upgrading to 21.1 (jumping the gun a bit!)
 

Hi All I know 21.1 isn't out yet, but I'm under the impression it will be out soon, so I thought I'd look in hte upgrading.txt file for hte -current slackware.

I have read through it and understand most of what it is doing, however I have a couple of questions.

1) is there a need to do upgradepkg --instal-new? what if there are new packages that I don't need/want. These would be installed as part of the upgrade? Or should I just go in afterwards and remove the unwanted/unneeded packages?

2a) My kernel. I presume we will get a new kernel with 21.1, will my old custom kernel still work? do I just install the source for the new kernel, copy over my config file from /boot and recompile the new kernel that we get with 12.1?

2b) I use a custom kernel at the moment. but I also leave huge-smp in /boot so I can get in in an emergency. I presume I would do the same during an upgrade, replacing (or even leaving huge-smp and adding) with the 12.1 version of huge-smp?

3) config files. I have edited rc.local, rc.wireless.conf plus others that I can't think of at the moment. As I understand it the config files from the new/updated packages go in the /etc directory with *.new these can then be populated with my changes and renamed without the .new?

Okay this was four not two questions. As I said I hope i'm not jumping hte gun too much, but wanted to get this square in my head before I upgraded.

Stuart

should obviously read 12.1 not 21.1

;-)

The *best* way is to go back in and remove what you (think you) don't want. Otherwise, you're likely to have several *added* packages not installed, and things won't work, and then we'll have to fuss at you for upgrading incorrectly. :)

Custom kernels are a sore subject with me, so maybe I shouldn't comment, but I will anyway.
If you insist on using a custom kernel, then you should at least use 'make oldconfig' on your current .config when using it for the 12.1 kernel.

I can't speak for everyone, but I personally am *very* reluctant to even discuss bug reports that have not been reproduced/confirmed on the stock generic kernel, so keep that in mind.

Yes.

rc.local.new can always be removed without thought - it's just a placeholder anyway, as all changes to rc.local should be, well, local.

For the others, you've basically got the right idea.

In case you weren't already aware, be sure to read CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT

The custom kernel issue is an interesting one. For the most part, the generic-smp kernels should be perfectly fine. I never compile a custom kernel with the same version number as the default one (the generic one works fine). However, if a new kernel is released with a feature I want, I will compile it (but of course I've worked out all non-existent bugs with the default kernel by that point). If I used -current I'd never compile a kernel (since it generally contains an up-to-date kernel), but I don't (since I want a stable machine) so I compile newer kernels every once and a while.