Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!paperboy!meissner From: meissner@osf.org (Michael Meissner) Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin Subject: Re: installing new kernels Message-ID: Date: 9 Jun 91 22:43:14 GMT References: <2534@sud509.ed.ray.com> Sender: news@OSF.ORG Organization: Open Software Foundation Lines: 35 In-reply-to: heiser@tdw206.ed.ray.com's message of 6 Jun 91 21:35:22 GMT In article <2534@sud509.ed.ray.com> heiser@tdw206.ed.ray.com (Bill Heiser - Unix Sys Admin) writes: | I've always been under the impression that a machine should be | in single user mode before installing a new kernel. As such, | I've always brought the machine down before removing /unix and | installing the new version there. | | If a machine is in a controlled lab environment where no one | else will be logged in, is there any reason not to install a | new /unix while in multi-user mode (with me being logged in | across the ethernet)? The procedure would be something like this: | | - build new kernel | - get rid of all logged in users | - cd / | - remove (or move) old /unix | - cp in new unix | - shutdown -r (or whatever to reboot) | | Is there a problem with this? All the manuals, etc, always | say to be in single user. Is there a reason for that? I do it all the time, though I usually take it a step further by doing it from a modem from home. Obviously, if the kernel is bad, I lose in the modem case, but thems the breaks. I believe the main reason the manuals says to go to standalone mode is to prevent people from logging in after you have started copying the kernel, since ps typically goes off into the wild blue yonder if the installed kernel is not the same as the kernel running. -- Michael Meissner email: meissner@osf.org phone: 617-621-8861 Open Software Foundation, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA, 02142 You are in a twisty little passage of standards, all conflicting.