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#1 2010-06-12 10:57:27
- Ree
- Member
- Registered: 2010-05-19
- Posts: 37
Recommended upgrade procedure
Are there any actions to take before upgrading packages (switching to a certain runlevel, shutting down X, etc)? Or is it safe to do all upgrades from within a DE?
Certain distros have such restrictions. What about Arch?
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#2 2010-06-12 11:05:03
- Allan
- Pacman
- From: Brisbane, AU
- Registered: 2007-06-09
- Posts: 11,672
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Re: Recommended upgrade procedure
Nothing really. If you have a major desktop upgrade it is probably better to do it from the command line but otherwise just go for it.
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#3 2010-06-12 16:17:55
- ngoonee
- Forum Fellow
- From: Between Thailand and Singapore
- Registered: 2009-03-17
- Posts: 7,362
Re: Recommended upgrade procedure
Yes there's a restriction, always update fully with -Syu, and minimize the number of packages you have in IgnorePkg.
Besides that, even while in X and running aps you can update, but if there's been a kernel/X-related update its probably better to restart your machine once the update is complete.
Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.
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#4 2010-06-14 14:14:28
- djg1971
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- Registered: 2008-09-11
- Posts: 212
Re: Recommended upgrade procedure
I have found that it is sometimes better to upgrade nvidia (and xorg to a lesser extent) without X running (at least with my system, which is a Lenovo T61 laptop running arch-64).
I run pacman -Syu and check out the list of packages targeted for upgrading...if nvidia and/or xorg are among them, I edit /etc/inittab to reboot into level 3, reboot, and then say yes to pacman -Syu from a shell with no X running on the machine. Then I edit /etc/inittab to level 5 again and reboot.
Note that one used to be able to edit the entry in grub and append a statement to go into level 3 (avoids having to edit /etc/inittab), but I found that this broke a couple of months ago, so now I use inittab.
Strictly speaking one should not have to avoid having X running in such a situation, and admittedly it will not always cause a problem, but I have decided that this is one of those cases in life where it is better to be safe than sorry; those packages do not upgrade all that often.
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#5 2010-06-14 14:30:56
- karoshi
- Member
- From: Marburg
- Registered: 2008-02-26
- Posts: 182
Re: Recommended upgrade procedure
Note that one used to be able to edit the entry in grub and append a statement to go into level 3 (avoids having to edit /etc/inittab), but I found that this broke a couple of months ago, so now I use inittab.
You can also just use the command
init 3No need to edit inittab.
It's a bug planet!
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#6 2010-06-14 14:43:30
- djg1971
- Member
- Registered: 2008-09-11
- Posts: 212
Re: Recommended upgrade procedure
karoshi: that's what I said; adding that statement via grub always used to work, but broke for me about a month or two ago. unless it's no longer broken, I have no better option than to edit /etc/inittab. I was providing the information in case someone tried that and found it doesn't work for them anymore either.
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#7 2010-06-14 16:04:19
- mcmillan
- Member
- Registered: 2006-04-06
- Posts: 737
Re: Recommended upgrade procedure
karoshi: that's what I said; adding that statement via grub always used to work, but broke for me about a month or two ago. unless it's no longer broken, I have no better option than to edit /etc/inittab. I was providing the information in case someone tried that and found it doesn't work for them anymore either.
Karoshi was saying you don't even need to reboot, just type init 3 into a terminal and it will change to run level 3, then init 5 to get back.
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#8 2010-06-14 17:22:34
- djg1971
- Member
- Registered: 2008-09-11
- Posts: 212
Re: Recommended upgrade procedure
mcmillan: I realized what karoshi meant after I submitted the post, but did not edit it. That said, the situation is the same (or was - I have not tried it in a while). *Nothing* produced a successful boot into run level 3 except editing inittab and formally rebooting the system. I did not investigate the issue so I can offer no explanation, but the system absolutely would not come up. In fact the failure was so catastrophic that initially I thought some hardware had been hosed. When I have some free time I will try all the options again and if the failure is still there perhaps I'll post something about it in case anyone is interested.
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#9 2010-06-14 18:00:49
- ozar
- Member
- From: USA
- Registered: 2005-02-18
- Posts: 1,686
Re: Recommended upgrade procedure
I personally like to always upgrade packages from the console rather than a GUI terminal, and I usually reboot immediately afterwards just to make sure none of the upgraded packages screwed up something. Neither of those steps are really necessary, or even recommended for that matter... I just like to do it that way.
oz
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