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Hi folks |
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|
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I recently went through the (minor hell) of updating my old workhorse |
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gentoo box. I hadn't touched the system much (apart from open |
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services like ssh) for about 1.5 years due to a series of facts: |
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1) It just worked so darned nice. |
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2) My phd endstretch didn't leave much time to computer fiddling, and |
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the cluster just worked so darned nice (diskless SSI booting from the |
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original gentoo machine (see above)). |
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3) It lived behind a nice firewall which I trust enough (yes I'm a bit |
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naive) and the open services such as ssh had been updated more |
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regularly. |
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|
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Now I had a bit of time and sice I had moved to France for my post doc |
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I had to get skype in/out working, which didn't want to install |
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nicely. So I thought a thorough general system update was overdue. |
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|
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First, my questions, then (if you really want) the arduous story on |
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how I did it. Feel free to comment, give tips and point out my |
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mistakes. |
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|
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Primary: |
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What is a recommended way to update an old system to minimize the |
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amount of broken ebuilds? |
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Is emerge --emptytree world a good idea? Is it better than a clean |
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install? Or is the documentation's way good enough even for a very old |
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system: |
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emerge --update --deep --newuse world |
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emerge --depclean |
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revdep-rebuild |
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I have an unexplainable fobia against --depclean though. And updating |
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everything at once seems a bit reckless, I mean with the age of the |
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system it would update almost everything. The package list was a mile |
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long, and you never know what will break. |
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|
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Secondary: |
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How often should one update the system to minimize hassles with broken |
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packages? |
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Too often, and the hassle of constant upgrading can get tedious even |
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if it works ok, and too late, and some odd dysfunctional version |
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combinations start showing up that the packages were not really |
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tested for, leading to broken ebuilds. |
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|
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|
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|
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I did like this: |
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I didn't want to run a clean install or an --emptytree thingie. I |
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wanted to take it a few steps at a time, so that if something broke I |
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might have an idea about what new packages it was that broke it. |
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|
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1) take a backup of the system. I have some modifications |
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in /etc/init.d scripts and some extra non-gentoo stuff for clustering |
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installed that I didn't want to risk, and I was pretty sure something |
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would bork and leave me clueless. lol |
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|
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2) emerge sync. Nice, worked. |
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emerge *only the most important stuff* (oh, I'm really chicken btw): |
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portage, baselayout, etc. |
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That brought in some dependencies, but it worked out all right after a |
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while and a lot of figuring out the /etc/init.d and config file |
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changes that has happened for the last 1.5 years. And some other |
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changes as to where certain configs go, and how, and so on. But most |
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was easily searchable in docs or forums.gentoo or on this list. |
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Reboot here to see if it even booted any more... YEEAAAH! |
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|
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3) emerge basic user packages like gcc, glibc, xorg (yes I was still |
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on xfree) kernel, etc. |
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note: I have to stay on 2.4 because I use openmosix for the |
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clustering, and I don't yet trust 2.6om. |
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For this I started using --update --deep since I did want an updated |
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system, but not all at once. |
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This still worked out all right, with just some minor headaches of |
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broken ebuilds. And some config files again. |
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hrmmpf kernel change means reboot. darned. |
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|
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4) emerge --update --deep desktop stuff like KDE, openoffice, |
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browsers, etc... |
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This started generating Looooooooots of broken packages. I have spent |
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many hours looking through the _VERY_NICE_ bugs.gentoo.org. I still |
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get bitten by bugs that are filed fixed in mid 2003. lol |
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Some more config file updates, and restarting all significant services |
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to use the new software. |
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|
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5) Now, muahaha, emerge --update --deep world. Aiaiai. Another batch |
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of broken packages, but not the critical ones, since most everything |
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necessary has already been updated. |
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Some more config files. I _really_ like dispatch-config and cfg-update |
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by now. |
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|
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6) Well, I'm here now. The system works just fine. And yes, I recently |
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remembered that I had forgotten to update the USE flags to cover the |
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current situation (stooopid teflon memory). But I hope I can wait |
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until the current few remaining problems are out of the way, and then |
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I can perhaps (hope and pray) use the eminent and functional(?) |
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--newuse (and I do so very much hope works with/as --deep). |
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|
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I still have some problems, mainly with skype, which works but have |
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some odd dependency thingie with dbus that emerge doesn't like. And |
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revdep-rebuild tries to bring in some stuff that are no longer in |
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portage. Interesting, though, is that |
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equery depends '=pack-group/packagename-x.y.z' |
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doesn't report anything depending on those old packages any more after |
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all the updates. How can I figure out what wants them? |
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|
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revdep-rebuild? is it safe to use, and safe with --package-names |
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(since just about every single package it's trying to bring in is no |
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longer in the portage tree) |
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|
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What somethingsomething-update programs should I run during the |
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process? |
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python-updater |
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perl-clenaner |
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java-config |
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opengl-update |
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modules-update |
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--- what am I missing -- ? |
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|
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Is udev supported on 2.4.26+? would it be useful instead of devfs? and |
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is there a *really* good guide for switching (that might warn me of |
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the common problems I'm bound to run into)? |
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|
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|
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|
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In retrospect it might have been faster to simply do a reinstall or |
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--emptytree. Sorry for issuing such a blasphemous statement on this |
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list. |
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|
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Thankful for input on the matter. |
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|
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Jimmy |
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-- |
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