On Tuesday 30 January 2001 09:15 am, you wrote:
> Do most users update ALL the applications that appear in the
> updater window or are they selective, only choosing the updates
> for applications they use? I am reserved about updating things
> I don't use for fear that I'll spoil my Linux installation with
> a non-essential update. Please advise.

Bob,
I have two machines on which I have been testing the Mandrake Update tool.
On one I only update those things which I know are already installed and
on the other I grab everything. In short, I would suggest only installing
those packages that you KNOW are on the box, especially when dealing with
the dependency issues that rpm has. Adding a package like bind which has
had security issues in that past to a machine that does not need to host
DNS adds extra administration woes, especially since many rpms for
services will start the service without notifying you. Not so good if you
ask me, but thats an rpm/packaging issue not an updater issue.

I feel better knowing *most* of whats installed on the machine, there is
no need for me to update BitchX or install it if I had a reason not to put
it there in the first place. I can never say with 100% accuracy that I
know what is installed on a machine, but I do hand check the output of rpm
-qa on occassion to make sure nothing has been installed via rpm that I
don't know about.

All in all, the updater is not a bad tool, but has the inherent problems
of dealing with rpms (mainly dependecy resolution) and only presents a
limited subset of the rpm features. The Updater fails to install anything
if a package dependecy or some other error is thrown from the underlying
rpm system, so it could be possible for an update of a previously
uninstalled app to cause problems with the update as a whole. Adding an
option to the updater that performed a freshen operation would be most
useful. Freshen only installs updates for those packages already in the
rpm database. A command line version (which has been discussed already)
would also be a wonderful addition, not only for the headless among us,
but also to be able to use the updater in remote management scripting
solutions (hint, hint if anyone at MandrakeSoft happens to read this far)

Wow, I gotta stop emailing first thing when I get to work, I am too long
winded. Hope this helped.

-- 
Matthew Micene			   A host is a host from coast to coast,
Systems Development Manager	   and no one will talk to a host too close
Express Search Inc.		   Unless the host that isn't close 
www.ExpressSearch.com		   is busy, hung or dead

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