69 replies to this topic

[V.T. Eric Layton]

http://www.slackware....php?cpu=x86_64

[securitybreach]

Thanks

Looks like  I will have to do another Slackware installation soon

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I'm going to grab Pat V.'s UPGRADE.TXT and the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT off the server and follow his step-by-step to upgrade my shop system to current. Once that's successful, I'll do the lappy. Lastly, I'll do my main system. When they're all running currrent, it'll be much less work to upgrade to the final release once it's out. It's the closest Slack comes to behaving like a rolling release when you do it this way.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I'm ftp'ing the Slackware64 packages directory straight off the U of Oregon Slack-Current server right now. Maybe when it's all nasty and rainy later this afternoon, I'll go out to the shop and attempt the upgrade on my shop system.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Well, I decided to do the laptop first simply because it's cooler in here (AC). It's upgrading as I type this. Should be done in a few more minutes, after which I'll need to merge/edit my config files and make sure my bootloader is set up to boot the new kernel. If all went well, I'll be running Slack Current on the lappy in just a little while.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Sadly, things didn't go as planned. I was so close, too.

I did the upgrade on the laptop. I rebooted. I just had a minor issue with loss of connectivity and no X starting. I figured it was a config file somewhere that I had boogered up, so I went about checking all of them against the backup copies. I managed to get networking back up and tried to upgrade all packages with slackpkg. It looked like it was going to work for a minute, then an error came up that I had two conflicting packages in /var/log/packages. I was offered the option to remove one. I chose to remove the older version.

That's when everything went kerflooey. I was getting bash errors and command not found errors for simple commands like ls and cat. Now root isn't being recognized as root. Slackpkg is completely broken. I can't ls or cat or cd while in the command line. It's doing other really strange stuff, too. You know what that means...





Just as soon as Slack 14 is released, I'll be installing fresh on the laptop... and maybe the main system and the shop, too, seeing as how upgrading just went so ugly.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

OK, Slack in the laptop is mostly restored. I just reinstalled Slack 13.37 and then copied my backed up /etc back into the root directory. I had to install a few missing apps, but had them on a separate partition or on Dropbox.

So, it wasn't a total nuke. Just a small tactical one.

G'night all...

[securitybreach]

Yup, installing fresh is much safer than trying to upgrade. I dunno if this holds true as much now but Bruno told me that years ago so I continue to follow that advise.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

With most distributions, I would agree with you about clean installing over upgrades wholeheartedly. However, I had done 3 or 4 upgrades on my Slack systems in the past using Pat V.'s upgrade.txt instructions. It's always gone painlessly. I think it was my fault this time, though. I really think I screwed up a couple of my critical configs by merging rather than discretely editing them. I got lazy. And worse, I lost track of the steps I took, so I couldn't backtrack. Umm... n**bie mistake, for sure.

[securitybreach]

Do not feel bad, it happens to the best of us

[V.T. Eric Layton]

chrisretusn over at my board is suggesting the Slackpkg method. It seems easier, but it's blasphemous. I may give it a go, anyway. Pat V. will be disappointed in me, though.

[securitybreach]

Hey if it works.....

[Temmu]

lol - i don't think pat will be disappointed that such an ardent supporter of slack is getting the latest and greatest version.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I still have a copy of Slackware 9 around here somewhere. I could devolve, huh?

[Temmu]

true, and you could write a few paragraphs about the differences for your blog...

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Yes. That is kinda' my plan. We'll see... maybe later this afternoon I'll give it a go again.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Well, the unorthodox slackpkg method did not work for me either. I could boot, but there were many dmesg errors and no X. I think I'll just wait till the stable release comes out and fresh install. If I don't wipe /home and hang on to backups of my config files, it's not too difficult to get everything back up and running.

Alternately, I may just stick with v13.37 for a while. I don't have any complaints about it. Works pretty well, actually.

We'll see...

[securitybreach]

V.T. Eric Layton, on 25 July 2012 - 09:48 PM, said:

Well, the unorthodox slackpkg method did not work for me either. I could boot, but there were many dmesg errors and no X. I think I'll just wait till the stable release comes out and fresh install. If I don't wipe /home and hang on to backups of my config files, it's not too difficult to get everything back up and running.

Sounds like a good plan

[Temmu]

seeing's how i just loaded 13.37 last week, i'm not likely to upgrade soon, either!

[V.T. Eric Layton]

There's no real hurry. Slack is so stable that you can run versions for years without issues. It's only those who want that shiny new stuff who are driven to upgrade on every release.

[Temmu]

well, then, be careful to wear your day-to-night dark glasses, and don't cut yourself on the sharp edges!

[V.T. Eric Layton]

What a nightmare. I had totally borked my ericslaptop-01 Slackware setup trying to upgrade. I restored it once and then borked it again. This last time, though, I could not restore using my backup /etc. Well, upon closer inspection earlier today, I realized why. When I copied /etc to back it up, whichever method I used to copy it (GUI or command line, I don't remember), the permissions were not respected. All folders and files in /etc were set to 755. That caused Slack to puke in my lap while booting. Once I figured it out, I had to spend the better part of this evening correcting the permissions in /etc.

Whew! My fingers are sore. I'm now able to boot into my recovered laptop Slack and am now updating. This is 13.37 still, though. After trashing this set up twice in as many days, I'm not sure I want to do it again. Maybe I'll just leave it alone till 14 gets released. I might not even upgrade then. Aw, phooey! Sure I will.

I'm going to bed as soon as I check to see that all is well after the updates that are happening right now.

G'night all... and have a wonderful weekend!

[alphaomega]

V.T. Eric Layton, on 27 July 2012 - 10:33 PM, said:

...I had to spend the better part of this evening correcting the permissions in /etc.

I have not tried it but there is this :restore_fileperms_from_manifest.sh

[securitybreach]

V.T. Eric Layton, on 27 July 2012 - 10:33 PM, said:

Whew! My fingers are sore. I'm now able to boot into my recovered laptop Slack and am now updating. This is 13.37 still, though. After trashing this set up twice in as many days, I'm not sure I want to do it again. Maybe I'll just leave it alone till 14 gets released. I might not even upgrade then. Aw, phooey! Sure I will.

I'm going to bed as soon as I check to see that all is well after the updates that are happening right now.

G'night all... and have a wonderful weekend!

Sounds like you had some fun,

alphaomega, on 27 July 2012 - 11:52 PM, said:

I have not tried it but there is this :restore_fileperms_from_manifest.sh

Excellent, thanks a lot!!!

[V.T. Eric Layton]

That is an interesting script, AO. I may experiment with it on the already boogered up /etc_backup. I'm not sure I understand the creation of the manifest file, though.

I'll report back...

By the way, Alan Hicks is the lead author of Slackware Linux Essentials 2nd Edition.