Jesse Keating <jkeating <at> redhat.com> writes:
> On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:21:42 -0500 (CDT)
> "Jon Ciesla" <limb <at> jcomserv.net> wrote:
> > But the point is if you have no DVD drive, the only upgrade method,
> > AFAIK is yum, which is not officially supported.
>
> Incorrect. rescue.iso or boot.iso + network, or harddrive.
That, or use the "register installer kernel in GRUB" hack which allows
upgrading entirely from the HDD, no media needed at all.
Here's the process:
1. You need an unused ext2/ext3 partition large enough to hold a DVD image. If
you do a fresh install now, think of reserving an /images (or any other non-FHS
directory) partition for that purpose. The partition must not be a RAID or LVM
partition. (GRUB doesn't like those.) And it has to be ext2 or ext3 because the
installer can only read those or FAT and FAT (even FAT32) can't hold DVD ISOs
due to the maximum file size.
2. Mount the /images partition.
3. Copy the DVD ISO and the vmlinuz and initrd.img files from the
images/pxeboot/ directory (on the mirrors) for the release you want to update
to into /images (i.e. the root directory of your /images partition).
4. Unmount the /images partition and make sure it is NOT in /etc/fstab for the
upgrade. Anaconda doesn't like it if the ISO is on a mounted partition. (At
least some versions of it didn't, so better take the partition out of fstab.)
5. Add an entry like this to your /boot/grub/grub.conf:
title Fedora Core 7 Installation
root (hd1,2)
kernel /vmlinuz
initrd /initrd.img
You have to enter the correct partition number for /images there.
6. Reboot.
7. In the GRUB menu, select the entry you just added.
8. Pick "Upgrade an existing Fedora installation" and select your existing
installation. (Or "Reinstall", if that's what you want to do. WARNING: A
reinstall will reformat (wipe out) at least your / partition! Upgrades, on the
other hand, will keep your existing files and configuration.)
9. When Anaconda asks for the installation source, pick "hard disk", give the
device name for your /images partition (e.g. /dev/sdb3), and for the path on
the partition, enter / (i.e. the root directory, which was were we copied the
image to in step 3).
10. Enjoy! I recommend running a regular yum/apt-get/smart upgrade from the
network next to upgrade the packages not on the DVD and to get the latest
updates.
Kevin Kofler
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