<html>
<!-- BEGIN WEBMAIL STATIONERY -->
<head></head>
<body>
<!-- WEBMAIL STATIONERY noneset -->
<DIV></DIV>I have two machines, so I'm not worried about down time. I'd like to keep working with SUSE because I have some experience with it and it seems to do everything I need to do. It is working flawlessly and has been for a couple years now. However, being able to upgrade the OS without wiping the drive or doing a complete reinstall does sound like a major improvement. I can understand having to reboot several times. I just wiped the drive on my laptop and reinstalled Windows XP and I had to reboot several times to get all the patches installed. After installing all of the patches, Office 2003, SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2003, and Visual Studio 2005, I probably rebooted at least 20 times.<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message from "Daniel A. Ramaley" <daniel.ramaley@DRAKE.EDU>: -------------- <BR><BR><BR>> It is possible to upgrade Debian from one version to another. A couple <BR>> weeks ago i tried it just to see if it would work. The computer was set <BR>> up as a desktop system, so it had a lot more stuff on it than a server <BR>> would (and thus a lot more opportunity for the upgrade to go wrong). I <BR>> upgraded from the Sarge/Stable distribution to Etch/Testing. I <BR>> edited /etc/apt/sources.list and changed "stable" to testing". Then i <BR>> ran aptitude and told it to update. <BR>> <BR>> Normally when i install updates (such as security fixes and whatnot) i <BR>> only have to run aptitude once, and reboot if a kernel update was <BR>> included. For such a major change i think i had to run aptitude a total <BR>> of 5 times, each time t
elling it to update itself. And each time it <BR>> would download more stuff and upgrade different parts of the system. <BR>> >From what i've read online, when doing a distro upgrade like that it is <BR>> normal to have to run aptitude more than once. Anyway, once it was all <BR>> done and didn't find anything else to upgrade, the system still worked. <BR>> But it was running a new version of Debian. I was quite impressed. <BR>> <BR>> During the upgrade the system stayed up. I would imagine for a simpler <BR>> configuration, such as a web server, that the only downtime would be <BR>> when the machine was rebooted to load the new kernel, and when Apache <BR>> was restarted to load the new version of it. I run my servers and <BR>> desktop Linux machines on Debian Sarge, but after seeing how easy it is <BR>> to upgrade am thinking of moving the desktop machine to Etch. I'll keep <BR>> the servers on Sarge until shortly after Etch becomes stabl
e. <BR>> <BR>> I don't know about upgrading SUSE. The closest distribution that i have <BR>> much familiarity with is Red Hat. With Red Hat it is possible to <BR>> upgrade without a reinstall (by telling up2date to look at the package <BR>> repository for the new version, and then running it several times), but <BR>> it is not supported, not recommended, and not guaranteed to work. The <BR>> official path to upgrading is to do a reinstall, either over the <BR>> existing installation or after wiping the drive. On Red Hat i usually <BR>> do the wipe/reinstall, with data backup and restore. It is a big <BR>> hassle, especially if the machine is one that cannot be down for very <BR>> long. <BR>> <BR>> On Saturday 08 July 2006 12:47, Carl Olsen wrote: <BR>> >I should add that I'm doing commercial web hosting on SUSE 9.3 now, so <BR>> >that's why I'm a little hesitant to go with a different distribution. <BR>> > I have to set every
thing up on a different machine first to make sure <BR>> > it is all running smoothly before I move everything. When I told my <BR>> > coworker I didn't like having to reinstall the OS every time I wanted <BR>> > to upgrade to a newer version, he said that Debian can be upgraded <BR>> > with a package without reinstalling the OS. That would be a big <BR>> > help. It just seems incredible to me that SUSE wouldn't have the <BR>> > same kind of thing. <BR>> > <BR>> >So, I guess my real question is whether the above statements are <BR>> > correct. Can I do version upgrades with Debian without reinstalling <BR>> > the OS? And, do I really have to reinstall the OS to do version <BR>> > upgrades with SUSE? <BR>> > <BR>> >May these rephrased questions will stop any suggestion that I'm trying <BR>> > to start a distro war. <BR>> > <BR>> >Carl Olsen <BR>> >http://www.carl-olsen.com/ <BR>>
-- <BR>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ <BR>> Dan Ramaley Dial Center 118, Drake University <BR>> Network Programmer/Analyst 2407 Carpenter Ave <BR>> +1 515 271-4540 Des Moines IA 50311 USA <BR>> _______________________________________________ <BR>> Cialug mailing list <BR>> Cialug@cialug.org <BR>> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug </BLOCKQUOTE>
<!-- END WEBMAIL STATIONERY -->
</body>
</html>