[CentOS] Re: Centos as a desktop, advisable?

[Feizhou]

beast wrote:
> On 26/07/07 17:57 +0800, Feizhou wrote:
>>> If I choose this path, can it be automatically done using yum with local
>>> repository? what about existing data/settings/custom apps/etc? anyone 
>>> has
>>> real experiences on upgrading OS?
>>
>> You really want apt and deb based distros like ubuntu if you want to 
>> go this route.
> 
> Are you saying that upgrading Centos is not advisable/reliable path and
> Ubuntu is better in this area?
> 
> (pls, im not trying to start flame, pardon my ignorance :)

Debian and apt are very good at packaging. If you want to upgrade from 
one distribution to a later version, they have done it well before yum 
was in a position to achieve that. yum in FC5 should be able to 
dist-upgrade to FC6 and so on...but I have not actually done it.

> 
>>> Personally, I never upgrade the OS. I simply install the fresh one, 
>>> but its
>>> fine on my laptop, not for my clients.
>>
>> Use images then if all your 400 workstations are identical.
> 
> Yes, previously I just clone the HD, but thats ok only for new install, not
> preserving the data/user settings.

That is what partitioning or networked home directories do. Preserve 
user data and settings.

> 
> I'm willing to go to every clients at first install if needed, but not 
> every year or so
> for maintenance. I need setup and forget setup :-p

Well perhaps you can take a proper look at it then. I do not see why / 
and /usr concerns your users at all. Using images to get what you want 
out there in a flash is fire and forget. Of course, you need to do some 
work on your staging box but when that is complete, you just toss your 
new image to all 400 workstations and either wait for them to be 
rebooted or have them reboot right away as you may choose.