Dan Vietor wrote:
On Mon, 2007-10-08 at 14:08 -0500, Michael Allen wrote:
This is an interesting topic, especially because I'm preparing to
install Fedora 7 here, too.
Is there a particular preferred installation method? If so, what is it?
Fedora 7 only comes on DVD even though I've seen some references to
rehashed CD ISOs out there. You can put the ISO image on a web or FTP
server and have it install that way if you don't have a DVD drive.
My experience with upgrades have come with very mixed reviews. Up until
Core 5, an upgrade usually was inserting CDs and rebooting. But with
Core 6 and now with 7, upgrades mean you have a partially running system
when you're done. If you know how to get yourself out of RPM purgatory,
then you can get the system back to running order. But this is only for
experienced admins.
My recommendation is that Linux has now gotten to the point where
upgrades are just not feasible. There are too many packages, too many
hardware configurations and too many options to do upgrades. My horror
on going from Core 6 to 7 confirmed this. I now believe reinstall is
the only realistic option. I won't do an upgrade for other Fedora systems.
When I install a Linux system, I do a manual partition with a 5GB "/var"
or larger for web servers, a 10GB "/" for the OS and the rest of the
disk in "/home". This means you can reload without blowing everything
away. I just reformat the "/" and "/var" partitions and then all your
data remains.
I still prefer two physical volumes. I usually keep /usr/local on the
2nd (and larger) volume along with /home, /share and /opt. I can
obliterate the system physical volume and reinstall and recover /home,
and the others, in short order. FC4 caused me to go back to this. I
had done it religiously before WindowsNT turned me into an agnostic.
gerry
--
Gerry Creager -- gerry.creager@xxxxxxxx
Texas Mesonet -- AATLT, Texas A&M University
Cell: 979.229.5301 Office: 979.862.3982 FAX: 979.862.3983
Office: 1700 Research Parkway Ste 160, TAMU, College Station, TX 77843
