Preupgrading Fedora 14 to 17
 

Hi,
I was wondering for a while why I'm not getting daily software updates anymore as it used to be, and yeah, Fedora 14 isn't supported anymore. So I want to upgrade to 17 (newest stable at the moment).

But it's not working! Upon reboot, that booting program says (after letting me enter the encryption key to the harddrive):
"Your current installation cannot be upgraded. This is likely due to it being too old. Only the previous two releases may be upgraded. To upgrade older releases, you must first upgrade through all intermediate releases.
Fedora 14 i686 on luks-somethingsomething - version mismatch."
After this window, there comes another one saying that the root of the previously installed system could not be found. After that, the preupgrade installer exits.

Now I googled a bit and searched on LQ, but nobody seems to have experienced just the case I am experiencing.
And yes I tried to just update to F16, and even F15, they also didn't work.

Closest thread here is this one: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=274603 but that one doesn't say anything about a version mismatch, and also I am quite sure I'm using the right disc since I only have so many luks drives...

So if someone has an idea, do tell! :)

What are we supposed to tell you? I don't understand... The message you took the time to type out is *extremely* clear... I really don't get what else we could add to this to make it any clearer.

Upgrading fedora really isn't fun. Stuff breaks. Back up your data and start from scratch, you won't regret it.

I get it, I'm stupid.
As I said, I also tried to update just to F15, which is supposed to work according to this message, or which at least shouldn't produce this message as it is less than two versions away. If you want to fix this incredibly smart message, I'll help you counting.
And please, I'm very much aware of the option of overriding the system with a new version. It's just not appealing to me. I have installed and configured software on it. I'm not sure how to copy my databases. And I don't want to start from scratch next year again - I would prefer a working upgrade mechanism.

sure, it's nice to think it's upgradeable, but what happens if / when it doesn't work? you're just going to presume that the databases will work?

So if you do try to go to FC15 what does happen? You won't be getting that same error message, so what do you get?

As it goes, this laptop i'm using was built on fc13 I think, maybe fc12, and I've gone up to fc15 on it reasonably OK. A bunch of stuff is a bit iffy though (after fc14 it ran terribly, but after fc15 it ran a lot lot smoother, but I'm too lazy to make it properly work. So it certainly is possible, I won't deny that.

Why yes, I get the very same error message when i try to preupgrade 14->15, else I wouldn't have been so bitchy in the previous post...
And yes, I presume against all odds that a system's built-in tool is the right way to perform the upgrade. My system even offers me from time to time to preupgrade to 16 because it found out that it's available.
As for the databases, you got me worrying now :) I'll copy the files (found them in /var/lib/mysql) and also export them out of phpMyAdmin. I'll also make copies of some other folders that seem interesting, like /home and /root, and hope that the applications will recognize their old configs...

fedora changes SO MUCH from one version to the next .That "preupgrade" almost never works well on a used working system

now on a base min. install with NO thirdparty programs it ??? is a crap shoot ??
sometimes it woks "mostly" well most of the time ?? mostly


but skipping even one version it IS GOING to fail ( most of the time on a used system)
so going from 14 to 17
skipping 15 and 16 and going to 17

it is NOT going to work

you DID back up your data ???? right ???

reformat to ext4
do a new clean install of 17
move over your music,photos,videos,..... over from the back up