Re: How do I keep testing current-amd64 witout so much trouble?

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb%cs.columbia.edu@localhost>]

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:09:17 -0800 (PST)
Paul Goyette <paul%whooppee.com@localhost> wrote:

> 
> On Tue, 23 Dec 2008, Hisashi T Fujinaka wrote:
> 
> >> True.  But in the original request, he was reverting to 5.99.4
> >> backup copy, so both the "stable" 5.99.4 and "test" 5.99.5 modules
> >> would be able to peacefully coexist.
> >
> > That means I just also keep the 5.99.4 kernel, and not the 5.99.5
> > kernel that had booted previously.
> >
> > It also assumes that userland hasn't changed so much that the old
> > kernel still works, which isn't the case all the time. For that
> > reason, I reinstall most everything from the 5.99.4 kernel.
> 
> :)
> 
> It's also why I first test anything on a machine that has no other 
> purpose other than testing.  :)  Yeah, it's a pain if things get so 
> messed up that you have to reinstall, but at least the rest of my 
> "production" work doesn't suffer.
> 
> Oh, one more thing I do - whenever I adopt a "stable" release, I burn
> a CD with the iso images (including source sets).  If I ever have to 
> re-install, it's fairly trivial.
> 
> And of course, I have nightly backups of all machines, including the 
> sacriical lamb, on off-line storage (OK, so I'm stuck in the 80s and 
> still do my backups to tape!).
> 
What I do on machines I need -- and I sometimes have to run -current
because my hardware is new -- is download and build -current, then
monitor traffic for a few days to see if that day's build appears
basically functional. "The leading edge is the bleeding edge"...


                --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb