Upgrade from RC2

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ThePilot
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Upgrade from RC2

Post#1 by ThePilot » 10 Aug 2013, 05:30

Now that the new update has been released, how can I apply it to my system without completely reinstalling?

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Ahau
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#2 by Ahau » 10 Aug 2013, 05:55

Assuming you are on a flash or hard drive, boot into copy2ram mode without save changes, download the new ISO and mount it (you can use the mloop command in a terminal). Then copy the files from /mnt/loop into your /boot and /pprteus folders on the flash drive. You may want to back those up first. Example:

Code: Select all

cd /mnt/sdb1
mv boot rc2boot
mv porteus rc2porteus
cp -ar /mnt/loop/* .
using that example would create a new install, so you would need to copy any modules or saved changes into the new pprteus folder. Booting into copy2ram and without saved changes makes it so you don't have problems when you overwrite the core modules that are needed while the system is running.
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miguipda
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#3 by miguipda » 21 Sep 2013, 06:04

Dear Porteus administrators,

why not given this upgrading tool on the Porteus Setting Center as a command allowing to keep current and optional modules with desktop content (changes) ?

It will allow us to be sure to not loose some personal works and modules. If needed at the end of this Upgrading process you may propose to the user to update the modules ;-)

Sincerely thanks and have a nice day,

Miguipda ;-)

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fanthom
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#4 by fanthom » 21 Sep 2013, 20:26

Ahau was working on this but we have dropped this idea for one reason:
our OS is portable and offers possibility of using 3rd party bootloaders (grub4dos, grub2, etc) to boot. it means that kernel and initrd.xz can be loaded from anywhere and not necessarily from the /boot folder placed next to /porteus.
if this is the case then 'upgrade tool' wont be able to determine which files need to be updated and we get a broken system as 000-kernel.xzm was upgraded but vmlinuz not.
'upgrade tool' could probably ask for a path to the /boot folder but i think it could bring additional confusion.
Please add [Solved] to your thread title if the solution was found.

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wread
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#5 by wread » 22 Sep 2013, 00:23

I am not so careful. I delete everything in boot and in porteus/base, copy the new loops and run /boot/Porteus-installer-for-Linux again; Reboot and all is ok :Yahoo!:

There is always a little problem with a file that won't delete easily, and I have to do a chattr -i to get it blown up. 8)
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fanthom
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#6 by fanthom » 22 Sep 2013, 08:57

@wread
good but you have forgotten about .sgn file :)
also - there could be updates made to make_iso.sh so the proper way of doing an upgrade is:
a) backup /porteus/changes, /porteus/modules, /porteus/optional, /porteus/rootcopy (the folders where users are usually making modifications)
b) delete existing /boot and /porteus
c) copy /boot and /porteus from new ISO
d) bring back backed up folders
e) run installer (only needed if syslinux version has changed but no harm to do it every time when not sure)

this type of upgrade should be performed from 3rd OS (Windows, other linux). if you want to do it from Porteus itself then you must boot with 'copy2ram' and 'always fresh' and should be ok.

if anyone has other ideas how to make an upgrade then please share and/or maybe write a quick guide in HOWTOs section?
Please add [Solved] to your thread title if the solution was found.

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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#7 by brokenman » 22 Sep 2013, 13:23

Iĺl just add another caveat for the update script. When UEFI becomes the standard the structure and folder layout will change. It also doesn´t support gnome/mate which keep all user configs in one single file. That means if I push an update to a config setting (like terminal preference) then it will overwrite all users custom settings. Their is a way to do it, but not from the update tool.

The update tool was originally designed to be desktop based so maintainers could push tweaks and bug fixes after major releases. It was never intended to be a ´full system upgrade´ solution. A complete rewrite would be needed for this. Itś a nice idea and I am sure the average user would prefer to just click an upgrade button.

Updates for me are easy since I keep all my changes in a module and always boot to fresh mode.
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wread
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#8 by wread » 22 Sep 2013, 14:28

@brokenman
Say, apropos UEFI, a professor came to me with an out of the box laptop make Lennovo, I inserted a USB with Porteus and could not start it. I suspected it was an UEFI. They are unifying efforts to f*** idiots?????.....

How do we upgrade for that???

I now have a series of separated myXXsettings:
-myGCsettings (Google-Chrome)
-myDSsettings (DraftSight)
-mySKsettings (Skype)
-myRVsettings (Remote View)
-myPRsettings (Printer)
etc,etc, (NW=network, MC=midnight commander,...)
Former I had all that in rootcopy (they were mixed up!), but as modules they seem to be better organized and quicker at start up. :D

@fanthom
Of course I also copy porteus *.sng file whenever it is a different version...No fear, if it comes from you guys, it will work!
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brokenman
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#9 by brokenman » 22 Sep 2013, 20:12

@wread
If the laptop that wouldn't start was indeed UEFI then the BIOS/UEFI contains a setting to change to non-UEFI (CMS) mode to boot Porteus. Secure boot should also be disabled in this case. I wrote a HOWTO on how to create a UEFI usb device. I'll update it with time. I have also figured out how to enable secure boot for Porteus. This is a HUGE pain for users because they will need to resign new binaries (vmlinuz, initrd.xz, nVidia etc) that are loaded at boot time and it is not very straight forward.

Since UEFI machines have a FAT32 partition with all the EFI files, we just need to move vmlinuz and initrd.xz onto this partition to upgrade (and also 000-kernel.xzm from base ... wherever it is).
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wread
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#10 by wread » 22 Sep 2013, 23:56

I have the feeling the UEFI matter is a holdup to force new buyers to use Windows 8....??? :%) You go buy a new laptop and all of a sudden you have to start learning again: UEFI yes, BIoS no!!!

I read UEFI works on fat16 and fat32 file systems only; we will have to make 2 partitions to our USBs, or not?; I also read the "problem" is that BIOS was made as OS were 16 bits only. But it works today also with 64 bit machines.....what the hell! :P

Isn't that suspicious?

@Hamza: I am sorry I went out of topic :(
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brokenman
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Re: Upgrade from RC2

Post#11 by brokenman » 24 Sep 2013, 11:42

I have the feeling the UEFI matter is a holdup to force new buyers to use Windows 8
In fact EFI was created around 15 years ago by intel. It is a logical step to replace the aging BIOS and it's limitations. EFI opens up many new possibilities (and overcomes limitations) that are needed. People always resist change but this is definitely a step in the right direction IMHO.

Faster boot/resume times
Support for larger storage capacity
Overcomes 4 primary partition limit
OS like interface with much more functionality than standard bios

What microsoft did was introduce the 'secure boot' and then made a deal with hardware cmopanies to enable it by default. This means that only 'signed binaries' will load. This will be an advantage in the future but for now it means that 'once again' linux has some catch up to do. It was no doubt a marketing strategy by MS, but also a step in the right direction. For now we will have to cope with using a FAT partition with a GUID (instead of an MBR) on the bootable media. Yes, more learning .... but where would the world head if stopped learning?
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Wear your underpants on the outside and put on a cape.

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