On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 20:34:02 -0400, Kurt Wall wrote: <snip>
Thanks for responding Kurt. > As the Llama wrote, you'd be hard-pressed to toast a running system just > by upgrading GCC - the default installation procedure installs the new > one into /usr/local, which keeps it from becoming the "system" compiler > and keeps the potential for self-inflicted damages to a minimum. So, > yes, installing GCC really is that easy; no, you won't have to recompile > your libraries or applications. This is one area in which the received > or conventional wisdom is incorrect. However, it wasn't always that way, > and it is the memories of The Way It Used To Be (tm) that formed > conventional wisdom. You will see that I have responded to the Llama on most of this. If you have any comments on what I wrote there, I will be glad to see them. <snip> > Unless you need something > in the newer library that can't be shoehorned into the system without > upgrading the entire library, I don't recommend doing so. An upgrade of > this sort is not for the faint of heart. I am not at all sure that I (yet) need anything in the current glibc. I have read the changelog and did not see anything I needed, but the writers of changelogs are usually masters of understatement and I could very easily miss something. I have limited opportunities (during holidays), to spend the time making major changes to a system that I use in my work on a daily basis. Several of the applications I run have recently begun to require gcc 3.x and I thought that, whilst I was installing that, I might as well go the whole hog and give myself a little future-proofing against the same thing happening with glibc. >> I have my system well backed up - so I am not worried about losing it - > >but >> I don't want to get started only to screw up because the sxs guidance >> is assuming something(s) I don't know. > > I might be overly cautious - I've broken systems many times upgrading > the C library - but I would test the upgrade procedure you intend to use > on a system you don't mind rebuilding if it goes badly before risking a > more important box. Famous last words, but I am pretty confident about my backup and rescue procedures, which I test regularly. As it happens another hdd has just been released from an obsolete box I have, and I will replicate my system to that and use it for any experiments. Thanks again, Geoff _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe/Suspend/Etc -> http://www.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
