On Tue, 16 Jun 1998, Steve Lamb wrote: > > Yes, but *there is no need for a re-install*! Debian has a great and > > superior upgrading mechanism, and your system will update cleanly > > through every version, even major version changes. > > "The success varied" and "that mostly all users can upgrade > easily...to hamm *without* reinstall" also states that there were > failures and that there will be users who cannot uprgrade w/o a > reinstall. "There is no need for a re-install" is an aboslute. In > your own words you have conceeded there will be cases that there will > be a need for a reinstall.
while it is theoretically possible that a dselect/dpkg upgrade will fail, i haven't seen it happen yet in several years of using and upgrading debian. i've done dozens of bo to hamm upgrades (using autoup.sh) without a problem. i've done a handful of rex to hamm upgrades without a problem (also using autoup.sh) (i know that people have done buzz to hamm upgrades with autoup.sh too - but i haven't done any myself) also, over the last few years i have done literally hundreds of debian upgrades on dozens of machines. i keep most of the machines i am responsible for in sync with the latest stuff in unstable - most machines get upgraded every week or two...some get upgraded every six months or so. in all of these upgrades i have not once run into any really serious problem - one which corrupted dpkg's package status info...the majority of problems encountered were minor, easily solved with a few minutes work (editing config files or resolving dependancies manually by installing/removing stuff with dpkg). occasionally an updated version of a package is extremely buggy and i have to revert to an earlier version. the only time i have ever had to reinstall from scratch was the result of hardware failure. dpkg isn't proof against a dead hard disk. so, to reiterate what i said earlier: in theory, you might occasionally need to re-install rather than upgrade....but in practice that will only be necessary if your hardware fails. invest in a tape backup system and a UPS. in other words, empirical evidence supports the assertion that "There is no need for a re-install" craig -- craig sanders -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]