help with updating

[jechilt]

too much green behind the ears!

can you help me to understand? i am confused...

my system is RH9 with Apache 1.3

the system was loaded with apt-get for updating...

i read about up2date but don't know if it is the same or similar to apt-get

so...i need to install ImageMagick. I try the RPM but can't get it to work. yes, i read and follow instructions well but the system just wont install...normally failing due to dependency issues.
the server provider says to use apt-get so it make the install automatically and if there is a dependency issue, it will try to fix it first.
ok...so the first time it says that the httpd is out of date and needs to be updated. hmmmm, i remember something about DA having a special httpd but to get the install to work, i allow the apt-get process to update the httpd. what do you know...server stops and that was the end of that. restore...try again.
now, to get ImageMagick to install, I need the XFree86. Yeah, i have a post on how to install but am really looking for a better process...so i choose apt-get to install XFree86 and it fails too.

ohhh, my head hurts. I look to the DA forum for answers and read that DA has the up2date script. i must be too tired because i can't seem to make this thing work.

i want to do what is best but right now i am just confused...sorry for the lack of experience...but got to start somewhere.
can you help me???

 

[jmstacey]

Here are instructions to update apache, php and other applications customapache takes care of.
http://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=26

Not sure about ImageMagick, but basically you apply the instructions to install it to customapache. So for example if you need to add something to the compile command, modify the /usr/local/directadmin/customapache/configure.php

 

[jechilt]

Greetings,

I think I understand the function of customapache. What I don't understand is what can or can't be changed (like httpd) that won't break DirectAdmin.

The main question I have is what is the best way to keep my software updated without breaking DA? Can I use apt-get? I think not because when I try to do any update with apt-get, it says it needs to update the httpd. Of course, when I do this, httpd dies and won't restart.
I see there is a script, UP2DATE and I have tried to get it to work as outlined in other posts but it does not seem to be working...maybe I am missing something?

tks.
~j

 

[Icheb]

What exactly do you mean ?

No flame intended: Isn't it an good idea to go to a company to keep the server(s) updated ?

PHP/Apache
You can do whatever you want to PHP, like install/configure more or new modules, you just have to edit the /usr/local/directadmin/customapache/configure.php file and recompile the stuff affected with the builder (perhaps it's a good idea to recompile everything every time, takes a bit more time/processor load, but makes sure you don't break anything).

What ever you do, never ever ever use apt-get or yumm or up2date or .rpm packages for Apache or PHP or any related services to those two.
Something like MySQLD is not what i consider a related service, so that's safe to do by RPM. (Although i personally would do it manually instead of by apt or any other).

Other system stuff
You can update most stuff just by using apt-get or any of the others. Although that doesn't say you have the most recent versions (if you're using RH x.x) as the Fedora Lagacy maintains that, who are not really in a hurry to do anything
But it's nice someone is doing something
Although I would personally think for some time about updating something like GCC or GlibC, as that can require massive amounts of recompiles or cause things to break.

Kernel Updates
These aren't really hard, if you use a RH RPM kernel, it's easy, just install the source package from that particulair kernel, copy the config from it, remove it again (you only have to do that, if you don't know what to select when you do a make menuconfig).
Than download the latest 2.4.x kernel (i don't recommend 2.6 in a production environment, but if you would like to use it, just use it ), unpack it.

bunzip <file>
tar xpf <file>

Note: i'm doing this from memory

Than you should enter the unpacked dir, do a make clean, than do a make menuconfig, go down, 'load alternate config...', specify the file you just copied from the other kernel.
When you select you want to use it, do a make BzImage, after that a make modules, after that a make modules_install and finally a make install (works fine when using Grub).
Although i'm doing this from memory and i am not responsable if it doesn't work or fails...


So most stuff is rather easy to update, but sometimes it does require some work

Note: if you're still looking for someone to update services, my company can also offer it, although that was not the intention for this reply