Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revisionNext revisionBoth sides next revision |
howtos:slackware_admin:systemupgrade [2012/09/29 12:43 (UTC)] – After upgrading slackpkg, also upgrade glibc-solibs manually. alienbob | howtos:slackware_admin:systemupgrade [2013/02/03 21:06 (UTC)] – Moved "Java considerations" to bottom of article. alienbob |
---|
<note important>Never upgrade your working kernel.</note> | <note important>Never upgrade your working kernel.</note> |
Why is that? Simple - you will be upgrading potentially hundreds of packages and should be prepared for the unlikely event that your computer does not work properly anymore after a system upgrade. One thing you don't want to get hit by is a system which does not boot at all. A new Slackware release may install a kernel that refuses to boot your computer (small chance but nevertheless... be prepared). For that reason, you need to keep your "old" working kernel installed, and keep a section for it in your ''/etc/lilo.conf'' file. That way, if the new kernel fails to boot, you can fall-back to the old kernel and start investigating what went wrong. \\ Basically, these are the same precautions you must take when you are [[howtos:slackware_admin:kernelbuilding|compiling a new kernel]] yourself. | Why is that? Simple - you will be upgrading potentially hundreds of packages and should be prepared for the unlikely event that your computer does not work properly anymore after a system upgrade. One thing you don't want to get hit by is a system which does not boot at all. A new Slackware release may install a kernel that refuses to boot your computer (small chance but nevertheless... be prepared). For that reason, you need to keep your "old" working kernel installed, and keep a section for it in your ''/etc/lilo.conf'' file. That way, if the new kernel fails to boot, you can fall-back to the old kernel and start investigating what went wrong. \\ Basically, these are the same precautions you must take when you are [[howtos:slackware_admin:kernelbuilding|compiling a new kernel]] yourself. |
| |
| |
| ===== Video driver considerations ===== |
| |
| If your computer is equipped with a video card powered by an [[http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html|Nvidia]] or [[http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/installernotes.html|Ati]] graphics processor and you have installed these companies' accelerated graphics drivers (closed-source and binary-only), you should not attempt start an X session after upgrading to the next Slackware release. \\ These drivers depend on kernel version, Mesa version and the X.Org server. You must re-install the binary driver before starting graphical mode. Also, the mesa and xorg-server packages of Slackware overwrite essential files of these closed-source accelerated graphics drivers anyway. |
| |
| If you want to know how to deal with these binary drivers, we have more detailed instructions in the "[[howtos:hardware:proprietary_graphics_drivers|Proprietary Graphics Drivers]]" article on this Wiki. |
| |
| |
| ===== Slackpkg considerations ===== |
| |
| If you upgrade Slackware (see below for the procedure), you will upgrade [[slackware:slackpkg|slackpkg]] as one of the first steps. The ''upgradepkg'' command will install a file ''/etc/slackpkg/mirrors.new''. This is the file which contains the URLs for mirrors carrying the new Slackware release. You will have to compare this to the original version and merge the contents. |
| |
| //Be sure to have exactly **one line** uncommented which points to a mirror for the desired Slackware release version and architecture.// |
| |
| |
</code> Alternatively you can run the "''massconvert32.sh''" script which will have been installed as part of the ''compat32-tools'' package. Pass it a 32-bit Slackware package directory (or a 32-bit Slackware mirror URL) as parameter and that will create a set of converted "''compat32''" packages which you can then install. You would only have to do this if you suspect that the content of the "''slackware64-compat32''" directory is not up to date. | </code> Alternatively you can run the "''massconvert32.sh''" script which will have been installed as part of the ''compat32-tools'' package. Pass it a 32-bit Slackware package directory (or a 32-bit Slackware mirror URL) as parameter and that will create a set of converted "''compat32''" packages which you can then install. You would only have to do this if you suspect that the content of the "''slackware64-compat32''" directory is not up to date. |
| |
===== Video driver considerations ===== | |
| |
If your computer is equipped with a video card powered by an [[http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html|Nvidia]] or [[http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/installernotes.html|Ati]] graphics processor and you have installed these companies' accelerated graphics drivers (closed-source and binary-only), you should not attempt start an X session after upgrading to the next Slackware release. \\ These drivers depend on kernel version, Mesa version and the X.Org server. You must re-install the binary driver before starting graphical mode. Also, the mesa and xorg-server packages of Slackware overwrite essential files of these closed-source accelerated graphics drivers anyway. | ===== Java considerations ===== |
| |
If you want to know how to deal with these binary drivers, we have more detailed instructions in the "[[howtos:hardware:proprietary_graphics_drivers|Proprietary Graphics Drivers]]" article on this Wiki. | Slackware used to install a //Java Run-time Engine// prior to the 14.0 release (the JRE binaries were originally Sun's and later distributed by Oracle after it bought Sun). \\ But Oracle changed the re-distribution license so that Slackware (just like all other distributions) was no longer permitted to ship these Java binaries as part of the distribution. When you perform a //system upgrade// to Slackware 14.0, an old version of the //JRE// will stay behind on your system. This version "6u25" has several critical vulnerabilities and you should remove it manually from your computer as fast as possible, using the command <code>removepkg jre</code> If you need Java then please have a look in the "''/extra/source/java''" directory of the Slackware 14 release. You will find a script there to create a Slackware package from the most recent Java software from Oracle, which you can then install using the "''installpkg''" command. See also our Wiki article "[[howtos:software:java|Java in Slackware]]" |
| |
| |