will upgrading suse 9.0 to 9.1 kill existing app configs?
 

I have suse 9.0 installed ruunning apache2,php, and mysql.
i also have a number of other not so critical apps like menus under windowmaker, and kmail/konqueror customized. ive never done a linux version upgrade. id like to attampt running the install , i presume it'll detect existing install and ask if i want to upgrade? just wondering what peoples experience was upgradding suse 9.0 to 9.1 in this regards (existing apps still work or no?). being a relative linux newbie it took me a GREAT DEAL of time getting my current config in place so id much prefer a smooth upgrade.

if i cant get any info on that i plan to see if it wont take a month to figure out some way to duplicate the hardrive as w/ghost or g4l and then run upgrade ona copy but i suspect that may take longer than installing from scratch

i presume it'll detect existing install and ask if i want to upgrade?

Yes, it will.

existing apps still work or no?

Depends on a lot of factors. Mainly in the complexity (dependencies) of the software that you want to keep.
Notice that there are some huge changes from 9.0 to 9.1: kernel 2.4 to 2.6, kde 3.1 to 3.2, (gnome upgraded too, but I can't tell much about it...) samba 2.8 to 3.0... I'm not really sure if upgrading using this option would keep things running smoothly.

If you can keep your current /home (say, using a separated partition), its easier to preserv some configs and settings. When installing, yast2 mounted the existing /home, and I created the same user that already was on /home. yast2 asked me if I wanted to use that dir and change ownership, I said yes, and preserved my home dir across upgrades. Next reboot I got surprised to see that it really worked well (at least for kde).

But please do research on apache2, php and mysql stuff. I have no clue how these apps are gonna behave. I'm an occasional user of apache, and zero user of php or mysql.

thanks Bruno! it does appear most people prefer reinstalling..
after posting i relaized i also have a webcam setup and the webcam application, that was a nightmare too.. the more i think about it ill likely take a second hardriver and upgrade in portions (os,webcam,webserver.. etc) and swap out original until its ready for final switchover.. the repitition will probably teach me a few more things.. or figure a way to copy the drive for a backup..
do any of the off the shelf computer store apps work w/linux partitions that you or anyone knows?

Yes, resinstalling everything again may seem too much trouble. But you end up learning a bit more, and eventually memorizing a few more paths to solutions that you knew before... At least, that's what happens to me.

To copy the driver there's partimage, nice software that you can run from the linux rescue cd:
http://www.sysresccd.org/


do any of the off the shelf computer store apps work w/linux partitions that you or anyone knows?

Sorry, friend. What do you mean?

cool! thanks again sysrecdcd has some drive image apps ill try that first, thanks. be good to have a backup