How to Upgrade
Fermi Linux 7.1.x to Fermi Linux 7.3.x
via yum

Rewritten Dec. 5, 2003. For old instructions (which work, but I don't feel are a sequence of steps go here.)

Basic Steps

1. Back everything up somehow.
2. Make sure you have LOTS of room for /var/cache - 400Meg to 1000Meg should do.
3. Get yum on 7.1.1 machine.  If yum is already installed, skip this step
   • Run this script as root
     http://home.fnal.gov/~dawson/yum/autorpm.to.yum
4. yum update yum
5. Get rid of your 2.4.3-12 kernels. (kernel-2.4.3-12 and kernel-smp-2.4.3-12)
   1. Check to see what kernels you have
      rpm -q kernel kernel-smp
      kernel-2.4.20-18.7
      kernel-2.4.3-12
      kernel-smp-2.4.3-12
      kernel-smp-2.4.20-18.7
   2. If your only kernel(s) are the 2.4.3-12 kernel(s) you will need to update to a newer kernel before removing the bad kernel.
      yum -c /etc/yum.conf.711 update
      yum -c /etc/yum.conf.711 clean all
   3. rpm -e kernel-2.4.3-12
      rpm -e kernel-smp-2.4.3-12
6. Edit /etc/yum.conf to look like this file.
7. Run 'yum -d0 list nedit' to test.
   yum -d0 list nedit
8. yum remove "ssh*"
   yum remove "openssh*"
   warning If you are logged in via ssh, this can be a little nerve racking, because you have just removed the program you are logged in with. Rest assured that you will still be connected. Just don't log out until you have re-installed openssh.
9. yum upgrade (this will take a while)
   It is possible that this command will not work because of unresolved dependancies. So far the ones I have seen are kppp, libkscan and kooka. If this happens you have a couple choices.
   • Remove the offending rpm's, then try it again.
     yum remove kooka
     yum remove kdenetwork-ppp (if you are having problems with kppp)
     yum upgrade
   • Put openssh back on (see next step) and do a regular upgrade
   • Put openssh back on (see next step), change your yum.conf back, and live in 7.1.1
10. yum install "openssh*"
11. Double check /etc/lilo.conf and re-run lilo.
    /sbin/lilo
12. yum install zz_fermi-logos zz_dhcp_resolv
13. /sbin/reboot
14. yum install zz_sshd_aklog
15. Install whatever packages you wish, especially those that you uninstalled in previous steps.
    yum install kooka

1. Back everything up somehow.
2. Make sure you have LOTS of room for /var/cache - 400Meg to 1000Meg (depending on how much stuff you have)
3. Get yum on 7.1.1 machine.  If yum is already installed, skip this step
   • The easiest way is to download and run this script as root
     http://home.fnal.gov/~dawson/yum/autorpm.to.yum
     Please note that this will also upgrade your rpm, as well as remove autorpm.
4. yum update yum
5. Get rid of old kernels you are not using. (ie. rpm -e kernel-2.4.3-12)
   This is because they were compiled under Fermi Linux 7.1.1, which might make them incompatable. although we have really only had a problem with one, which was kernel-2.4.3-12. But it will save room to clean the old ones up.
   1. uname -r
      2.4.20-18.7smp
   2. rpm -q kernel kernel-smp
      kernel-2.4.18-27.7.x
      kernel-2.4.9-31
      kernel-2.4.20-18.7
      kernel-smp-2.4.9-31
      kernel-smp-2.4.18-27.7.x
      kernel-smp-2.4.20-18.7
   3. rpm -e kernel-2.4.9-31 kernel-smp-2.4.9-31 kernel-2.4.18-27.7.x kernel-smp-2.4.18-27.7.x
      note: If uname shows you are running a smp kernel, do NOT get rid of the regular kernel of the same number.
   
