92 lines
5.5 KiB
HTML
92 lines
5.5 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3O//DTD W3 HTML 2.0//EN">
|
|
<!Converted with LaTeX2HTML 95.1 (Fri Jan 20 1995) by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds >
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<TITLE>4.7 Upgrading and Installing New Software</TITLE>
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
<BODY>
|
|
<meta name="description" value="4.7 Upgrading and Installing New Software">
|
|
<meta name="keywords" value="gs">
|
|
<meta name="resource-type" value="document">
|
|
<meta name="distribution" value="global">
|
|
<P>
|
|
<BR> <HR><A NAME=tex2html4044 HREF="node180.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="next" SRC="next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html4042 HREF="node155.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="up" SRC="up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html4036 HREF="node178.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="previous" SRC="previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html4046 HREF="node1.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html4047 HREF="node250.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="index" SRC="index_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
|
|
<B> Next:</B> <A NAME=tex2html4045 HREF="node180.html">4.7.1 Upgrading the kernel</A>
|
|
<B>Up:</B> <A NAME=tex2html4043 HREF="node155.html">4 System Administration</A>
|
|
<B> Previous:</B> <A NAME=tex2html4037 HREF="node178.html">4.6.2 Using floppies as </A>
|
|
<BR> <HR> <P>
|
|
<H1><A NAME=SECTION00670000000000000000>4.7 Upgrading and Installing New Software</A></H1>
|
|
<P>
|
|
<A NAME=secsysadmupgrade> </A>
|
|
<P>
|
|
<A NAME=4739> </A>
|
|
<A NAME=4740> </A>
|
|
Another duty of the system administrator is upgrading and installing
|
|
new software.
|
|
<P>
|
|
The Linux community is very dynamic. New kernel releases come out every
|
|
few weeks, and other software is updated almost as often. Because of
|
|
this, new Linux users often feel the need to upgrade their systems
|
|
constantly to keep up the the rapidly changing pace. Not only is this
|
|
unnecessary, it's a waste of time: to keep up with all of the changes
|
|
in the Linux world, you would be spending all of your time upgrading and
|
|
none of your time using the system.
|
|
<P>
|
|
So, when should you upgrade? Some people feel that you should upgrade
|
|
when a new distribution release is made---for example, when Slackware comes
|
|
out with a new version. Many Linux users completely reinstall their
|
|
system with the newest Slackware release every time. This, also, is a waste
|
|
of time. In general, changes to Slackware releases are small. Downloading
|
|
and reinstalling 30 disks when only 10% of the software has been actually
|
|
modified is, of course, pointless.
|
|
<P>
|
|
The best way to upgrade your system is to do it by hand: only upgrade
|
|
those software packages which you know that you should upgrade. This
|
|
scares a lot of people: they want to know what to upgrade, and how, and
|
|
what will break if they don't upgrade. In order to be successful with
|
|
Linux, it's important to overcome your fears of ``doing it yourself''---
|
|
which is what Linux is all about. In fact, once you have your system
|
|
working and all software correctly configured, reinstalling with
|
|
the newest release will no doubt wipe all of your configuration and
|
|
things will be broken again, just as they were when you first installed
|
|
your system. Setting yourself back in this manner is unnecessary---all
|
|
that is needed is some know-how about upgrading your system, and how to
|
|
do it right.
|
|
<P>
|
|
You'll find that when you upgrade one component of your
|
|
system, other things should not break. For example, most of the
|
|
software on my system is left over from an ancient 0.96 MCC Interim
|
|
installation. Yet, I run the newest version of the kernel and libraries
|
|
with this software with no problem. For the most part, senselessly
|
|
upgrading to ``keep up with the trend'' is not important at all. This
|
|
isn't MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows. There is no important reason to
|
|
run the newest version of all of the software. If you find that you
|
|
would like or need features in a new version, then upgrade. If not,
|
|
then don't. In other words, only upgrade what you have to, and when
|
|
you have to. Don't just upgrade for the sake of upgrading. That will waste
|
|
a lot of time and effort trying to keep up.
|
|
<P>
|
|
The most important software to upgrade on your system is the kernel,
|
|
the libraries, and the <tt>gcc</tt> compiler. These are the three
|
|
essential parts of your system, and in some cases they all depend on
|
|
each other for everything to work successfully. Most of the other
|
|
software on your system does not need to be upgraded periodically.
|
|
<P>
|
|
<BR> <HR>
|
|
<UL>
|
|
<LI> <A NAME=tex2html4048 HREF="node180.html#SECTION00671000000000000000">4.7.1 Upgrading the kernel</A>
|
|
<LI> <A NAME=tex2html4049 HREF="node181.html#SECTION00672000000000000000">4.7.2 Upgrading the libraries</A>
|
|
<LI> <A NAME=tex2html4050 HREF="node182.html#SECTION00673000000000000000">4.7.3 Upgrading gcc</A>
|
|
<LI> <A NAME=tex2html4051 HREF="node183.html#SECTION00674000000000000000">4.7.4 Upgrading other software</A>
|
|
</UL>
|
|
<BR> <HR><A NAME=tex2html4044 HREF="node180.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="next" SRC="next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html4042 HREF="node155.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="up" SRC="up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html4036 HREF="node178.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="previous" SRC="previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html4046 HREF="node1.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html4047 HREF="node250.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="index" SRC="index_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
|
|
<B> Next:</B> <A NAME=tex2html4045 HREF="node180.html">4.7.1 Upgrading the kernel</A>
|
|
<B>Up:</B> <A NAME=tex2html4043 HREF="node155.html">4 System Administration</A>
|
|
<B> Previous:</B> <A NAME=tex2html4037 HREF="node178.html">4.6.2 Using floppies as </A>
|
|
<BR> <HR> <P>
|
|
<BR> <HR>
|
|
<P><ADDRESS>
|
|
<I>Matt Welsh <BR>
|
|
mdw@sunsite.unc.edu</I>
|
|
</ADDRESS>
|
|
</BODY>
|