How pacman upgrade work?

live4nothing · 2008-07-16 21:18:43

Hi, I am new to Arch and curious about how the upgrade process work. I was uing ubuntu and some debian based linux, when I did an kernel upgrade, it will install the new kernel and I had to reboot to boot into the new kernel. In the same time, the old kernel was still exist in my machine. I just did pacman -Syu and upgarde the kernel in Arch. I don't see any old kernel left. Can someone explain the process to me? Do I need to do some cleanup work after the upgrade? Thanks

Mr.Elendig · 2008-07-16 21:35:44

When there is a kernel update, the old one, and it's modules are removed, and the new one installed. No need to do any cleanup.
Generaly, the only thing to watch for after a -Syu, are .pacnew files and pacman output. If you missed it while you were upgrading, then you can find the output from pacman in /var/log/pacman.log

live4nothing · 2008-07-16 22:14:50

I saw some of the .pacnew files, what should I do with them?

Mr.Elendig · 2008-07-16 22:33:59

You should merge them with the 'parent' config. How you do that depends a bit on what editor you are familiar with. But the basic is that you open the two files side by side and compare them. A big tip is to make a backup of the current config incase you do a mistake, and write over some config option that you shouldn't have.

live4nothing · 2008-07-16 23:34:18

Thank you. I was about to delete them

Mr.Elendig · 2008-07-17 00:02:01

From man 8 pacman:

HANDLING CONFIG FILES
       Pacman uses the same logic as rpm to determine action against files that are
       designated to be backed up. During an upgrade, 3 md5 hashes are used for each
       backup file to determine the required action: one for the original file
       installed, one for the new file that´s about to be installed, and one for the
       actual file existing on the filesystem. After comparing these 3 hashes, the
       follow scenarios can result:

       original=X, current=X, new=X
           All three files are the same, so overwrites are not an issue Install the
           new file.

       original=X, current=X, new=Y
           The current file is the same as the original but the new one differs.
           Since the user did not ever modify the file, and the new one may contain
           improvements or bugfixes, install the new file.

       original=X, current=Y, new=X
           Both package versions contain the exact same file, but the one on the
           filesystem has been modified. Leave the current file in place.

       original=X, current=Y, new=Y
           The new file is identical to the current file. Install the new file.

       original=X, current=Y, new=Z
           All three files are different, so install the new file with a .pacnew
           extension and warn the user. The user must then manually merge any
           necessary changes into the original file.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-07-16 21:18:43

How pacman upgrade work?

#2 2008-07-16 21:35:44

Re: How pacman upgrade work?

#3 2008-07-16 22:14:50

Re: How pacman upgrade work?

#4 2008-07-16 22:33:59

Re: How pacman upgrade work?

#5 2008-07-16 23:34:18

Re: How pacman upgrade work?

#6 2008-07-17 00:02:01

Re: How pacman upgrade work?

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