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12.1 Updating the System
Software tends to grow from version to version. Therefore,
take a look at the available partition space with df
before updating. If you suspect you are running short of disk space,
secure your data before you update and repartition your system. There is
no general rule of thumb regarding how much space each partition should
have. Space requirements depend on your particular partitioning profile,
the software selected, and the version numbers of the system.
12.1.1 Preparations
Before updating, copy the old configuration files to a separate medium,
such as tape device, removable hard disk, or USB stick, to secure the
data. This primarily applies to files stored in
/etc as well as some of the directories and files
in /var. You may also want to write the user data
in /home (the HOME directories) to a
backup medium. Back up this data as
root. Only
root has read permission
for all local files.
Before starting your update, make note of the root partition. The
command df / lists the device name of the root
partition. In Example 12-1, the root partition to
write down is /dev/sda3 (mounted as
/).
Example 12-1 List with df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3 74G 22G 53G 29% /
udev 252M 124K 252M 1% /dev
/dev/sda5 116G 5.8G 111G 5% /home
/dev/sda1 39G 1.6G 37G 4% /windows/C
/dev/sda2 4.6G 2.6G 2.1G 57% /windows/D
12.1.2 Possible Problems
If you update a default system from the previous version to this
version, YaST works out necessary changes and performs them. Depending
on your customizations, some steps or the entire update procedure may
fail and you must resort to copying back your backup data. Here, we
point out more issues to check before starting the system update.
Checking passwd and group in /etc
Before updating the system, make sure that
/etc/passwd and /etc/group do
not contain any syntax errors. For this purpose, start the verification
utilities pwck and grpck as
root and eliminate any
reported errors.
PostgreSQL
Before updating PostgreSQL
(postgres), dump the
databases. See the manual page of pg_dump. This is
only necessary if you actually used PostgreSQL prior to your update.
12.1.3 Updating with YaST
Following the preparation procedure outlined in
Section 12.1.1, Preparations, you can now update your system:
-
Boot the system as for the installation, described in
Section 1.4, System Start-Up for Installation, (↑ Start-Up ). In YaST, choose a
language and select in the
dialog. Do not select
. Also add repositories to make
sure to get all available software updated whenever possible. Find
more information about installation repositories in
Section 1.7.1, Add-On Products, (↑ Start-Up ).
-
YaST determines whether there are multiple root partitions. If there
is only one, continue with the next step. If there are several, select
the right partition and confirm with
(/dev/sda3 was selected in the example in
Section 12.1.1, Preparations). YaST reads the old
fstab on this partition to analyze and mount the
file systems listed there.
-
Check the previously used repositories, if there are any. Enable all
the repositories you still want to use and update third-party software
from. Click the for every list item,
if appropriate.
-
In case you added repositories during the update procedure as
recommended above, you now can activate those you are actually
interested in.
-
In the dialog, adjust the
settings according to your requirements. Normally, you can leave the
default settings untouched, but if you intend to enhance your system,
check the packages offered in the submenus or add support for additional languages.
You also have the possibility to make backups of various system
components. Selecting backups slows down the update process. Use this
option if you do not have a recent system backup.
-
Confirm the update by clicking .
Once the basic update installation is finished, test the Internet
connection as offered by the YaST dialog. Finally, YaST updates the
remaining software, offers the Novell Customer Center Configuration, and displays the
release notes. Click to write the YaST
configuration.
For more information about the Novell Customer Center, see
Registration, (↑ Start-Up ).
12.1.4 Updating Individual Packages
Regardless of your overall updated environment, you can always update
individual packages. From this point on, however, it is your
responsibility to ensure that your system remains consistent. Update
advice can be found at
https://www.novell.com/linux/download/updates/.
Select components from the YaST package selection list according to
your needs. If you select a package essential for the overall operation
of the system, YaST issues a warning. Such packages should be updated
only in the update mode. For example, many packages contain
shared libraries. If you update these programs and
applications in the running system, things might malfunction.
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