[CentOS] How to get 4.3 updates without 4.4 upgrade

Mon Sep 4 19:51:07 UTC 2006
Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com>

On Mon, 2006-09-04 at 12:27, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
> Steve Huff wrote:
> >
> > On Sep 4, 2006, at 10:43 AM, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
> >
> >>> Errmm 4.3 updates give 4.4 ???
> >> Hey, I am seeing 195 updates available. That does NOT sound like a a 
> >> few patches. More like a total replacement.
> >
> > this is how RH releases patches (and thus how CentOS releases patches):
> >
> > 1) a new point release comes out (e.g. 4.3)
> > 2) as time passes, updated packages are created and classified into 
> > three categories:
> >   a) security or critical fixes
> >   b) noncritical fixes
> >   c) feature enhancements
> > 3) security and critical fixes are pushed out to the update channels 
> > as soon as they are available
> > 4) noncritical fixes and feature enhancements are not pushed out until 
> > it's time for a new point release (e.g. 4.4)
> >
> > what it sounds like you want is to stay at 4.3 but still receive... 
> > something?  security updates?  updates that are magically guaranteed 
> > not to break anything?
> Some way to change piecemeal to increase the likelyhood of a working 
> system.  If this system gets hosed for partial updates, I am hosed....

Keep in mind that all of the changes have been backported into the
existing program versions which is a lot of work, and that someone
who understands the programs better than either of us decided that
effort was necessary.  Also, I think you are more likely to break
something with piecemeal updates compared to running exactly
the same mix of versions that have been tested together.

However, you might want to prepare some kind of backup/restore
strategy if the box is important.  There are many other things
more likely to break it than a minor version update.

> > i'm not sure there's a good way to accomplish that.  i'd recommend not 
> > running `yum update` until other early adopters have figured out all 
> > the various pitfalls and have documented workarounds. 
> But then you have to know what to update...

The main issues that have been posted here involved a lockup
while yum was updating itself or its libraries and database.
There was some advice about updating these first, or using
'upd2date -u' instead, but I'm not sure which is best.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   lesmikesell at gmail.com