[NTLUG:Discuss] Upgrading gcc libraries--best way?

[Bryan J. Smith]

Short answer:  NEVER

First off, RHL7.3 _is_ still being updated c/o Fedora Legacy (fedoralegacy.org).
Long story short, updates to RHAS 2.1 are incorporated into RHL7.3 updates.

But, secondly, _NEVER_ change GCC/GLibC, especially not upward.
For RHL/FC, upgrade to a newer version with the required GCC/GLibC.
Then, if and when you run into something that needs a prior GCC/GLibC, use the "compat-libs" RPMs.
Red Hat is very good at taking the time to build a set of older GCC/GLibC "compat-libs" that work under the new GCC/GLibC.

But you can't go in reverse.  You never change GCC/GLibC upward, only backward,
and only with a set that was build to run under the newer set
(like Red Hat's compat-libs included with the distro).

* Lastly, my recommendation ...

1)  Backup system
2)  Download either FC1 (CL3.2) or FC3 (CL4.2)
3)  Upgrade from CD to either FC1 or FC3
4)  Try out all your software

FC1 (CL3.2) is 1 major version ahead (RHEL 3 GCC/GLibC compatible).
It should run most of your existing software. 
Use Fedora Extras (Fedora.US) to get Firefox and "Legacy" updates.

FC3 (CL4.1) is 2 major versions ahead (RHEL 4 GCC/GLibC compatible).
Firefox is now part of the main "Core" distribution
(and no longer part of the official "Extras" repository).

FC3 is ideal, but it might break some apps more than FC1.
You could always upgrade to FC1 first.
Run with it awhile and then decide whether or not to upgrade later.
Or you could decide to go directly to FC3. 

BTW, if software fails to run, try installing compat-libs from the new distro.
In the case of FC3, you _could_ install/rebuild the compat-libs for FC1 on it.
But that's probably over kill because CL3/EL3 (RHL9/FC1/RHEL3) to CL4/EL4 (FC2/FC3/RHEL4)
 is probably the most intercompatible major version since RHL5 to RHL6.
Red Hat's backport of NPTL to kernel 2.4 and the good GCC/GLibC compatibility these days really help a lot.

So the question is if you have and software written for CL2/EL2 (RHL7.x/RHAS2.1)
that isn't compatible with the newer GCC/GLibC or NPTL.
Most of the time rebuilding with compat-libs and disabling NPTL with an environmental variable does the job.

But even the majority of my Loki games run without issue.
And they were installed back when my system was RHL7.2 and my system is now CL4.
It's a FC2 base with updates and some FC3 packages.
I plan on doing an "apt-get dist-upgrade" soon so it's totally FC3.

About the only time I've had issues is with some add-on Oracle components.
The base Oracle 9i services run well on CL3/EL3 and CL4/EL4,
despite being released for CL2/EL2.
They still have you install the "compat-libs" from RHL7.3 though in recommended practices.
Again, this is because you might build/link something that doesn't like the newer GCC/GLibC.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith (currently mobile)
b.j.smith at ieee.org

-----Original Message-----
From:  Ed Coates 
Date:  04-12-11 22:04
To:  NTLUG Discussion List 
Subj:  Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Upgrading gcc libraries--best way?


On Sat, 11 Dec 2004, John Thomas wrote:

> I've downloaded Firefox for my RH 7.3 laptop system, and I get a failed
> dependency for libstdc++.so.5.  After finding and running this rpm I get 
> further failed dependencies.
>
> Is there a practical way to upgrade all the libraries?  For example, with one 
> rpm?  Or should I just wipe my disk and install the latest OS release?
>
> Obviously, I know enough to know what a dependency is and use rpm, but I'm 
> not a pro software engineer.  I just want to run Firefox!
>
> Any tips or pointers are appreciated.
>

Redhat 7.3 is pretty old, and I'm not even sure that it's still supported. 
It might be better to reload with the latest to avoid things like this.

That said, I might suggest that Redhat might have a tool to install 
software.  Unfortunately, I don't have experience with Redhat since it 
dropped Sun Sparc support after 6.2.  I would bet that it has a tool like 
SuSE does that will let  you pick somewhere out on the web as the 
installation source, and when you pick something to install, it will find 
the dependencies and install them too.

Ed

_______________________________________________
https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss