20000111: Upgrading system OS

>From: Catarino David Delgado <address@hidden>
>Organization: University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
>Keywords: 200001111935.MAA10479  Linux

David,

>Other than backing up data on the hard drive to another location, are
>there any forseeable issues if upgrading a version of RedHat Linux to a
>newer release.

The big change in RedHat 5.x and 6.x was in libc.  Applications linked
under 5.x by and large will not run under 6.x; they will have to be
relinked.  This includes all of the Unidata software that I think
that you may be interested in (e.g., McIDAS, LDM, netCDF, etc.).

>We are currently running relatively old versions of the McIDAS and NETcdf
>software and need to upgrade it so that we can gather data. TO upgrade, we
>need to upgrade our version of the OS (RedHat Linux 5.1) or install
>copious libraries that are not available in the OS's native installation
>form. Simply upgrading the OS to a newer version ensures future
>compatability.

I think that upgrading the OS is the proper way to go, but you will need
to have current releases of the packages above since there have been
mods made to them in order to run correctly under RH 6.x.

>What preperations do I have to make and what considerations do I have to
>make so that this can actually work?

The upgrade from RedHat 5.2 to 6.1 on my home system went very smoothly.
I did have to be concerned with a few issues, however:

o the big change in libc forced updating McIDAS-X
o use of the Enlightnment window manager caused some worries: it uses
  a lot of colors, so I was forced to run my X sessions in > 8 bit mode.
  This, in turn, led to some problems in that the support for 24-bit
  in McIDAS is not as robust as it should be (for instance, occasionally
  one has to rerun an EU REST command in order to make the new enhancement
  active for the frame desired).  I found, however, that one can run in
  8-bit mode in KDE pretty well
o both Enlightnment and KDE required that default function key mappings
  be modified.  For instance, both define actions for things like
  CNTR-F1 rendering that sequence unavailable for the McIDAS Fkey menu.
  Both, however, allow you to edit settings and remove those preset
  definitions.

I think that those are the "high points", but there could be a couple/few
small things that I left out.

>Thank You

If you run into problems, please let us know.

Tom Yoksas