM -0700, Steve Lamb wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Jun 1998 19:39:36 +0200, Marcus Brinkmann wrote:
>
> No, I draw an alternate conclusion based on facts and experiences
> seperate from your own. We both could go blue in the face (or get advanced
> carpal tunnel) defending our stances. I do not think either is wrong. I
> just don't agree with the absolutes that all upgrades don't need a reinstall.
Well, absolutes are for simplicity. It is true that every rule has its
exceptions. It seems we disagree a bit about how much exceptions are there
for a Debian upgrade needing a reinstall, but mostly we are saying the same
here.
> >There is the package "cruft" in slink, which will compare dpkg's databases
> >with the installed files and print the differences (taking a lot of further
> >input into account).
>
> So, you're telling me to use a package in the "unstable" distribution
> that is one step beyond the "unstable" distribution that I want to upgrade to
> to take care of my installation? ;)
Hehe. Really smart :) Call it calculable risk. Cruft is actually not doing
anything but printing a list of files. Some sort of filtered and reordered
"find /". But you know that already, don't you :)
> >Those are two different things. Please read again my note about "hamm is not
> >released yet". But read also below about exceptions.
>
> Uhm, no. They were about the same thing. Someone wanting to reinstall
> from "bo" to "hamm."
Yes, but it is not the time to install hamm yet for an end user. I don't
think it is appropriate for Debian to switch over to Microsoft release
schedule (another extreme statement I'm happy to weak).
What I wanted to say is similar to what Hamish said: The possibility to
update (most of the time even without reboot) Debian in place is a release
goal, and we are actually very good in achieving it.
Alas, reality is not perfect, and won't do us the favour to comply with
theory. So, there may be cases where a reinstall is the better solution,
especially if the user isn't experienced enough to reesolve small glitches.
(A sysadmin would rather fix a partly broken setup than reinstalling. Users
may prefer to reinstall instead.)
The only case where I needed a reinstall was when I accidently removed the
/var directory completely, deleting all dpkg status files and lots more!
(And no backup...)
Once I accidently crashed the system, whole /etc was gone to lost+found. I
did fix the system manually. I did only reinstall some packages to get the
conf files back I couldn't find.
> >Satisfied?
>
> Nah, just leave it at "There are times when a reinstall is needed."
I would prefer "There are times when a reinstalled may be preferred by the
user."
Seldom a reinstall is really needed, it does depend what is more work,
fixing or reinstalling.
> >"Rhubarb is no Egyptian god." Debian GNU/Linux finger brinkmd@
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Heh, but it makes a tasty pie.
Mmmh, *chew, chew*.
Marcus
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