Upgrading from 11.0 to 11.2

Hi all,

I have this 11.0 64bit workstation here. It has been running flawlessly for the longest time. It is setup really nicely for this particular job.

Anyways, I would to upgrade it to 11.2 64bit without starting from scratch. What would be the best, simplest way to do this?

Thanks

Heeter

Honestly, forget it.
Backup and re-install. 11.2 uses ext4 as well so it’s even more complicated, although you can use ext3, but if you want to upgrade don’t do half a job.

It might sound mammoth, but I guarantee it will be quicker in the long run !

Thanks Caf,

Kinda figured, not worth doing on this workstation, it is running too smoothly.

Heeter

But you know that support will end soon?!

When?

Well, in the case of this particular workstation, this is the first time I have updated it since 11.0 first came out. It hasn’t seen 1 update since it was configured so long ago.

It normally runs everyday without a hiccup.

Heeter

What!
Dude there have been gazillions of MB of updates.

What do you get from

zypper lr -d

11.0 life time
SUSE Linux Lifetime - openSUSE

June 30th 2010

I have read that ext3 will be converted to ext4 in the upgrade.
I have the system updated from 10.3->11.0->11.1->11.2.
I see when running mount command i am at ext3 still :frowning:

The installer does not magically change format. You can not reformat a partition without destroying the information on it. The only way to change format is to backup the data reformat then restore. The installer will default to ext4 on a new install.

Upgrading to 11.2 is not recommended since there are major changes. Upgrading leaves configuration files from the previous install which may not be entirely correct for the new.

https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Howto#Converting_an_ext3_filesystem_to_ext4

I have read this and other guides.
But i am afraid than since i have no separate partition for the os.
all are in one, even /home, it is a no-go such a convertion

My 2 cents worth, I also would do a fresh install, in your case even more so.

If I had ext3 I would not convert it to ext4, I would instead install with ext4, If your situation better suits having a separate /home, and it appears to, doing this for a new install also is simple, also consider all of the config files that may have conflicts from previous upgrades.

I would however test with a liveCD to check hardware detection etc first.

Of course, you have anything that you may want to keep saved.

Copy your entire /home to an external drive, perform a clean install, creating separate partitions for / and /home. Take care that the /home partition should be larger than the backup /home folder on the external disk. After install, restore the contents of the backup /home folder on the external disk to the /home partition. You may have to reset some permissions, but this would give you a working 11.2 with your /home kept.
Mind: if you have webfolders in /srv, or mysql databases backup those first. Restore after install

Yes, this is good alternative and used before for clean installation with
a backed-up /home