Is it safe enough for to upgrade my slack-11 to slack-current using slapt-get --dist-upgrade ?
Kernel 2.6.20.7

Need to make sure you do a few things and don't think they recommend using the upgrade for everything, need installpkg for some.
There is a how-to in current for doing the upgrade would recommend printing it out and using it as a guide. It will tell you all you need to do, specially since the upgrade is dependant on what you have already have installed.

Hi, i don't know for sure, but i think it will break your system.
Take a look at the official way of upgrading:
UPGRADE.TXT
and don't miss: CURRENT.WARNING
Or you can always get -current isos and save all that

also, don't forget the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.txt

Personally, I'd recommend doing the upgrade manually (i.e. download the current tree and follow the instructions) Alien Bob has a great script for downloading all of the files on his wiki ( http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/doku.php )
After doing a manual upgrade, since -current is in Release Candidates now, using a third party package manager to stay current should only be a slight risk... if it's used correctly

Not to hijack the thread, but I just upgraded to -current with ISOs built from Alien Bob's script, and now I'm not sure what to do. I have a couple of questions:

1). slapt-get (my tool of choice) excludes some packages (such as a/aaa_elflibs ) that have been updated according to the change log. Should I configure slapt-get to include all packages? Or should I only update the ones slapt-get wants to?

2). I generally don't track -current. I'm excited for slack 12, so I wanted to get it ASAP. when the full release comes out, I'll switch to that and stop tracking -current. I was planning on just doing a fresh install, but is there a more elegant way to make this move?

Well I did read it, and it sounds like a painfully long process so I was wondering if it would be faster to just use slapt-get or any other similar tool to do the stuff.
Oh well, I guess I won't sleep for one night and do the upgrading

Oh and, I think I'm going to download the Install DVD .iso, in case I break anything I just put in the DVD and do a reinstall

Oh the upgrade.txt mentions to install 2.6.18 kernel, I have 2.6.20.7 kernel, I can jump over this point right?

It would seem to me that any question contain the words "safe enough" implies there is something you don't want to lose.

It could be data, a well tweaked configuration, or whatever.

"Current" ain't ready for prime time. That is why P. Volkerding hasn't blessed it by calling it Slackware 12 yet.

By definition, it isn't "safe" no matter how you try to upgrade to it. Slackware 11 is for "safe."

If there isn't anything you have to worry about protecting, then let 'er rip. Try it out. See if it breaks.

Otherwise, if you run Slackware because you like the Slackware approach to Linux, it would seem to make sense to wait until Mr. Volkerding says that Slackware 12 is ready, and then follow his advice for upgrading. ;-)

I would argue that -current is already as (if not more) stable than 11, and much much more capable. I have been tracking -current for the last ~4 years or so, and this is probably the only time that I can honestly say that -current has clearly excelled beyond the stable release (to the point that upgrading is actually an imperative).

But at any rate, that is neither here nor there. If you are using slapt-get, or any other automated package manager, the same rules apply. Always read the documentation to make sure you are doing things in the proper order, and not missing any changes or omissions. slapt-get simply calls the default pkgtools programs, so there is no difference between using slapt-get to download and upgrade the packages and doing it manually. You are doing the exact same thing, one is just more labor intensive than the other. I have always used slapt-get to follow -current, and have never had an issue.

The problem has never been with the software itself (speaking of automated package tools) but with the user ignoring the documentation thinking that the package manager can figure it all out automatically. That is simply not the case, and it never will be in Slackware. How you actually download and upgrade the packages themselves is completely inconsequential, the only thing that matters is that you do it correctly.

slapt-get is probably capable to do the job, but it won't save you a lot of time, because, as far as I understand, there were quite a few package splits and mergers. No matter what tool you use, it's up to you to migrate your packages to the new structure. And there are usually several other things that require user interaction. But don't worry, they don't take a lot of time.

Therefore I personally wouldn't want to take the risk, and instead follow the instructions in UPGRADE.TXT word by word and letter by letter. That's the only safe way to upgrade.

In case you want to try slapt-get, anyway, I would appreciate if you could share your experiences with us.

Good luck!

gargamel

Just been reading UPGRADE.TXT. Whooaaaah! Think I'll wait for the Final Release & burn the CD's.

That's your choice (and I can't blame you for it). I wouldn't recommend turning an automatic update process loose on your system for any major updates. There are lots of split packages from 11.

By some foul-up (on my part) I had fallen far behind -current -- probably about 6 months behind. I took the plunge to update to -current Friday night, using the UPGRADE.txt as a runsheet. It actually went off pretty smoothly -- updating the kernel is really the trickiest part of the process.

The only problem I had was updating my httpd.conf file from Apache 1.3 to Apache2, which requires a little more thought. With the exception of one small part of my Apache setup (user authentication) everything worked fine within a few hours.