Re: Why can ubuntu dist upgrade dist from within an X session?
On Sun, 19 May 2013 18:11:56 +0300
Πρεκατές Αλέξανδρος <aprekates@gmail.com> wrote:
> In release notes it says:
>
> "You should not upgrade using telnet, rlogin, rsh, or from an X
> session managed by xdm, gdm or kdm etc. on the machine you are
> upgrading. That is because each of those services may well be
> terminated during the upgrade, which can result in an inaccessible
> system that is only half-upgraded. Use of the GNOME application
> update-manager is strongly discouraged for upgrades to new releases,
> as this tool relies on the desktop session remaining active. "|
>
> So i wonder why can ubuntu dist upgrade dist from within an X session?
>
>
Because someone will be there to catch it when it falls...
The warning explicitly applies to remote upgrades, and refers to 'an X
session *managed*... on the machine you are upgrading", implying that
you will be operating X from a different machine. 'Inaccessible system'
is a clue, as it will always be possible to access a machine in your
physical location, though not necessarily trivial.
It is common to upgrade Debian Stable remotely, so the warning is felt
necessary to remind people that some things cannot be relied upon to
remain functional, and should not be used during such an upgrade. The
normal remote upgrade method is ssh, which is designed to be able to
maintain a session while its daemon is restarted.
I would have thought the same advice would apply to the relatively
small number of Ubuntu installations upgraded remotely, most of which
are likely to be servers.
--
Joe
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