Re: [gentoo-user] upgrading 1-year old system

[Frank Steinmetzger]

On Sun, Jan 29, 2017 at 03:32:22PM -0600, Dale wrote:

> >> I haven't updated my system for over a year (1year and 3-months).
> >> I was trying to upgrade my firefox-bin and I'm already running into problems.
> >>
> >> What is my best option, re-install from scratch, upgrade in stages etc.
> >> With firefox-bin I'm getting:
> >
> > 1 year 3 months isn't usually that bad and it can be done - I've done it
> > many times myself. However there are gotchas:
> > […]
> > - go slowly and deal with one block at a time. A regular emerge world
> > probably won't succeed so you gotta bite of small chunks
> >
> > With those basics out the way, it's a great learning experience. I
> > recommend you do it at least once.
>
> Might I also add, the -t option can reveal what is causing what
> sometimes.

Add --unordered-display to that (I put it into my emerge default options).
It will shrink the output by removing duplicate [nomerge] lines and give you
an easier to understand overview.

A short while ago I updated an old netbook that hadn't seen any action in
probably 2 years. It took a while (I cloned the HDD and compiled on my main
rig), but I prevailed, inlcuding KDE 4 upgrades.

> Also, I'd start with @system first, then work on @world.

I use custom sets (basic tools, system utilities, X stuff, media players
etc) and dealt with one of them at a time, starting with the less intricate
ones.

> Only bad thing is, KDE, if you have it installed, is in @system because
> of dependencies, last I checked anyway.

Uhm, KDE will not become part of @system, but you probably can't update kde
without @system first. Much fun comes from the package renaming from
kde-base to kde-apps, and now KDE4 isn't even in the tree anymore. (The OP
hasn't stated whether he actually uses KDE, though.)

There are three options that spring to mind:
- use the -D flag. Not really an option at the start, but later on in the
  process. The problem: if you upgrade package A, which depends on package
  C, then the -D flag will catch it. But if package B also depends on it and
  *requires* a lower version, you get blockers.
  - Those blockers you can either remove temporarily (such as media
    applications that are rich in dependencies)
  - or add them to a small list of packages that you then update with one
    emerge run.
- Try updating the unsuspicious stuff first. It will thin out your emerge
  output and let you deal with the tricky stuff later. Ask eix -uc. It will
  show you all upgradable packages and mark those in world with a different
  colour. Plus it is my hope that this will speed up emerge -u world because
  the package list becomes smaller.

Happy hunting.
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