installing FC2 over RH7.3

[Graeme Nichols]

On Fri, 2004-11-12 at 05:56, Jason Pinkney wrote:
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason Pinkney" <j-pinkney at onu.edu>
> > To: <redhat-install-list at redhat.com>
> > Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 9:09 AM
> > Subject: installing FC2 over RH7.3
> > 
> > 
> >>
> >> Dear Redhat-install gurus,
> >>
> >> I thought I better check with someone before
> >> I accidently destroy my data:
> >>
> >> 1. Isn't it true that I can install FC2 onto a disk that
> >>    currently has RHL 7.3, without repartitioning, and the new
> >>    operating system will somehow replace the old one without
> >>    overwriting my data?
> >> 2. If so, would it make a difference if my disk is 99% full
> >>    with about 1 Gb remaining?
> >>
> >> thanks for any reply,
> >> Jason
> > 
> > 
> > Hello Jason, it MAY be OK. My experience upgrading (overwriting if you like) from RH8 to FC2 was reasonably pain free, but there are some gotcha's. FC2 is much bigger, requires more disk space, particularly in the /boot directory. The version of X is different and will require re-configuring but it should boot to a GUI within reason. You can boot to a command line and then run the X config utility. 1 spare Gig of disk space 'should' be OK. More is much safer. You will have to do some fine tuning after upgrading. The biggest headache I have experienced is with the 2.6 kernel. Its bug-ridden! Just some of the problems I have had with the 2.6 kernel are: USB problems, sound problems, wlan problems and after moving up to the 2.6.8 kernel from 2.6.6 my installation of StarOffice 5.2 would no longer load. Moving back to the 2.6.6 kernel fixed that but my wlan adaptor no longer is detected. However I don't use that at the moment.
> > 
> > Altogether though I am happy with my FC2 install upgrade. I did an 'upgrade' on my laptop by doing an 'install' rather than an upgrade and it resulted in a much easier and better end result. If you can backup all your user data to somewhere you can be sure you can restore it from then a fresh install is the way to go, but an 'upgrade' will work, at least it did on my RH8 --> FC2.
> > 
> > Give it a go, but BACKUP your stuff first!! You have been warned. Murphy does not discriminate! Good luck.
> > 
> > Graeme 
> 
> 
> Thanks Graeme, that's exactly what I needed.
> 
> I'll do backups and try an upgrade in a week.
> 
> It will be interesting to see what happens with
> my OpenOffice 1.1.0.  I beleive that version 1.1.1
> will be installed by default with FC2.  I'm not too
> worried because I think I can always go clear
> off both of them and then reinstall the newer 1.1.1
> if there are any problems.
> But there have been many other tarballs I've installed
> since I started with RH7.3, and I bet many of those will require
> re-installation.
> 
> thanks again,
> Jason

Hello Jason, OO 1.1.1 does install with FC2 and it installed with no
problems when I upgraded from RH8 to FC2. I don't actually use it
preferring instead StarOffice 5.2 but that is just my idiosyncrasy.

If the other tarballs you have installed are part of the FC2
distribution then they should be upgraded as well. However there have
been many apps dropped and others added in each successive distribution
so you may end up with a mixed bag but it shouldn't cause you any
problems, or at least none you cannot easily fix.

Good luck.

--
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Kind regards, Graeme Nichols.
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Overall, the philosophy is to attack the availability problem from two
complementary directions: to reduce the number of software errors
through rigorous testing of running systems, and to reduce the effect of
the remaining errors by providing for recovery from them. An interesting
footnote to this design is that now a system failure can usually be
considered to be the result of two program errors: the first, in the
program that started the problem; the second, in the recovery routine
that could not protect the system. -- A.L. Scherr, "Functional Structure
of IBM Virtual Storage Operating Systems, Part II: OS/VS-2 Concepts and
Philosophies," IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 12, No. 4.
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