Topic: SME 8.0

[jameswilson]

Ill say sorry now.

Reading the posts you need help verifying bugs, that i can do and will install 8 on a virtual machine. I cant help with much more than that as i dont have the skills.

But my question is to do with upgrading. I remeber from back in the day of 7.0 rc1 ( think it was 1) there was a way of updating it from server-manager / ssh.
I assume that as 8 is at beta status i i was to upgrade one of my less important 7.4 boxes will i be able to upgrade as things progress, or will it be a reinstall?

If its a reinstall will thins chnage once we are at rc status?

Also is there anything else i can do to help other than verify bugs?

[cactus]

Ill say sorry now.

No need to.

Reading the posts you need help verifying bugs, that i can do and will install 8 on a virtual machine. I cant help with much more than that as i dont have the skills.

No problem, all help is welcome.

But my question is to do with upgrading. I remeber from back in the day of 7.0 rc1 ( think it was 1) there was a way of updating it from server-manager / ssh.

There will be, for now you will have to do with the instructions on http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server_8

I assume that as 8 is at beta status i i was to upgrade one of my less important 7.4 boxes will i be able to upgrade as things progress, or will it be a reinstall?

I guess you will be, but I am not the one providing guarantees.

If its a reinstall will thins chnage once we are at rc status?

Most likely yes, as I remember supporting updates from RC stages in the past.

Also is there anything else i can do to help other than verify bugs?

Probably, you can try an reproduce issues, direct people to bugzilla, write documentation, sponsor contribs.org financially, to name a few. Since I am unaware of your skills it might be hard. Did you already take a look at http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Volunteering ?

[Joeg1484]

Just to clarify for my own knowledge.

I have a standard install of SME on my main box, but I am also testing 8. So, when version 8 is finally released (Or version 7.5 for that matter), we will be able to simply do an upgrade from our old version to the next, released version? Do you know if this will include contribs that are installed? For instance, if I have awstats installed, when 7.5 or 8 comes out, will the upgrade process include the upgrade for awstats?

Thanks for the tips!

Joe

[janet]

Joeg1484

> when version 8 is finally released (Or version 7.5 for that matter), we will be able to simply do an upgrade from our old version to
> the next, released version?

Yes

> Do you know if this will include contribs that are installed?
> For instance, if I have awstats installed, when 7.5 or 8 comes out, will the upgrade process include the upgrade for awstats?

No, contribs are not upgraded as part of the normal yum update or upgrade from CD process.

If you have incompatible contribs installed, then you will need to remove them and install the new versions.
To update contribs, you can do a selective upgrade using yum and the smecontribs repository
yum update --enablerepo=smecontribs package1 package2 package3
signal-event post-upgrade
signal-event reboot

If may be "safer" to upgrade contrib packages one at a time to avoid possible multiple "problems" at the same time ie
yum update --enablerepo=smecontribs smeserver-dansguardian
signal-event post-upgrade
signal-event reboot

yum update --enablerepo=smecontribs smeserver-package2
signal-event post-upgrade
signal-event reboot

and so on, opinions will vary.
I'm happy to update the OS in one go, but prefer to update contribs one at a time.

[Joeg1484]

Thanks for the information.

My worry was to have the contribs block some aspect of the OS upgrade process. So, to keep things simple, I suppose removing the contribs before the upgrade would be in order.

Thanks again!

Joe

[byte]

SME upgrades from 7.x to 8.x will only support clean and unmodified systems (i.e no custom-templates).

Of course, if you do encounter any problems please raise them in the bug tracker ( including that with any contrib issues )

Thanks.

[janet]

Joeg1484

> My worry was to have the contribs block some aspect of the OS upgrade process.

Well that is a possibility.
What happens though, is that when SME 8RC1 (Release Candidate 1) is released, then contrib authors/maintainers will be asked to update their contribs to suit SME 8RC1. As the code structure will remain "consistent" at that point in time, then contribs will/should work on the upcoming FINAL release, SME 8.0 (FINAL).

As an end user, you know which contribs you have installed and will need to ascertain if they remain compatible or if there is a compatible version to upgrade to, which will be necessary to do.
There will/should be plenty of information being written up in these forums about which contribs are compatible/incompatible etc. Already there is a wiki article detailing issues/non issues with contribs running on SME8Beta releases, there is a link on the contribs.org home page to SME8 "matters".

Many contribs are known to work OK with SME8beta, some do not and need modification.
 

> I suppose removing the contribs before the upgrade would be in order.

It should not be necessary to remove every contrib, many/most/maybe all will survive the upgrade process OK, either "as is" or with a simple
yum upgrade --enablerepo=reponame packagename
signal-event post-upgrade; signal-event reboot

While not guaranteed, if a contrib works OK now with SME8beta, then it will most likely work OK with SME8 RC or FINAL.

To satisfy your own nervousness or anticipation, install SME8beta5 on a test server (any 686 old low powered box will do), and install and test the contribs you use. Add your findings to the wiki article referred to earlier. Do the same when the RC & FINAL versions are released just to be sure you will have no problems.

[CharlieBrady]

What happens though, is that when SME 8RC1 (Release Candidate 1) is released, then contrib authors/maintainers will be asked to update their contribs to suit SME 8RC1.

Any contrib author who hasn't already tested compatibility with SME8 is leaving it a little late. The sooner problems are identified the better.