Why FC-2?

[Christofer C. Bell]

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 01:20:44 +0000, Timothy Murphy wrote
> For some reason this issue -- installation versus upgrading --
> seems to bring out the dogmatists,
> most of whom as far as I can see have never actually tried both 
> methods, but still seem sure which is best.

Yes, it does, and I've found some of the reasons used by both sides to be 
somewhat ill considered.  I've done both extensively (straight upgrades for 
each version from 6.2 to 9.0, then a clean install of 9.0, and a clean 
install of FC1, along with many upgrades and clean installs on other 
systems).

The only difference I'm able to ascertain is outlined (if you read between 
the lines) in the FC1 release notes WRT: the graphical boot screen (rhgb).  
When you do an upgrade, only those packages you have already installed are 
upgraded and new software is not installed.  If the new distribution has 
some new package that's part of the base install, it will not be installed 
when you do an upgrade, but will if you do a clean install.

You are not given a handicapped system when you upgrade, you are given an 
upgraded system running the new versions of all the software you previously 
installed.  When you do a clean install, you're given the same set of 
software minus upgraded versions of what you would have installed by hand, 
plus that software that is now part of the base install of the new 
distribution that was not installed under previous versions.

I like the convenience of upgrades (they're pretty much a no-brainer) but I 
don't like not knowing what I've missed out on (those are the times I do a 
clean install).  Which I do depends on my mood at the time.  It's pretty 
easy to install clean (I have no need to back up my data, it's on another 
partition) and merge in what I have saved from the previous installation 
(/etc, /usr/local, /var/spool/cron, and so on), but it is also time 
consuming.  Either way, you end up with a working system.

I think this is not so much a technical issue as it is a religious issue.  
It does highlight, however, that if you have production and test 
environments, it's important to do the same series of installations on both. 
If you upgrade production and clean install test, for example, you're going 
to end up with systems that look different.  If you're going to upgrade 
production, you need to perform the same upgrade steps in the test 
environment (and vice versa).

Of course, everyone's mileage varies. ;-)

--
Chris

"Build a man a fire and he will be warm for the rest of the night.  Set 
a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life."  -- Unknown