Re: [gentoo-dev] base-system needs developers who care

[Joshua Kinard <kumba@gentoo.org>]

On 08/24/2016 10:08, Pacho Ramos wrote:
> El mié, 24-08-2016 a las 16:05 +0200, Lars Wendler escribió:
>>
> [...]
>> Oh, and to all new team members:
>> Please keep in mind to *not* use EAPI-6 for base-system packages yet,
>> so
>> we can retain a somewhat stable upgrade path even for very old
>> systems.
>>
>>
>> Kind regards
>> Lars
> 
> This reminds me a question I have for some time: is it documented in
> some place what are the steps to follow for updating old systems? I
> remember posts like:
> http://blog.siphos.be/2013/12/upgrading-old-gentoo-installations/
> 
> but I don't know if that is "official" or a workaround or... :/
> 
> Thanks a lot for the info!

When I got SGI Octane booting Linux again in 2014, I had a dormant ~2009-era
system still installed on that machine.  Upgrading was...interesting.  Entirely
doable -- I think I hand-jammed a modern Portage into it to get started, then
incrementally step-upgraded the thing over a period of 2-3 weeks until the
system packages were fully working.

Then I got torched by gcc's PR61538, where someone's upstream change tripped up
an atomic fault on the R10000 CPUs these things use, which left me stuck at
gcc-4.8.x.  That went on for 8 months until someone else upstream accidentally
fixed it.  Now, I've just got to figure out this irritating 2GB memory DMA bug...

But still, depending on the age of the install, it's a task that only the
dedicated and OCD should try to tackle.  Everyone else is better off salvaging
config files by mounting the disks in another system, then nuking the old
install from orbit.

I'll let you guys now how the next attempt works out, whenever I get my Indigo2
R10000 to boot again.  I think the Gentoo install on that machine hasn't seen
the light of the Kernel since ~2006.  Probably earlier.

-- 
Joshua Kinard
Gentoo/MIPS
kumba@gentoo.org
6144R/F5C6C943 2015-04-27
177C 1972 1FB8 F254 BAD0 3E72 5C63 F4E3 F5C6 C943

"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, the future frightens us.  And our
lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between."

--Emperor Turhan, Centauri Republic