   If your only kernel is one of the orginal 7.1.1 kernels (2.4.3-12) then you will have a conflict when you try to update. This is because of the change in the packaging of the kernels.
   How to work around this
   1. yum -c /etc/yum.conf.711 update
   2. yum -c /etc/yum.conf.711 clean all
      To clean up all the extra rpms.
   3. remove the offending old kernels
      rpm -e kernel-2.4.3-12
      rpm -e kernel-smp-2.4.3-12
6. Edit /etc/yum.conf to point to the 7.3.1 area
   You can either just changed all the 711's to say 731, or you can do replace it with this
   yum.conf.731 file.
7. Run 'yum -d0 list nedit' to get all the 731 yum headers.
   yum -d0 list nedit
8. Remove ssh, ssh-server and all openssh rpm's via yum (yum remove "ssh*" and/or yum remove "openssh*") taking care to keep track of the ssh programs that you have removed.
   yum remove "ssh*"
   yum remove "openssh*"
   warning If you are logged in via ssh, this can be a little nerve racking, because you have just removed the program you are logged in with. Rest assured that you will still be connected. Just don't log out until you have re-installed openssh.
9. yum upgrade (this will take a while)
   The difference between an update and an upgrade, is that an update replaces an old package, with the new package of the same name.  An upgrade will look through the available packages, and if there are any packages that seem like they have changed names, or obsolete a package, it will replace the old package, with the package of the new name.  You don't always want that because sometimes there are two packages that provide the same service or programs.  An example of this is ssh and openssh.
   It is possible that this command will not work because of unresolved dependancies. So far the ones I have seen are libkscan and kooka. If this happens you have a couple choices.
   • Remove the offending rpm's, then try it again.
     yum remove kooka
     yum upgrade
   • Put openssh back on (see next step) and live in 7.1.1
   • Put openssh back on (see next step) and do a regular upgrade
10. yum install all the appropriate openssh packages.
    yum install openssh openssh-clients openssh-askpass openssh-askpass-gnome
    or
    yum install "openssh*"
11. It is a good idea to rerun lilo '/sbin/lilo' and make sure you're going to be able to boot again.
    /sbin/lilo
    You might also find that you have to re-edit your /etc/lilo.conf
    If you need to edit your /etc/lilo.conf, just remember to remove all of the old kernels that you don't have anymore, and make a section for the new kernel. The new kernel will be a 2.4.20-20.7 kernel. So you will want to add sections that look like these, but be sure to change the root= section to point to the right partition for your machine (probrubly /dev/hda1). You also might not need the initrd= line if your machine doesn't have any scsi drives.
    • image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-20.7
      label=linux
      initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-20.7
      read-only
      root=/dev/hda1
    • image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-20.7smp
      label=linux
      initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-20.7smp
      read-only
      root=/dev/hda1
12. yum install zz_fermi-logos zz_dhcp_resolv
13. /sbin/reboot
14. yum install zz_sshd_aklog
15. You now have yum, so you can install whatever packages you wish Especially those that you uninstalled in previous steps.
    yum install kooka

• Running out of space for /var/cache will also cause problems.
  There isn't much for me to tell you other than get /var/cache more space. You will probrubly notice this if you get a error like

  Error: MD5 Signature check failed for /var/cache/yum/731server/packages/gnumeric-1.0.5-3.i386.rpm
  You may want to run yum clean or remove the file: /var/cache/yum/731server/packages/gnumeric-1.0.5-3.i386.rpm
  Exiting.

  Or it might tell you there isn't enough room before it starts the installs.
  What can I say but to get more room for /var/cache, and also probrubly /
• The biggest problem people will encounter is multiple rpm's of the same type installed.
  This occurs when someone does an install of an rpm that is already installed, instead of an upgrade. Sometime's rpm will complain when you do this, and sometimes it will just happily install the one rpm on top of the other.
  Please note this does NOT apply to kernels. You can have as many kernel rpm's installed as you desire, and yum will not care.
  What to do
  1. Make sure you have access to the rpm, if you still want it. The easiest way would be to use yum to get access to it.
     • ncftpls ftp://linux.fnal.gov/linux/731/i386/RedHat/RPMS/ | grep
     An example would be
     • ncftpls ftp://linux.fnal.gov/linux/731/i386/RedHat/RPMS/ | grep pine
     or
     • yum list
       But this can often give a false negative if you have the latest version of the product. But if yum say's that it's available, then it is available.
     If that rpm is NOT available via yum, then figure out where you have the version that you really want. Keep this version handy for the last step.
  2. Remove all the rpm's.
     We are going to use pine as an example. Please replace appropriatly.
     First we see that pine has multiple instances of being installed.
     1. rpm -q pine
        pine-4.44-7.73.0
        pine-4.44-19.90.0
        pine-4.44-1.71.0
     Then we remove all instances of it
     2. rpm -e --allmatches pine
  3. Re-install just the new rpm, or the one you want.
     Note:This would be better if done after you have done the yum upgrade to 7.3.1. Otherwise yum is going to try to drag in alot of the newer rpm's. This isn't bad in itself, but you might as well do it all in one big swoop, then install these extra one's individually.
     • yum install pine
• There are some packages that cause problems because they have been renamed, removed, or some other reason. Here is a list of not only what they are, but an explanation on why you should or should not be worried about them.
  • kdepim-pilot
    This package was done away with and everything merged into kdepim. You will have no problem with removing it because you will still have kdepim, which will get upgraded.
  • kdesupport
    This package was split into two rpm's, pcre and something else. Removing this rpm before the upgrade will not hurt as yum will pull in the needed rpm's when you do the yum update.
  • kdeutils
    This package was done away with and most of it sucked into kdebase. It is a little confusing because there is still a kdeutils-laptop, but no kdeutils.
• Very old kernels in 711.
  If your kernel is one of the orginal 7.1.1 kernels (2.4.3-12) then you will have a conflict when you try to update. This is because of the change in the packaging of the kernels.
  How to work around this
  • Change your /etc/yum.conf so that it is pointing to 7.1.1, using this file should work
    yum.conf.711
  • yum -d0 list nedit
  • yum update
  • yum clean all
  • remove the offending old kernels
    rpm -e kernel-2.4.3-12
    rpm -e kernel-smp-2.4.3-12
  • Change your /etc/yum.conf back to 7.3.1 by using this file again
    yum.conf.731
  • move on to next step, which should be 'yum update'