[mythtv-users] linux updates suck

[Brian Wood]

Tom Dexter wrote:
> On 9/8/07, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>> Updating a working system is always potential trouble, especially if you
>> are updating the kernel. Unfortunately you may have been caught by
>> kernel changes that effected things that Myth depends on.
>>
>> You need to always be prepared, by backing up all data, including your
>> database, to completely re-install the system.
> <snip>
> 
> ...and I'd add that you should of course have those even if you're not updating.

Very very true.

> 
> I tend to think that for many (or maybe most) treating your myth box
> like an appliance and doing nothing probably is a good idea.  At the
> same time I certainly understand someone wanting their system to stay
> up to date, especially compared to ending up stuck at MythTV 0.19 or
> the like.  It's not like that's without it's consequences either.

Myth 0.19 did everything I needed or wanted it to do. I only upgraded
because of the SD situation.

But of course I was aware that eventually *something* would happen that
required me to update or rebuild the system, hardware failure if nothing
else, and it wouldn't make sense to re-install an older version.

> 
> I can see I'm in the minority here, but I update my Gentoo frontend
> and backend all the time.  I know that I _could_ take the "if it ain't
> broke don't fix it" approach, but I just don't like letting my systems
> get woefully out of date.  Eventually something comes up (as it did
> for many with SD) that forces you to upgrade, and it can mean
> rebuilding the system.  With Gentoo there really aren't any major
> version changes as such...you can install once and pretty much update
> indefinitely.  That's one thing I've always liked about it.  Once you
> let it way way behind however, updating can be much more difficult
> than rebuilding.  I think I've gone up three kernel versions (not just
> patches) since April.

Gentoo's approach to "upgrading" is vastly different from most distros,
and in a lot of cases is "better" in some ways. Yu can still get into
trouble though - Updating the KDE libraries rendered my perfectly stock
Gentoo system unusable for example.


Nothing is perfect, not even Myth :-)

beww