Installing all security updates - this easy??

[Rickead2000]

Hi,

Is it really as easy as typing "yum update" to install all recent security updates?

Is this a good idea? Or could the updated packages cause the system to fail boot up?

I am considering putting this command as a cron job once a week, but I need to be sure that its not going to crash the system one day with a broken package somewhere!

[Rickead2000]

Ok, I just tried this on a new "minimal" fedora installation and after downloading 100meg of packages, it crashed installing package 98/200 and has totally f****d up the system!!

I won't be running that again!!

[Parcival]

Hmm, in general installing (security) updates through your package manager is painless. However, sometimes it can screw up your system if you are doing updates belonging to a newer release of your distro than the one you have installed, for example when you are still running an older Fedora core on your live server and apply all the latest patches.

BTW, SuSE releases "security patches only" for their older releases even after the newer ones are already on the market. This allows sysadmins to get all the latest security updates without the need to upgrade to the latest SuSE release first.

[matt2kjones]

If you want to stay with fedora then you do have to risk breaking your system to keep it up to date when a new version of the o/s comes out because the update lifetime of an old release after a new version is out is something small like 6 months.

it is possible to upgrade from one version of fedora core to another with yum, but it probably wouldn't go flawless.

I wouldn't have thought that yum would cause any major problems updating packages.... if they are designed for the version of fedora your running.

Last release i used from redhat though was redhat 9

[Rickead2000]

Thanks for the info. I think I'll just update the individual packages myself when there is need!

Incidentally, as you know, I ran yum --update yesterday. I have just run it again today expecting to see few updates, there are now 250 packages that need updating - many of which I updated yesterday (the kernel, logwatch, xorg libs etc...). Do packages really get updated every day? Or is it redownloading the same versions??

[rocketpcguy]

what sort of computer/internet do you have that downloaded 200 packages and installed 98 of them all in 5 minutes (first post - second post)? :)

anyway, mixing repositories usually cause the problems you mentioned. whats your yum sources?

and when it comes stopping in between downloads, apt-get is more reliable

[Rickead2000]

what sort of computer/internet do you have that downloaded 200 packages and installed 98 of them all in 5 minutes (first post - second post)? :)


I had already started downloading before I posted, it just seemed to be doing it all too easily for what I expected - hence the post!


anyway, mixing repositories usually cause the problems you mentioned. whats your yum sources?

Not sure - which ever ones are set as default when FC4 installed itself. So would have guessed they are the "right" ones.


and when it comes stopping in between downloads, apt-get is more reliable
I always preferred apt-get but I have been told so many times that yum is now replacing it and so I should switch!

[cybertron]

Hmm, no YUM is not replacing apt-get. It's just an alternative that Fedora/Red Hat uses to try to duplicate apt-get with RPMs. There are actually a number of them available because each RPM distro basically has their own now.

[banzaikai]

You didn't state which Fedora you have. It really doesn't matter, unless you're using repos for FC3 on an FC4 box.

However, the answer is yes, it is as easy as "yum update". The problems I've run into with both FC3 and 4 have been with unresolved dependencies and just plain too much to download (this is because RH/FC will download the packages in one swoop, then unpack and install, and then cleanup - which takes some time and space).

One option is to try "yum upgrade", which handles things a bit differently. If this doesn't help, then you'll need to see if you have the room in your /var/cache/yum directory, usually found in the root (/) partition. If you have the space (about 5GB for the first batch of updates, only ~100MB for the rest), then try:

yum install yumex

Yumex (Yum Extender) is a GUI-based frontend for Yum. For those who are deadset against anything GUI, let me assure you of the need for this utility. When launched, Yumex will update the repos, check the mirrors, and display the "Package Sacks" as "Updates", "Install", "Remove", or "Groups". From here, you just check the boxes of the packages you want, and off it goes.

Now, if you're short on disk space or having trouble with a package installing, then you can select the packages in batches. One problem I've had wasn't with FC/Yum/Apt, but with a given package (in my case, Audacity). When this package was installed, it "locked" itself to the installed version of wxGTK. When it was time to update the wxGTK, it would give an error that "Package wxGTK is needed by Application Audacity". The fix was to remove audacity, update, then re-install audacity.

I'm betting that you're getting the problems from sheer amount of downloading. I know this because I've also installed apt/Synaptic on one of my FC3/4 boxes, and it did the same thing. I then went back and updated using smaller groups, and everything worked. Once all the updates from the initial install were done, the incremental updates are a piece of cake. This is because there have been many updates to the initial FC packages, so much so that the downloaded packages consume almost as much space as the original installation. If you want to use apt, then just:

yum install apt
yum install synaptic

Yes, I've used both with Fedora (and RH9). You do have to be careful with the repo lists (especially any "livna"). I only have the default and the ayo.freshrpms set. Works just fine for me...

banzai "audacious" kai