Is there a rollback mechanism in OpenSuse

English Install/Boot/Login
1

The reason I ask is I am faced with either a reinstall or a rollback. I don’t remember seeing anything about rollback capability. I know that as of noon yesterday it ran fine but went south after a VM failed. Reinstalling is ugly as you get forced to lose all the libraries and files. So I have three questions

  1. Can I roll back the OS? And if not is it possible - I may have missed making restore points - I looked but could find how.

  2. If I reinstall and use the same username will it give me the same home dir?

  3. When the reinstall runs will it completely remake the file system. If I have to overwrite system directories that is bad but I would at least like to preserve my data and downloads

2

On 2014-01-28 00:36, exponent wrote:
>
> The reason I ask is I am faced with either a reinstall or a rollback. I
> don’t remember seeing anything about rollback capability. I know that as
> of noon yesterday it ran fine but went south after a VM failed.
> Reinstalling is ugly as you get forced to lose all the libraries and
> files. So I have three questions

You may try to solve the problem instead :slight_smile:

> 1) Can I roll back the OS? And if not is it possible - I may have missed
> making restore points - I looked but could find how.

Roll back is possible if you installed using btrfs filesystem. It is not
that trivial, though.

> 2) If I reinstall and use the same username will it give me the same
> home dir?

Yes.

However, if you have several users, you have to be careful to create
them in the same order, so that they get the same UID. Or do it manually.

> 3) When the reinstall runs will it completely remake the file system. If
> I have to overwrite system directories that is bad but I would at least
> like to preserve my data and downloads

If you installed using a separate home partition, as recommended, you
can keep all your personal files safe.

If not, better make a backup.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

3

You’re not talking about windows ?

4

I have a separate home partition but whe20 attempt to upgrade I get a message I am almost out of disk space but it doesn’t say where. So I deleted 20 GB on my home partition and told it not to install libreoffice and still I get the message when the install runs. If I don’t select update will it blow away my home partition?

5

I don’t know if Linux is always this way but it seems as soon as it gets hard that’s it. I get hung out to dry and calling them with credit card in hand was useless because they wont accept Canadian credit cards> Not much I can do at this point I am in it and have to proceed. I started this yesterday at about 3:00PM and other than sleep have been at it round the clock. Should I just reinstall and not upgrade. The upgrade is not too smart as it does not tell you where the space is needed so I am tempted to say overrite instllation but keep my home dir . I justr donrt know what options to select to do that.

6

Why are you posting here ?

Go and run windows !

I’ve been using openSUSE for a couple of years - I never did regret it !

7

On Tue 28 Jan 2014 12:36:02 AM CST, exponent wrote:

I don’t know if Linux is always this way but it seems as soon as it gets
hard that’s it. I get hung out to dry and calling them with credit card
in hand was useless because they wont accept Canadian credit cards> Not
much I can do at this point I am in it and have to proceed. I started
this yesterday at about 3:00PM and other than sleep have been at it
round the clock. Should I just reinstall and not upgrade. The upgrade is
not too smart as it does not tell you where the space is needed so I am
tempted to say overrite instllation but keep my home dir . I justr donrt
know what options to select to do that.

Hi
In YaST partitioner you can use the expert mode and tell it what to do,
as in not format this or that. I use it all the time for my data
partition as I leave /home alone 2…lol then using my /data partition
I just create softlinks to the various common files and directories eg
bin Pictures, .bashrc etc…

You need to slow down and stop rushing, make notes on what you are
doing, stop and think about what the system may do at the next step.

If your the only user on the machine then if you don’t format /home all
will be fine (well until you upgrade the system to get to the latest
apps etc).

So go and investigate the partitioner and see what it may/may not do,
this is probably then most important part of the install to understand.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86_64) GNOME 3.10.2 Kernel 3.11.6-4-desktop
If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

8

On 2014-01-28 01:36, exponent wrote:
>
> I don’t know if Linux is always this way but it seems as soon as it gets
> hard that’s it. I get hung out to dry and calling them with credit card
> in hand was useless because they wont accept Canadian credit cards>

There is no paid support: your credit card, no matter what country it is
from, is useless.

There are only volunteers, and we work slowly, in our free time, and we
also go to sleep now and then.

So please calm down and take things slowly. Take a sleep, and come back
tomorrow, explaining things carefully.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

9

You mention a VM.
Are you running openSUSE in a Guest or is it the Host?

