Very Computer

I have an admittedly vintage Linux kernel 1.2.13, pure a.out, gcc
2.5.8, libc-4.7.2.

My first question is there some prefered order to upgrading to
Linux 2.0, e.g. should I upgrade the compiler first?

Second question.  What components need to be upgraded?

Lastly, I have an abundance of a.out executables and I'd
definitely like to avoid recompilation or upgrading them to ELF.

Any advice regarding the proper way to go about such a major upgrade
will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Marsh

Quote:>> I have an admittedly vintage Linux kernel 1.2.13, pure a.out, gcc
>> 2.5.8, libc-4.7.2.

I had a system that was basically a Slackware 3.0 release with
enhancements (like ELF), but also lots of old/nebulous stuff dating back
to SLS and pre 0.93 kernels.

Took a spare/empty DOS partition, fips'd it in two, and created a 250
meg Linux partition which then was mounted as my new /home.  Copied the
old /home over to it and some other important files and listings (like
/etc, /dev, XF86Config, xinit stuff, hosts, resolv.conf, ppp setups,
etc).

Downloaded nearly the entire Debian 1.1 onto the rest of that empty DOS
partition.  2 days later....  Followed the Debian instructions and NUKED
my old Linux setup.  Installed Debian and have enjoyed the consistency
and abundance of disk space ever since (I "gained" 300 meg from files
that I had never/rarely used).  I now have a manageable system that I
really feel I have control over.  And if I need Tk/Tcl stuff again, I
can trust Debian to check that I have all the needed versions of things
before I install it.  Dependency-checking is a wonderful thing.

Total down-time for me (meaning from clean disk to ppp networking,
XFree86, FVWM95, Netscape, Mesa w/GLUT, GIMP, etc working) was two
days (because of problems with FVWM95 using old Xpm stuff).  I was
using console and back on the 'net within a couple of hours.

Just a thought....especially if you are considering a major
(multi-layered) upgrade.

                        Fuzzy.

Quote:> Second question.  What components need to be upgraded?

Quote:> Lastly, I have an abundance of a.out executables and I'd
> definitely like to avoid recompilation or upgrading them to ELF.

Quote:> Any advice regarding the proper way to go about such a major upgrade
> will be greatly appreciated.

> Thanks,
> -Marsh

1.2.13 aout to 1.2.13 elf
1.2.13 elf to 2.0.5 elf

If you follow the approach in the elf howto, you get a system that
will run both elf and aout binaries, so old stuff runs ok. I did it by
installing slackware, 3 moving from slackware 2 . I have /usr/local on
a separate partition which helps. I backed up /etc,/root,/home,/var to
copy over configs etc.

Apart from the stuff in Documentation/changes I have had to recompile
diald and upgrade sendmail/smail when moving from 1.2.13 to 2.0.5.

Hope this helps.
--

London SW14 7JW UK
This is not a sig( with homage to Magritte).  

: I have an admittedly vintage Linux kernel 1.2.13, pure a.out, gcc
: 2.5.8, libc-4.7.2.

: My first question is there some prefered order to upgrading to
: Linux 2.0, e.g. should I upgrade the compiler first?

: Second question.  What components need to be upgraded?

: Lastly, I have an abundance of a.out executables and I'd
: definitely like to avoid recompilation or upgrading them to ELF.

: Any advice regarding the proper way to go about such a major upgrade
: will be greatly appreciated.

I think the README says you need gcc 2.6.3, but apart from that you
probably don't need to upgrade anything else, apart from procps and
pppd if you use it.  I have a fairly stock Slackware 2.3 system,
pure a.out, gcc 2.6.3, libc-4.6.27, and have had no problems.

Good luck,

Tom.

I used the stuff from
ftp.wsc.com/pub/freeware/linux/update.linux

Using the kit is a painless way to do the upgrade from Slackware 3,
the only downside is that the kit contains beta software which is
later than the versions recommended in Documentation/Changes. I
decided that I wanted to use stable software and downgraded where
necessary. This was a non trivial exercise.
--

London SW14 7JW UK
This is not a sig( with homage to Magritte).