8.10 Updates damaging applications

[Bret Busby]

On Mon, 23 Feb 2009, Robert Parker wrote:

> 
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 12:33 PM, Mario Vukelic
> <mario.vukelic at dantian.org> wrote:
>> On Mon, 2009-02-23 at 12:23 +0900, Bret Busby wrote:
>>> I have just got to back up my home directory (I don't use a partition,
>>> as I have Debian 4.0 also installed on that computer, and did not want
>>> conflicts - I understand that home directories/partitions should not
>>> be shared between different Linux installations),
>>
>> That's probably a good idea to avoid difficult-to-debug issues
>
> I have been led to believe that it's safe enough if they are all
> Debian based at least.
>
>

Whilst my knowledge of Linux is somewhat limited, commonality of the 
origin of distributions, is not really sufficient, I think.

As an example the particular computer has Ubuntu installed on it, in 
addition to Debian 4.0, for the simple reason that the first time that 
that computer (an HP/Compaq NX5000) had Debian installed on it, Debian 
3.1, I think, an interrupt conflict occurred, that was overcome by 
installing Ubuntu (the version at that time), and then reinstalling 
Debian, using the resolution provided by Ubuntu. At present, with Debian 
4.0, possibly due to the same interrupt conflict (still unresolved by 
the later version of Debian), that computer's netweok connectivity is, 
at best, intermittent. It is certainly, completely unreliable. However, 
with both Windows XP and Ubuntu 8.10 no problem is evident with the 
network connectivity. So, the utilities are slightly different, between 
concurrent versions of Debian and Ubuntu. Apart from utilities, such as 
whatever deals with interrupts for network cards, and interrupt conflict 
resolution, Debian stable, and the latest version of Ubuntu, have 
different versions of applications. One particular example, is that 
Debian 4.0 has a different version of Open Office, to Ubuntu 8.10, and, 
even, to Ubuntu 8.04, I believe. Similarly, as an example, this email 
message is written with PINE, my email application of choice (for most 
email, and especially for dealing with mailing lists). Whilst PINE is no 
longer being developed, with the version that I am using, 4.64, being, I 
believe, the latest version of PINE, if it was still being developed, it 
would be likely, that Ubuntu 8.10 and Ubuntu 8.04 would have a later 
version, than Debian 4.0. Now, PINE has a configuration file, .pinerc, 
and, sometimes, the content and format of the file change, and it is not 
necessarily compatible with earlier versions of PINE.

So, configuration files, which tend to be stored, or, at least some of 
them, in the /home directory, and, if that is shared, the configuration 
files stored therein, could cause massive problems, if they are 
attempted to be shared between different package versions, especially 
if differing configuration file versions, have substantial differences, 
such as formats, or parameters that are unacceptable in different 
versions of a package.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
  you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
   Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
   "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
   A Trilogy In Four Parts",
   written by Douglas Adams,
   published by Pan Books, 1992

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