If you are getting out of space errors, you need to address that first

  • Whether in Guest or Host, easiest way to display disk usage (used and free space) is to just use the File Manager of the Desktop you have installed.

  • Know there is a commonly experienced issue where the trash bin reports available space incorrectly. Search the Applications forum for trash bin posts related to the Desktop you’re using to address. Usually it involves locating the metadata file that tracks the usage of the trash bin and deleting it… As a metadata file, it would be re-created but with the correct and accurate information.

  • If you’re really running out of real disk space, then you may have planned your initial install incorrectly. Determine where you need additional space and use Partitioner to change if it’s not the root ( / ) partition or something like gparted live to modify any partition on the disk (It’s easy to use with a GUI but because its operations are low level the changes are risky. Backup or copy anything valuable)

  • Especially if this is a Guest VM, I often just trash it and launch a new instance, that’s why once I have finished a base install of anything, I immediately archive a copy so I can create new Guest VMs without going through the whole install process again.

HTH,
TSU

10

In other threads he said that the problem started when xen failed. But at his level of understanding I’m not sure why he was playing with xen in the fist place.

He has started about 5 or 6 threads on this.

11

On 2014-01-28 17:46, tsu2 wrote:
> You mention a VM.
> Are you running openSUSE in a Guest or is it the Host?

He mentioned XEN, here or on another thread. He has started so many that
it is very difficult to track the real or main issues.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

12

Because I made the mistake of going down this road and trying to get help. Geez take a valium and relax. If this is what awaits Linuix users then good luck. I cant say after this experience that I would recommend it as reliable to anyone. Multiple points of failure and a hostile user forum does not equal a good experience. It is always learn about his and learn about that which I dont mind but the insults are pretty belittling, ****** you dont need to be a mechanic to drive a car.

Over and out. Have your little (actually tiny is more appropriate) forum for you and your friends and cry about big bad MS.

Had enough,.

13

The people here do support for fun, not money.

And so far, they have offered some useful advice.

Just because you drive a car doesn’t make you a good driver FYI.

If this is your first visit to using Linux, I suggest you take a moment to familiarise yourself with it’s basic principle, especially the file system. I’m not sure jumping in to VM’s on your first attempt is a good idea. Could be like learning to drive at nascar.
When you install software (eg; libre office) it takes up space in the root file system
VM’s often use the /home partition (but it may depend on what you were using)

Typically for Eg; My root is only 30GB
But /home is 100GB

One I learned when I moved to Linux years ago, it’s a steep learning curve.
The folk here is very experienced
But they don’t respond well to your somewhat arrogant approach. Just saying it how it is.

14

On Wed, 29 Jan 2014 03:16:01 +0000, exponent wrote:

> Because I made the mistake of going down this road and trying to get
> help.
> Geez take a valium and relax. If this is what awaits Linuix users then
> good luck. I cant say after this experience that I would recommend it as
> reliable to anyone. Multiple points of failure and a hostile user forum
> does not equal a good experience.

I’m sorry, I’m not seeing how the forum members have been particularly
hostile to you. At least in this thread, most of those here are trying
to help you, but you’re carrying on about “won’t accept my credit card
for support,” clearly demonstrating that you think the people helping
here get paid to do so.

I know what it’s like to be frustrated and exhausted from long days
trying to get something to work - I worked in IT for 15 years, and I
still occasionally have a long night when I’m looking at something on my
own systems at home.

It’s usually helpful to ask questions rather than rant about the problems
you’re having.

The issues you ran into aren’t difficult to sort out, but if you don’t
come from a Linux (or UNIX-like system) background, there is a learning
curve. Stick with it, and you’ll learn how to do this - it’s not a very
difficult curve, but it is one that you have to take the time to learn.

Just like learning to drive a stick if you’ve only ever driven an
automatic. There’s a lot of flexibility in Linux - more than other
operating systems commonly used - but you have to learn how to use the
clutch (as it were), or you’re just going to grind gears.

Get some sleep, relax, and start over fresh with questions and you’ll get
help. The volunteers helping here help because that’s what they like to
do - nobody sets out to be antagonistic, but if you come across as
antagonistic, you may feel that you’re getting it in return. :slight_smile:

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

15

Although it’s a better experience when the car works and the driver doesn’t need to be under the hood (aka “bonnet” in English). :wink: