[CentOS] yum upgrade 4.3 -> current ?

[William L. Maltby]

On Wed, 2008-06-04 at 16:23 -0500, Chris Boyd wrote:
> Got a box running 4.3 x86 and we're trying up get it updated to 4.6,  
> but yum is consuming all available memory (1GB) and swap (2GB), and  
> then the oom starts killing processes.
> 
> I've disabled all the optional repositories, done  yum clean all, and  
> still have the same problem even if I try to just update a specific  
> package.
> 
> Google got me this link, but no obvious resolution:
> http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php? 
> forum=8&topic_id=5588&viewmode=flat
> 
> Any pointers appreciated.

Processing a huge number of dependancies (very likely going from
4.3->4.6) will use huge amounts. I would first upgrade yum itself (IIRC,
the sqlite changed).

Then, pay attention to the dependancy processing output and pick a few
packages at a time to upgrade. After a few passes like this, you should
be able to revert to the normal update processing.

Another strategy that might or might not work is to go to runlevel 3
(telinit 3) that eliminates all the graphical stuff and run from a
normal VT. If you don't have swap enabled, make a swap partition or file
of decent size and try that.

> 
> --Chris
> <snip sig stuff>

HTH
-- 
Bill