Ok,

If you have seen any of my previous posts you know that I use MCNL as my core system for a few reasons. 1) its FAST and streamlined 2) the REMASTERING allows me to create an "Auto Restore CD" for recovery from catestrphic failures 3) I think its a great idea.

I also know a lot of folks disagree with me.
But thats ok, I plod on.

As a plodder, I am trying to write some documentation for a 'class' that I will be teaching.

One thing i would LOVE to include, is a step by step process for updating MCNL from one version to the next.

Now a lot of folks may not feel that the differences between C and D enough to worry about, I think if MCNL is going to be a living distro their will DEFINATELY be a reason for EVERYONE to upgrade in the future.

That being said I have tried MANY, MANY different options of updating my MCNL Cherborg (sp?) to Delft.

I have downloaded the PP DVD, and tried to use that as a resource, that doesnt work, I've tried using DELFT CD as a resource , that doesnt work (but THAT i think i understand). I've tried EASY-URPMI and that LOOKED like it might be working, but i filled up my partition before it completed.

I would LOVE to see anyone who has successfully done an update, without losing your personal user data and installed applications. And if they have the time/patience a step by step.

I REALLY do beloeve in this distro and think that as a small portable solution it has MANY MANY uses and is IDEAL for the class I'm going to teach.

I just KNOW that the upgrade question will arise (as it should) and I'd like to nail that down.

I absolutely have no problems testing,trying and re trying anyones ideas who has a solid idea of what might work.

so please if you have done it, or want to do it, or will do it, please let me know.

thanks

J

Do you mean updating/upgrading the Live system? Running live?

i mean , i have a copy of cherborg installed on a 2gb usb ket and its setup perfectly the way i need it, favorites, mail accounts newgroups etc.

now comes delft.

can i 'easily' update my usb key w/o losing everything i have setup?

ive tried easy urpmi as well as a 1/2 a dozen other suggestions and they all havent worked.

mdv's offical policy is that the 2gb keys THEY sell cant be updated, not enough room.


since mcnl is so streamlined i figure that shouldnt be an issue, but nothing ive treied has worked.

i'm just looking for someone who has beensuccessful, to share their ideas.

The Live system is static, stored in one big compressed file. While upgrading a normal installation with urpmi --auto-select is possible, it is not on a live system. Urpmi installs rpm's, a live system is an already installed system.

I don't know a way to 'upgrade' the whole system, which is based on Cherbourg =MDV 2007.0

Delft has a complete new codebase, it is MDV 2007.1. And the choice of apps is different.
Delft, though, introduces a new feature, to save all changes and make them persistent in a seperate loop disk.

If you have a highly customized live version on USB running fine, I would say, just keep it.

And use Delft as a live cd to discover the new features. Of course it is easy to import your personal bookmarks and stuff.

well as the author of the system i'll take your word for it.

now on to MY own experiments!

thanks for everything this really is an awesoome release

I'm going to use it also for the same reasons that you mention.
I installed it to disk and upgraded to 2007.1 via urpmi.

But the mklive script didn't work anymore.
Is it possible to fetch the script from the new version and make it work on the upgraded install?

You are talking about a hard disk installation? In non-live mode?
When you made a complete upgrade to MDV 2007.1, yes, the scripts and some config files have vanished, I guess.

You could try to copy them over from Delft to your upgraded system on your hard disk.

/usr/sbin/mklivecd
/usr/sbin/hwdetect

The whole dir: /usr/share/mklivecd

And:
/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
/etc/rc.d/init.d/halt
/usr/lib/sylinux/isolinux-graphic.bin

It is also possible that you are missing some rpm's, like squashfs-tools etc.
I am not sure what more got wiped.

--chris

SMILER, mind giving me a step by step of HOW you were able to do the upgrade?

as i stated, I've tried that before and it failed miserably.

so i must be doing something wrong.

thanks

j

would it be a good idea to make a rpm of these mklivecd fixes.

To keep your personal settings you should use a separate partition for your home dir. I don't know how it can be done on a USB key but it can be done AFAIK. Though your root partition will be wiped if you install\upgrade from a live cd. So your personal settings will be saved your package selection will not with this method.
Mandriva now sells 4G USB keys and IMHO they can be upgraded.

I am a bit confused by this thread.

A 'live system', on a cd or usb keys, is something complete different than an 'to HD installed' system.

Keeping settings or updating or upgrading differs very much - it depends on what kind of setup you use.

mindwave: talks about a 'live' system
smiler: has an 'hd installed' system

dexter: has it about a seperate /home - which only makes sense on an hd installed system.

Mandriva Flash is something different than MCNLive and works different. It is a hardware and software bundled product with one specific set up.

Keeping personal settings is different from keeping persistent system wide settings.

Upgrading from one edition to the next is again a different thing than keeping settings on a 'live cd'

MCNLive Cherbourg and VirtualCity and Delft have different approaches of keeping settings.

Should I go on?

--chris

Yes, it is.

Unfortunately the mklivecd project with the cvs system is inactive since a long time, the developers stopped working with Mandriva.
I don't have the time and not the motivation to maintain a cvs or svn - which would be the only clean way.

Also, the rpm would not help much, because a MDV system meanwhile needs more fixes to basically work with mklivecd.

That's the reason I plan to give up on the mklivecd script and move to draklive, in the near future.

--chris

see now the OFFICAL word from MDV is that the 4GB key can NOT be upgraded "at this time" supposedly they will make an annouoncement when it can

I THINK that we are all talkimg about a very similar thing, just taking different approcahes to it.

I think MCNL is a great system and is a great place to start a HD based install its fast stripped down and allows you to "remaster it" after every change making it easy to do a COMPLETE reinstall, apps,setting, everything, a SNAP.

BUT it seems, so far, that each version is a distro unto itself and ca not be upgraded. Which is ok, because the OFFICAL version that you pay $80 fordoesnt have an upgrade path either!

If I could have returned my flash just because i found MCNL, I wold have and sent YOU the $80.

I've learned more from MCNL and its varients in 6 months, than i ever learned from MDV.

I THINK what the general consensus is, is that if you installed Cherborg to your HD and got yourself all nice and comfy, there isnt anyway to install that HD version to DELFT, and maintain everything.

but if that changes....

now tell us more about draklive.......

draklive is just the script that builds a live system on Mandriva :-)
It is used to build MDV One and the MDV Flash.

It builds a far better live cd than our old mklivecd scripts. But it is not easy to use, and it is not (yet) very flexible.

Why not give it a try with linux-live scripts....very fast and with lots of features.
Against linux-live scripts in the fact that needs a kernel patch...
Too bad mklivecd as stopped development...

Cheers...