Yo!

I have been pondering recently the right way to handle linux updating....

1. Attitude 1: Dont upgrade if it works...things which are not broken cannot be fixed.

2. Attitude 2. If there is a new upgrade install it. It never works as well that it couldn't run a little better after all.

Well...I have a python problem in Redhat 7.3. It complains something after fresh installation about python...never have time to read it really well until it closes... :-) Furthermore is this release full of bugs. Allmost all Linux programs crashes from time to time. My windows 2000 installation is 5 times more stable than linux installation without any updates. I have used many releases of Linux ( 7.2 - 7.3. and 8.0 which was total shit BTW ) and all of them are full of horrible bugs. My windows 2000 runs like a charm compared to linux.

Something is wrong...I know. :-)

What I should do now?

1. I start to download rpm updates about i386 folder...all of them. But should I upgrade only those rpm's which are related to python? What if I use " rpm -U python*" Then it starts to complain about dependies...that I do not have that and that file. This is often really time consuming task to play with these dependies...is this normal? I mean with windows 2000 all you need to do is just press the button and service pack installs without any stupid questions...I can install Sp 3 5 times compared to fight with rpm's which sometimes may spent my time even many hours.

2. What if I decide to download all the possible upgrades from redhat ftp. I did this once and one of the programs decided not to run anymore. So it was a bad idea. Should I be more carefull and upgrade only the python or sambas which clearly do not seem to work properly?

Furthermore I would like to hear your opininion of the redhat update rpm's? Are they shit? Or usefull files? At least I have had lots of trouble with rpm udates. Its a painfull system. Should I allways try use sources and compile them if I want to be really succesfull with updating. Using sources makes sense because gnu rebuild tries to configure the files precicely for your computer...but compiling all the little files one by one is a painfull and time consuming process...I have better things to do. BUT if I get something better like rocksolid operating system with these compiled filed then I am ready to go for it...but I hate the work. No I cannot use wildcards because if Ido this some important warnings will ignored...I have to watch the whole translation in order to sure that all is O.K. Must be carefull...haha.

Rebuild information also says that my GNU compiler in redhat 7.3 is shit. Also the gnu people admits this...please upgrade. Hey this is not a little thing to ask!!!! If I go to gnu pages I will find hundreds of files which take many days to download despite I have grate download speed at work. Many gigabytes...oh my god. And I cannot download them as a one single file only but as little stupid folders which are really time consuming to download bit by bit. If they were as two or three iso's with md5 checksum it would not be so owfull task as it now is. Shit...this gnu take days to download...days to install because I have not ever seen more complex installation manual than this gnu has...I am becoming grazy.

Is there any sense in this? Am I stupid? Is this normal? What I am doing wrong? I mean...with the time I have spent with linux I could have installed windows 2000 with plenty of programs about 20 times and I have just started to play with Linux...?!?!?

BTW I have no net at home...cannot use automatic update service.

-Tommi

if you're talking about updating, in general, there is no more simple, elegant, and stable way than Debian's upgrade system- it is amazing.

but with regard to RH - not having net access at home, it might just be simpler to backup your personal data and just d/l the new version and install from scratch - sure its more information, but simpler than doing it piece by piece, and all the newest pkgs are included...?

if you like m$2k more, then use that instead.

gentoo.org

well, obviously if he has no internet gentoo is not going to be a good idea.

Why don't you have internet??? I feel for you man....about a year and a half ago our phone was cut off for 8 months. Luckily my girlfriend had cable and i had the keys to her house so was practically living there...but at home it sucked, decided to try linux to cure my bordem at home but since didn't have any net gave up. In december is when i decided to try again.

What I would recommend for you would be to get slackware 9. Out of the box it pretty much has everything and with slack you will never have a rpm problem because there are no rpms. Pop that sucker in and you will have the latest kde, gnome, gcc, etc. Plenty to get started, there are loads of docs to help you. I actually think slackware is easier than a rpm based distro. Installing stuff from source is better IMO. Also, using a older distro is going to be harder since all the newest programs are based on newer stuff, so if you install a new distro you will have all the lastest libraries and stuff.

good luck

O.K....I see.

Maybe I should shift to redhat 9. *sigh* :-)

However I got that python complaining away when I upgraded my comp with updates which were compiled. These compiled updates installed really smoothly compared to ready made rpm's....so there is sense to use sources and compile them instead of using rpm...right?

But I am going to stay on this 7.3....I think there are more programs made for this instead of brand new 9.0.

I will not turn to windows anymore...unix IS better than windows that but I have little newbie problems, thats all. :-)

-Tommi

The internet is your friend if you use Linux. On the other hand the internet is your worst enemy if you use MS Windows, due to all the viruses that attack vulnerabilities in the MS Windows platform.

try apt.freshrpms.net

It's debians package manager for Red Hat. Best way to update I've seen.

Now downloading the redhat 9.0!!!

Maybe I have too new computer for rh 7...its history.

:-) :-) :-)

-Tommi