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On 11:26 Fri 01 Jul , Nirbheek Chauhan wrote: |
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> Except for the fact that while you upgrade, you still have a usable |
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> system. Reinstallation means a massive time-sink during which your |
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> machine is completely unusable. This is not an option for a lot of |
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> people. |
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> |
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> If -user is regularly giving that kind of advice, I think you guys are |
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> making a huge mistake. |
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> |
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> I'm not going to support this kind of max-6-month-upgrade life cycle |
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> for Gentoo. We're effectively driving our users away to distros like |
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> Ubuntu that allow you to upgrade every LTS release instead of |
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> constantly or every 6 months. |
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|
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In my experience, updates become massively difficult after about 6 |
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months unless you have deep expertise in Gentoo. You run into blocker |
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after blocker after USE-flag problem after resolution failure and an |
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ongoing series of confusing messages with no apparent end in sight. We |
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may call it supported (and technically, we're right) but it isn't |
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realistically possible for most users. |
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|
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After handing over administration of about 10 systems to someone else |
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with less experience in Gentoo, I still get called in about once every |
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couple of months to help every time one of these weird problems comes |
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up. I recommended upgrades to the new admin every 3 months, which is a |
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point where nearly everything still works cleanly. |
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|
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-- |
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Thanks, |
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Donnie |
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|
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Donnie Berkholz |
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Sr. Developer, Gentoo Linux |
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Blog: http://dberkholz.com |