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About the Build

This is a document that describes the process that I went through when upgrading from Fedora Core 5 to 6.

Phase 1
The first step I take is going through the system before it is upgraded to check for files that I will need after the upgrade is complete. Some of these files are, for example, pam configuration files, host name setup, and the iptables configuration. I then take these and make sure I have backups of them. After this, I get the new Fedora Core 6 DVD ready.

Phase 2
This is when I start installing the new operating system. The two most important aspects of this process is to disable SE Linux (we don't have any reason to be using this on the public build, as there isn't anything that is "mission critical" on there. Plus, SE Linux always seems to bring headaches when they are least needed) and to make sure LVM isn't being used (this as well causes more grief than necessary). What software is going to be installed by default doesn't really matter.

Also, if some new is doing this, they should find out from someone in charge about the root password. And, the initial account that is created during the install should be cosiguest.

Phase 3
Now that the system is fresh, I begin the process of getting AFS to work. This can (usually) be done in a few steps:

  • Download AFS RPMs from OpenAFS
  • Install them all
  • Edit the ThisCell file - clarkson.edu
  • Edit the CellAlias file - clarkson.edu cu
  • Start afsd
  • Append the passwd from OIT to the local one.
  • Reboot

Unfortunately, this doesn't always work, so I sometimes need to get the source RPMs for the latest stable (sometimes unstable) version and build my own RPMs to install.

Phase 4
Now that AFS works, I can start installing the software that doesn't come with Fedora by default. Some examples include: MPlayer, Xine, xmms-mp3, codecs, scheme, java, latex, and many more. Rouslan Solomakhin has some more information on this as well.

Phase 5
After letting people give me software ideas to install on this new build for a while, I then ghost the new build onto all the lab's computers.