[rhelv6-list] RHEL5 to RHEL6 Update

[Matthias Saou]

Tracy Halstead wrote :

> Has anyone attempted to update from RHEL5.6 to RHEL6.0?

I have. The procedure isn't for the faint of heart and you really need
to know what you're doing, but it can work. You end up with an
unsupported system, so there isn't much point in doing it.

Here are my tips (for an in-place yum update) :
 * You'll have to rebuild an "intermediate" rpm package, of a version
   working with RHEL5 but supporting the newer xz payloads from RHEL6
   packages. I used an existing rpm 4.7.1-6 source package with some
   minor changes.
 * You'll need to recompile a bunch of dependencies, of which at
   least : libcap + compat-libcap, lua, xz-libs (maybe in RHEL5.6).
 * From there, depending on how many complex changes you have, a yum
   update might work.
 * Lastly, all typical things that might bite apply. This includes many
   kernel modules name changes, making it tricky to get the right ones
   into the RHEL6 kernel's initramfs.

Again : You don't want to do this, unless it's just for fun :-)

Matthias

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