Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

blackhole · 2009-03-11 07:24:49

Hi guys,

I always change to runlevel 3 (no GUI) for a full system upgrade as I'm afraid of updating some kdelib or something while still hanging around in KDE.
Is this paranoid or the right way to do it? I mean it would be more convenient to do it from my KDE Desktop, but only if it's save.

Any thoughts?

Take care,
Blackhole

Allan · 2009-03-11 07:45:51

I change run level when updating xorg, my desktop environment, and that is about it. From memory hal or dbus can give problems too...

toad · 2009-03-11 07:52:49

Not having heard about this possible problem I have been happily upgrading from within vanilla kde 4 and not experienced any problems yet (touch wood).

blackhole · 2009-03-11 08:16:27

toad wrote:

Not having heard about this possible problem I have been happily upgrading from within vanilla kde 4 and not experienced any problems yet (touch wood).

But you would agree that if some kde libraries are being updated my KDE might say "ouch" and crash?

Well I guess being a paranoid, German neat freak, I'll stick with runlevel 3. Otherwise it might take me too much time and beer in case of a system break down. Of course Toad doesn't have that kind of problem living next door to Bavarian breweries...

Chrysalis · 2009-03-11 08:22:54

As long as you remember to switch runlvls/reboot after major updates or restart X to create user configs for DEs etc... doesnt matter how you do the actual update, it just extracts pkgs.

Chrysalis · 2009-03-11 08:25:35

blackhole wrote:

But you would agree that if some kde libraries are being updated my KDE might say "ouch" and crash?

it wont say 'ouch' and crash because it still uses the old libs from memory until you restart X

Solid1986Snake · 2009-03-11 08:34:58

Chrysalis wrote:

blackhole wrote:
But you would agree that if some kde libraries are being updated my KDE might say "ouch" and crash?
it wont say 'ouch' and crash because it still uses the old libs from memory until you restart X

As long as you start new programs.... for expample.... you updated qt and kontact wasn't started. There's a new version of kontact in updates, compiled against new qt, but old one is still in memory...

Could make some problems if you start kontact directly after upgrade without x-server restart....

blackhole · 2009-03-11 08:38:41

Chrysalis wrote:

blackhole wrote:
But you would agree that if some kde libraries are being updated my KDE might say "ouch" and crash?
it wont say 'ouch' and crash because it still uses the old libs from memory until you restart X

Won't it load/reload parts of the libraries from disk? Then it might mix up old and new libraries/fragments in memory. I can't imagine KDE holding all the libs in RAM.

Chrysalis · 2009-03-11 09:03:39

blackhole wrote:

Chrysalis wrote:
blackhole wrote:
But you would agree that if some kde libraries are being updated my KDE might say "ouch" and crash?
it wont say 'ouch' and crash because it still uses the old libs from memory until you restart X
Won't it load/reload parts of the libraries from disk? Then it might mix up old and new libraries/fragments in memory. I can't imagine KDE holding all the libs in RAM.

Your questions was will KDE crash when upgrading it, the answer is no since its in ram and you have to restart X to have the updates kick in and function properly.

bernarcher · 2009-03-11 11:16:55

I am too lazy to change runlevel everytime. And I prefer an Xterm so I can scroll back to review longer update lists if things get complicated.
All right, this could as well be done in RL3, using screen.
Usually there will be no harm, however, as the system will keep running the old setup. Just be sure not to start another application after system upgrades. Better restart the system in this case.
And not to forget: Check any configuration changes immediately.

blackhole · 2009-03-11 12:13:43

bernarcher wrote:

And I prefer an Xterm so I can scroll back to review longer update lists if things get complicated.

Yupp that's exactly the reason why I started this thread. The virtual console's buffer size is not that big.

@all: Thanks for all your comments.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-11 07:24:49

Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#2 2009-03-11 07:45:51

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#3 2009-03-11 07:52:49

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#4 2009-03-11 08:16:27

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#5 2009-03-11 08:22:54

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#6 2009-03-11 08:25:35

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#7 2009-03-11 08:34:58

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#8 2009-03-11 08:38:41

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#9 2009-03-11 09:03:39

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#10 2009-03-11 11:16:55

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

#11 2009-03-11 12:13:43

Re: Should I change runlevel for "pacman -Syu" ?

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