Re: Some basic 1.4 install questions

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry Smith" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 7:46 AM
Subject: [gentoo-newbies] Some basic 1.4 install questions


> Being relatively new to linux and even more of a rookie on gentoo I've
> got a few fundamental questions about moving up from gentoo 1.2 to
> 1.4-rc1.
>
> 1. Why do it at all? That is, if I begin with say gentoo 1.2 and do a
> 'emerge --update world' every week or so, wouldn't my software be as
> up-to-date as what one would have with 1.4 (including gcc and the kernel
> if I keep udating those)?
>
> 2. If I do decide to move to 1.4 should I 'update' my installation or
> start from scratch?
>
> 3. Related to the previous question...if update ..how do I do it? (I
> recall a 'howto' a few weeks ago that sounded complicated).
>
> 4. If new install, do folks recommend a totally clean install, i.e.,
> reformatting drives, stage 1 and build it up? If so would you back up
> /home, /etc, anything else?

If you have the system properly partitioned, IE with /usr/home as a separate
partition. then you should not have to back it up. Just format and remount
/boot, /root /var. You also do not have to recreate the swap partition as
that is also re-usable. The main thing to remember is always keep your /home
directory on a separate partition. This way, you do not loose data should
you run into problems. It also makes using multiple distro's much easier
since any linux distro can mount the partition then.

> My apologies for the newbie questions but living with gentoo is a bit
> different than upgrading RH or Mandrake every 6 months!

It's closer to updating either a Debian or *BSD distro.

> TIA.
>
> Terry Smith
> Cape Cod USA
>
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