factory repositories question

English Install/Boot/Login
1

If I add a factory repository, for example for installing mail-notification I have to add the Gnome-apps repository at:
Index of /repositories/GNOME:/Apps/openSUSE_Factory+GNOME_Factory

when I’ll upgrade to 11.4 GM when its released, what happens with this repository? will I have to manually replace it with the release repository?

2

My understanding is YES, you will need to change from Factory to 11.4.

I confess even though I install most the milestone releases of a new openSUSE version, **I prefer to do a clean install **of the 11.x GM version. That way I can be assured that no immature app, nor immature config file (nor improperly setup config file) from a milestone release is not inadvertently kept for the GM install.

3

Thanks.
I installed 11.4 just for experiencing with it, but I use 11.3 for work. when 11.4 is out I can’t affored a clean install, I must have a way to upgrade, what happens with all my repositories then? I guess I will have to manually change them also. BTW , when 11.3 was released I didn’t upgrade 11.2 but installed a clean OS and then took about two days to install all my apps and configuration, I’m planing to upgrade 11.3 to 11.4 and hope it will work…

4

Note a backup is always recommended, whether one is upgrading or not upgrading.

If one is not custom compiling, then 2 days is a rather excessive time (from my view) for changing from one openSUSE version to another. I typically have it done in 2 to 3 hours (assuming I have backups in place first). That includes re-installing virtual box (pointing to any existing virtual box image files which I do not recreate), all my multimedia apps, email, etc …

If one is custom compiling, then there is a possibility that compiled apps will need recompiling again anyway, so going the ‘update’ as opposed to the ‘clean install’ route won’t save any time with respect to custom compilations (I note you did not state that, I’m simply noting it).

5

No, but You will want to manually replace “factory” with “11.4” to stay on there on that release if you wish: The repo files. Nothing more.

@oldcpu, there will be a rolling release of opensuse after 11.4, which would be unfeasable if you where right. State of the art package management doesn’t have config left overs.

6

I have my fingers cross wrt this, but I confess I am a bit cynical, and I anticipate/predict some ‘teething pains’ that may mean rolling releases could initially be a bit rough. I do hope to be proven a cynic and wrong. … and the prediction is from the same crystal ball that I all but lost in the last stock market crash :slight_smile:

But I think its good to see and it is movement in the right direction.

7

If you change your repos to 11.4 now for example:-

Index of /factory-snapshot/repo/non-oss/suse

they will automatically be re-directed to factory until the official 11.4 repos are set up

8

I’m going to test upgrading from 11.3 to 11.4 as soon as it’s released. But not before.

In the past I’ve experimented with double install methods, i.e. upgrading one install, performing a clean install over the other. My private policy is to wait for a while until all repos are there and filled. A couple of remarks:

  • No upgrade was ever possible without uninstall of at least a dozen of packages, which had to be reinstalled.
  • No upgrade ever without having to change some config (admitted, this is on my server, which runs quite a lot of services).
  • On most occasions quite some differnce in the performance area, where the clean install always has been faster booting, performing.
  • Subjective, but true for me: overall “feel” is better on a clean install.
  • Every single clean install showed me huge improvements in setting up my server’s services, confronting me with those during the process of rebuilding the server’s install.
  • Timewise, a clean install in my case is much faster.
  • Every upgrade left a lot of orphaned packages, sometimes resulting in conflicts when installing new software.

My 2 cents

9

Would agree - a clean install is always best.