[PLUG] Red Hat 7.2 Update Procedure Questions

Kyle Accardi sandbox at pacifier.com
Sat Mar 23 04:57:46 UTC 2002


Robert wrote:

> I received 2 updates with the website method, then a failure on the 3rd 
> update and it stopped downloading.
> 
> I then used both commands as you wrote, and they started to work, connected 
> to Red Hat just fine...then they failed with error 404.  
> 
> Next I scheduled a bunch of updates through the Red Hat website. Now I have 
> had this computer online for 7 1/2 hours waiting and trying to do the web 
> scheduled updates. I am getting tired of this.
> 
> I am quickly losing respect for Red Hat. This is a lousy way to treat a 
> paying customer.  Is this the norm for them or a fluke?


I've never used up2date myself, preferring a good old-fashioned ftp mirror 
like ftp://ftp.orst.edu/.1/ftp.redhat.com/linux/updates/7.2/en/os/i386
(which is many times faster than RH's own servers)

I agree that RH's update info/procedures suck.  For example, say you care 
about version 7.0 of their distribution.  The Errata page on their web site 
stops in November of last year.  Yet, if you look at Errata page for 7.2, 
you will find relevelnt packages for 7.0 that you wouldn't have know about 
otherwise.

At least their ftp server (and mirrors) carry the updates for each release. 
  So, a good, close, fast mirror is your friend.  Log in and poke around to 
get a feel for what's available.

Personally, I maintain my own mirror for 7.0 & 7.2 updates because that's 
what I'm running.  If you want to get your hands a little dirty, first 
update your *rpm* packages themselves.  The PLUG archives contain a thread 
about how the rpm package manager itself is broken in 7.2.  Once that's 
fixed, you can do the following,

rpm -Fvh 
ftp://ftp.orst.edu/.1/ftp.redhat.com/linux/updates/7.2/en/os/i386/zlib*

(all on one line).  This will download, then freshen zlib if you have an 
older version.  You can substitute anything for zlib* (a*, XFree*, z*).

This still doesn't lead to nirvana.  When you hit a package, like apache*, 
it will fail because the new apache has dependencies that don't start with 
"a*".  It will tell you what you need.  In those few cases, download all 
the required rpms in a fresh dir so you have them locally.  Then use rpm to 
Freshen or Update those files to make apache happy.

Good luck,
Kyle Accardi





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