On Fri, Aug 04, 2000 at 08:24:10PM -0700, Mike & Tracy Holt wrote:
> > Upgrading your kernel is not like upgrading GNOME or x-chat or any
> > other app. It takes a little extra work. MandrakeUpdate should not
> > (IMNSHO) offer to upgrade kernels (I think this is done in the latest
> > version) because it causes too many problems. kernel upgrades need
> > to be done manually... there's no easy way to do it automatically via
> > MandrakeUpdate.
>
> I don't agree, (not trying to start a flame fest) I think that ANY upgrade
> should be clear and concise. It shouldn't matter what operating system
> you're using. I don't need to be a technical whiz to update Windows 95 to
> 98, or 98 to 98 SE. I don't even need that much knowledge to upgrade from
> NT 4 to Windows 2000; I simply put the cd into the machine and let it handle
> the upgrade. I'm not talking about moving my system from SuSE 5.2 to
> Mandrake 7.1, it's a simple move from one working kernel to another and
> should be pretty straight forward. This is only my opinion, so please don't
> everyone get excited. I am part of the general public however and these are
> things that most end-user people expect to be able to do.
I would agree with you that yes, it *should* be as simple as doing a
download from MandrakeUpdate and simply installing it. But it isn't.
Linux isn't quite at the point yet where a kernel can just safely be
installed because it is so much more than a windows kernel. You're
talking about an OS that has a static kernel... it can't be changed
by the end user. This makes it very easy to update. It's a
no-brainer, really, because it's closed source, no one tampers or
modifies it to suit their needs, etc. With the Linux kernel, you can
do anything you like, which makes it a little more sophisticated and
a little easier to just throw in there.
While I think it should be made easier, and it probably will be made
easier in the future, you can't really compare upgrading a
closed-source kernel like WinXX or OS/2 or DOS to an open-source
kernel like Linux because the differences, besides the obvious one of
how they're written and how they deal with hardware, is fundamental
as well. They may accomplish (relatively) the same thing, but
you're talking apples to oranges, and comparing one upgrade process
to the other isn't entirely fair considering how different the two
are.
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