Repo files and Upgrade
 

Hi:

Been learning as much as possible about Fedora from the fedora website but still have a few questions.

I know that repo files tell yum where to find the latest list of mirrors.

I had this message in the terminal today during an update and wondered why?
Do I need to add other repos to the /etc/yum.repos.d file?

And why are GPG signatures used to check the downloaded packages?

Does a GPG signature provide authentication?

I read the documentation to upgrade Fedora 17-
I found that it is recommended to use the preupgrad tool using the graphical pkg mgr or run:
When will I know when it's time to either upgrade my OS or compleatly re-install it? Will the Fedora website make it clear?

Thanks in advance

Hi,

I will try to give you my best opinions on your concerns (numbered as you mentioned them).

1. I do see that with temporary network failure or unavailability of repos. You should not worry, as general to resume with network restoration or the next available repo. If it does not resume, surely you have Internet failure, and so just retry later.

2. Not to fix concern 1., but if you want more repo for more packages, yes.

3. This seems obvious to me, because of 4.

4. Yes, it guarantees that the package comes from the repo it is claimed to come from.

5. Unfortunately, I have never done an upgrade of Fedora, only fresh installations.

Thanks for the quick reply-

Confirmation understood-

So your next fresh install will be Fedora 18?

Yes, I am counting the days for Fedora 18.
Besides, as I regularly perform , I know I already have a Fedora 17 very close to what Fedora 18 will be.

Shame we have to do a fresh install but after thinking that upgrading is sometimes not efficient (some packages config files may or may not work, 3rd party or ISV applications may not work, and the rpmfusion software from those repos may not work) it's much better to just go ahead and do a fresh install-

I may consider upgrading afterall; just to see how the operating system's functionality performs-
As you mentioned before:
Would you consider an upgrade instead?

Counting the days you say; I'm intrigued/curious as well-
I read in the Fedora documentation it's about 36 months from May of 2012. So I anticipate Fedora getting out of Beta around; August of 2013-
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Relea...rd=Releases/18

I must say Fedora looks and runs amazingly on this Vaio!

Fedora has been using ( read TESTING) "preupgrade" for a few years
BUT you had to have made a /boot partition larger that 768 Meg ( 1 gig is good) to use it

preupgrade is getting better , that said i would give a normal ( 6 months in use) upgrade to the next version
??? about 80% chance of problems ??
mostly minor ones .Leftover rpms for the last version in witch the program is not used any longer ( replaced with something else)

messed up config files that will need to be manually fixed
and a host of other minor annoyances

It is still recommended to do a full new CLEAN install of the next version
fedora17 to fedora 18 after Jan. 08 2013

but
from long history with fedora
I would recommend that you replace fedora 17 in about 3 months
That gives the dev's 90 days to fix most of the bugs in fedora 18
then 6 months after that ( 90 days after fedora 19 is released
reformat
and do a new install of fedora 19 -- -and so on......

It's good to hear that preupgrade is getting better so now it's a matter of choice.
80% is good but now I'm not so sure I want to mess with that-
As I not in favor of fixing config files; this branch is not my specialty nor am I that good at it.

That seems to be the most practical; John, thanks for the wise counsel-

When you first found out; did you find it disappointing to have to perform a fresh install every few months?

no
From the research I did before installing ( the then current version) Fedora 4
The 6 month new release cycle was in the documentation.
And so was the 13 month life span .
Also at that time a new clean install was the only way to upgrade .

waiting a few months 2 to 3 before installing the new fedora is very common
unless one WANTS to find and fix bugs , some people DO like doing that and want to do that .

Now some people have reported preupgrade gave them no problems ? it is a bit of a crap shoot .
use it if you want but keep in mind that there might be problems .
so BACK UP FIRST
Better "safe than sorry "

I found the documentation pertaining to having to preupgrade or re-install the distribution after I installed it last Tuesday. (better late than never)

Ok,so; worse case scenario I try the 'preupgrade' and may/may not have problems.
At that point I'll just put a Live CD of Fedora 18 and start a fresh installation-

Thanks again;)

Use this below command

#yum update -y

Refer this link
http://www.thetechnicalstuff.com/how...-centosredhat/

I know this is marked solved, but thought I would add this piece of news from http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_use_PreUpgrade.

In my experience upgrades have been hit and miss. Like many others, my preference has been to do a fresh install. I'd also like to share a few things that have worked for me. Each time I keep a notebook with a list of steps for everything I install and configure. This makes for a smooth transition to a newer version. I've also adopted a strategy of having two releases installed on different partitions, for example 16 and 17. When 18 arrives I'll replace 16. It allows me to keep a fully working system for reference and as a fall back platform if the new release is not ready for prime time. In the end you have to figure out what works best for you.

Thanks wmakowski:

For posting the link.
It's always good to have a strategy.

In my case however; I think I'll just perform a fresh install of Fedora 18.