Basic questions about updating Fedora Core
 

Hello,

I want to know if I should update Fedora cores. I installed Fedora 2 on a new x86-64 machine last October. Since then I have done no updating just adding a few applications (JBuilder, xmgrace, and some academic software) by compiling them from source. I now want to use Anjuta for C++ development. I found an Anjuta rpm from FC3 but it requires various dependencies. Is it now time that I update my core straight to 4? or should I just track down and install only the required depedencies. If I update will I lose my non standard applications? If updating is the way to go how do I back up beforehand? I have a CD writer but I have not yet burned anything with it.

Sorry for my ignorance,
Chris

"Since then I have done no updating just adding a few applications (JBuilder, xmgrace, and some academic software) by compiling them from source. I now want to use Anjuta for C++ development. I found an Anjuta rpm from FC3 but it requires various dependencies. Is it now time that I update my core straight to 4? or should I just track down and install only the required depedencies. If I update will I lose my non standard applications?"

If you update Fedora you will probably have to recompile the applications that do not come with Fedora.
The Anjuta rpm for FC3 will rquire some dependencies to be installed. So it comes down to a tradeoff whether it is easier to install all of the Anjuta dependencies or compile all of your own applications.

A third possibility is you could get the source tarball for the latest version of Anjuta and compile it on your Fedora 2 system.

"If updating is the way to go how do I back up beforehand? I have a CD writer but I have not yet burned anything with it."

You should have a backup system in place already. Then you don't have to do anything special when you upgrade Fedora, just make sure that your latest backup is up to date. When I ran Fedora I backed it up on 3 CD-RWs. I created a script which uses tar to pack the files, mkisofs creates the ISO image, cdrecord blanks the CD, and then cdrecord writes the CD. I split up /usr and wrote it to 2 CDs. The rest of the system went on the third CD. You may have to do some experimenting to find the optimal way to spread your backup across 2 to 4 CDs depending on your system size.

I have set up the same CD-RW backup using k3b. I went back to the script because it is easier to use than the GUI.


----------------------------
Steve Stites

Thanks for replying,

I did try compiling Anjuta from source but in configuration it failed to find some required libraries. I may have another look at it.

As you suggest I wil get a backup system sorted out before updating Fedora. Would you mind posting your script? If not it will be good for my soul to try writing my own.

Best Wishes,
Chris

"As you suggest I wil get a backup system sorted out before updating Fedora. Would you mind posting your script? "

There are a lot of backup/recovery scripts on the Internet. In my opinion Mondo is the best.

http://www.mondorescue.org/

Here are the two scripts that I use on my SuSE system. Their predecessors worked OK on Fedora. When I switched from Fedora toSuSE I reduced the number of scripts from 3 to 2 and load balanced the CDs differently. I use an empty partition mounted on /makeCD as a work area, which you will have to change. Also I keep track of my backups in /root/data/backups which you probably don't have.

First script
=================================================================================
# This command backs up Linux to CD-RW as gzip tarballs

# Change tar-a.cd-rw.backup date
touch /root/data/backups/tar-a.cd-rw.backup.date

tar -czf /tmp/bin.tar.gz /bin

tar -czf /tmp/boot.tar.gz /boot

tar -czf /tmp/dev.tar.gz /dev

tar -czf /tmp/etc.tar.gz /etc

tar -czf /tmp/home.tar.gz /home

tar -czf /tmp/lib.tar.gz /lib

tar -czf /tmp/opt.tar.gz /opt

tar -czf /tmp/root.tar.gz /root

tar -czf /tmp/sbin.tar.gz /sbin

tar -czf /tmp/srv.tar.gz /srv

tar -czf /tmp/sys.tar.gz /sys

tar -czf /tmp/var.tar.gz /var

# The creation date of /cdrom/cd-rw.tar-a.backup.date is the date the CD-RW tar
# backup was created.
touch /tmp/cd-rw.tar-a.backup.date

# Create a CD image file
mkisofs -o /makeCD/cd.image -r \
-U \
-V SuSE_backup \
/tmp/cd-rw.tar-a.backup.date \
/tmp/bin.tar.gz \
/tmp/boot.tar.gz \
/tmp/dev.tar.gz \
/tmp/etc.tar.gz \
/tmp/home.tar.gz \
/tmp/lib.tar.gz \
/tmp/opt.tar.gz \
/tmp/root.tar.gz \
/tmp/sbin.tar.gz \
/tmp/srv.tar.gz \
/tmp/sys.tar.gz \
/tmp/var.tar.gz

# Erase a blank CD-RW
cdrecord -force blank=fast dev=/dev/cdrecorder speed=24 gracetime=2

# Copy the CD image file to CD-RW
cdrecord -data -eject speed=24 dev=/dev/cdrecorder /makeCD/cd.image gracetime=2

# Clean up
rm /makeCD/cd.image
rm /tmp/*.tar.gz
rm /tmp/cd-rw.tar-a.backup.date

=================================================================================

Third script
=================================================================================
# This command backs up Linux to CD-RW as gzip tarballs

# Change tar-b.cd-rw.backup date
touch /root/data/backups/tar-c.cd-rw.backup.date

tar -czf /tmp/usr.tar.gz /usr

# The creation date of /cdrom/cd-rw.tar-c.backup.date is the date the CD-RW tar
# backup was created.
touch /tmp/cd-rw.tar-c.backup.date

# Create a CD image file
mkisofs -o /makeCD/cd.image -r \
-U \
-V SuSE_backup \
/tmp/cd-rw.tar-c.backup.date \
/tmp/usr.tar.gz

# Erase a blank CD-RW
cdrecord -force blank=fast dev=/dev/cdrecorder speed=24 gracetime=2

# Copy the CD image file to CD-RW
cdrecord -data -eject speed=24 dev=/dev/cdrecorder /makeCD/cd.image gracetime=2

# Clean up
rm /makeCD/cd.image
rm /tmp/*.tar.gz
rm /tmp/cd-rw.tar-c.backup.date

=================================================================================


------------------------------------
Steve Stites

That is a great help. I will have a go at modifying those for my system.

Many Thanks,
Chris