[2024-feb-29] Sad news: Eric Layton aka Nocturnal Slacker aka vtel57 passed away on Feb 26th, shortly after hospitalization. He was one of our Wiki's most prominent admins. He will be missed.

Welcome to the Slackware Documentation Project

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slackbook:tracking_updates [2012/09/17 03:19 (UTC)] – [Security Update Mailing List] Added original text and formatting mfillpotslackbook:tracking_updates [2012/09/17 03:20 (UTC)] – [Upgrading Slackware Versions] Added original text and formatting mfillpot
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 ===== Upgrading Slackware Versions ===== ===== Upgrading Slackware Versions =====
  
-Now that we've gone this far, you should feel reasonably competent in your ability to manage your Slackware system. But what do we do with it when there's a new release? Updating from one release of Slackware to another is a lot more complicated than simply updating a few packages. Each release changes a lot of things, and while many of these changes are small, some of them can completely break your system if you haven't prepared for them and/or don't understand what is changing and why. While some Linux distributions provide highly automated tools that attempt to handle every tiny detail for you, Slackware takes a much more hands-on approach to things.+Now that we've gone this far, you should feel reasonably competent in your  
 +ability to manage your Slackware system.  But what do we do with it when  
 +there's a new release?  Updating from one release of Slackware to another  
 +is a lot more complicated than simply updating a few packages.  Each release  
 +changes a lot of things, and while many of these changes are small, some of 
 +them can completely break your system if you haven't prepared for them and/or 
 +don't understand what is changing and why.  While some Linux distributions  
 +provide highly automated tools that attempt to handle every tiny detail for  
 +you, Slackware takes a much more hands-on approach to things.
  
-The very first thing you should do before attempting an upgrade is the one that many people neglect: decide if it's really necessary to upgrade. If the old system is stable and doing everything you want it to do, there may be no need to do an operating system upgrade at all. 
  
-Assuming you decide to do the upgrade, then the second thing you should do is read the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT file on your upgrade discs or a mirror. This file is updated during the development period before every release, and it lists a lot of helpful hints and tips to aid you in dealing with the changes.+The very first thing you should do before attempting an upgrade is the one 
 +that many people neglect: decide if it's really necessary to upgrade.  If  
 +the old system is stable and doing everything you want it to do, there may  
 +be no need to do an operating system upgrade at all.
  
-Finally, read the UPGRADE.TXT file before proceeding. After doing these things, you may decide that it's less trouble and potential for problems to backup your configuration files and data and do a fresh installation of the new Slackware release rather than attempt a possibly tricky upgrade. However, if you still wish to continue, make backups of your data and configuration files first. At a minimum, it's good practice to backup the /etc and /home directories. This will give you a chance to perform a reinstall if something goes wrong with the upgrade. 
  
-Since every new version of Slackware has a few differences, giving complete instructions here is not only futile but potentially misleading. You should always consult the documentation included on your Slackware disks or your favorite mirror.+Assuming you decide to do the upgrade, then the second thing you 
 +should do is read the ''CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT'' file 
 +on your upgrade discs or a mirror.  This file is updated during the 
 +development period before every release, and it lists a lot of helpful 
 +hints and tips to aid you in dealing with the changes.
  
 +
 +Finally, read the ''UPGRADE.TXT'' file before
 +proceeding.  After doing these things, you may decide that it's less
 +trouble and potential for problems to backup your configuration files
 +and data and do a fresh installation of the new Slackware release
 +rather than attempt a possibly tricky upgrade.  However, if you still
 +wish to continue, make backups of your data and configuration files
 +first.  At a minimum, it's good practice to backup the
 +''/etc'' and ''/home'' directories.
 +This will give you a chance to perform a reinstall if something goes
 +wrong with the upgrade.
 +
 +
 +Since every new version of Slackware has a few differences, giving complete 
 +instructions here is not only futile but potentially misleading.  You should
 +always consult the documentation included on your Slackware disks or your
 +favorite mirror.
 ====== Chapter Navigation ====== ====== Chapter Navigation ======
  

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