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Upgrading what might be the world's oldest running Linux install

Off-Topic discussions about science, technology, and non Debian specific topics.
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Hallvor
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Upgrading what might be the world's oldest running Linux install

#1 Post by Hallvor »

Running Debian, of course. Administered by by dpkg-maker and former Debian project leader Ian Jackson.
What's remarkable [...] is that it was originally installed with Debian Linux 0.93R5 in 1993, and the same installation of the OS is now running Debian 11 "Bullseye", the x86-64 version, freshly upgraded from an x86-32 installation of Debian 8 "Jessie".

That's why its administrator, Ian Jackson, described the process as a "skip-skip-cross-up-grade" – "skip" twice, because he skipped both Debian 9 and Debian 10 – and "cross" because he also moved the system from 32-bit to 64-bit in the process.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/25/ ... _upgraded/
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Re: Upgrading what might be the world's oldest running Linux install

#2 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

Wow, what a story. Thanks for sharing.
We found it notable that it was all done remotely, without a site visit, and that chiark runs LVM on top of RAID on top of LVM
:shock:

Mrs. HoaS runs a Debian bullseye system that started out as jessie on a different laptop. I'm impressed with that alone.
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Re: Upgrading what might be the world's oldest running Linux install

#3 Post by Bulkley »

That's an interesting article. I can imagine the mess I could make out of that. Jackson is definitely talented.

Thanks for posting this, Hallvor.

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Re: Upgrading what might be the world's oldest running Linux install

#4 Post by jmgibson1981 »

I had read the blog thing and was quite impressed but am lost on one thing. What possible benefit could the lvm on top of raid on top of lvm thing give? Seems like complexity for the sake of complexity?

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Re: Upgrading what might be the world's oldest running Linux install

#5 Post by ticojohn »

Really impressive. The admin (Ian) must be really talented. I can say that my current Bullseye install started out as Stretch, and I have never had a problem with any upgrades (other than my own correctable mistakes). Kudos to the whole Debian Team. Maybe Debian Stable should be called The Rock! But then the real Rock might object. LOL!
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.

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