There was a discussion here several days ago that was precipitated by my decision to manually install the new kernel before YUMming the upgrade to CentOS 4.2. The upgrade went south but I recovered by doing a fresh install and a bunch of copying from backups. All's well EXCEPT that I'm back in the same "box", thanks to anaconda.
I set out to upgrade kernels this morning:
[root@mavis download]# yum update kernel* Setting up Update Process Setting up repositories dag 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00 update 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00 base 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00 addons 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00 extras 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00 Reading repository metadata in from local files Resolving Dependencies --> Populating transaction set with selected packages. Please wait. ---> Downloading header for kernel-hugemem-devel to pack into transaction set. kernel-hugemem-devel-2.6. 100% |=========================| 656 kB 00:04 ---> Package kernel-hugemem-devel.i686 0:2.6.9-22.0.1.EL set to be updated ---> Downloading header for kernel-smp-devel to pack into transaction set. kernel-smp-devel-2.6.9-22 100% |=========================| 648 kB 00:04 ---> Package kernel-smp-devel.i686 0:2.6.9-22.0.1.EL set to be updated ---> Downloading header for kernel-devel to pack into transaction set. kernel-devel-2.6.9-22.0.1 100% |=========================| 642 kB 00:04 ---> Package kernel-devel.i686 0:2.6.9-22.0.1.EL set to be installed ---> Downloading header for kernel to pack into transaction set. kernel-2.6.9-22.0.1.EL.i6 100% |=========================| 151 kB 00:00 ---> Package kernel.i686 0:2.6.9-22.0.1.EL set to be installed ---> Downloading header for kernel-smp to pack into transaction set. kernel-smp-2.6.9-22.0.1.E 100% |=========================| 151 kB 00:00 ---> Package kernel-smp.i686 0:2.6.9-22.0.1.EL set to be installed ---> Downloading header for kernel-doc to pack into transaction set. kernel-doc-2.6.9-22.0.1.E 100% |=========================| 123 kB 00:00 ---> Package kernel-doc.noarch 0:2.6.9-22.0.1.EL set to be updated --> Running transaction check
Dependencies Resolved
============================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================= Installing: kernel i686 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL update 9.7 M kernel-devel i686 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL update 3.6 M kernel-smp i686 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL update 9.4 M Updating: kernel-doc noarch 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL update 2.0 M kernel-hugemem-devel i686 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL update 3.6 M kernel-smp-devel i686 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL update 3.6 M
Transaction Summary ============================================================================= Install 3 Package(s) Update 3 Package(s) Remove 0 Package(s) Total download size: 32 M Is this ok [y/N]: n Exiting on user Command Complete! You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root [root@mavis download]# rpm -qa | grep kernel kernel-smp-devel-2.6.9-22.EL kernel-2.6.9-22.EL kernel-hugemem-devel-2.6.9-22.EL kernel-utils-2.4-13.1.69 kernel-devel-2.6.9-22.EL kernel-doc-2.6.9-22.EL kernel-smp-2.6.9-22.EL [root@mavis download]#
...and was reminded that anaconda installed both kernels from the CentOS 4.2 DVD.
I verified that I had, indeed repaired /boot/grub/grub.conf following the install: [root@mavis download]# cat /etc/grub.conf # grub.conf generated by anaconda # # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file # NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg. # root (hd0,0) # kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 # initrd /initrd-version.img #boot=/dev/hdb default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz #hiddenmenu title CentOS-4 i386-up (2.6.9-22.EL) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-22.EL ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 initrd /initrd-2.6.9-22.EL.img You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root
Then, I proceeded with the kernel upgrade and checked grub.conf again
[root@mavis download]# cat /etc/grub.conf # grub.conf generated by anaconda # # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file # NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg. # root (hd0,0) # kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 # initrd /initrd-version.img #boot=/dev/hdb default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz #hiddenmenu title CentOS (2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 initrd /initrd-2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp.img title CentOS (2.6.9-22.0.1.EL) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-22.0.1.EL ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 initrd /initrd-2.6.9-22.0.1.EL.img title CentOS-4 i386-up (2.6.9-22.EL) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-22.EL ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 initrd /initrd-2.6.9-22.EL.img You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root [root@mavis download]#
To find that the ^%#$@ smp kernel is once more the default!
And THAT is why this automagic stuff sometimes scares hell outta me.