Abstract
You can update an existing system without completely reinstalling it. There are two types of updates: updating individual software packages and updating the entire 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.
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 5.1, “List with df -h”, the root partition to write
down is /dev/sda3
(mounted as /
).
Example 5.1. 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
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.
Following the preparation procedure outlined in Section 5.1.1, “Preparations”, you can now update your system:
Boot the system as for the installation, described in Section “System Start-Up for Installation” (Chapter 1, Installation with YaST, ↑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 “Add-On Products” (Chapter 1, Installation with YaST, ↑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 5.1.1, “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.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 http://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.