Warren, thank you very much for the info! I learned a lot. On 4/9/09, Warren Young <warren at etr-usa.com> wrote: > nate wrote: >> Jerry Geis wrote: >>> What is the rule of thumb for reboots after updates... >> >> only with new kernels. > > ...and then only when you want what the new kernel provides. > > I have my systems configured so yum is allowed to download and install > new kernels, but don't usually reboot unless I want the specific thing > the new kernel fixed, or have to reboot for some other reason. This > saves me some hassle in rebuilding third-party drivers. > > Windows boxes have to reboot on almost every upgrade because the file > I/O semantics don't allow replacing files that are in use, except in > some very limited cases. Windows has a feature that *ix type boxes > don't need, which is that a program can schedule a file to be replaced > on the next reboot. It's part of the "move file" API. Installers do > this when they try to replace a file and fail, which is why an installer > might not always prompt for a reboot on completion; it depends on > whether the program was running when you ran the installer. This is > also why so many Windows installers demand that you shut everything else > down while you install the program. They're trying to help you out. > > I bring this seemingly off-topic thing up here because it's why a lot of > people get the idea that upgrades mean reboots. It simply isn't usually > needed in the *ix world. It's why my uptime records for *ix boxes are > over a year, while my Windows boxes rarely stay up for a full month and > almost never beyond that due to Patch Tuesday. > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos >