Bug 10047 - Installer offers to Upgrade newer Mageia versions
Summary: Installer offers to Upgrade newer Mageia versions
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Mageia
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Installer (show other bugs)
Version: Cauldron
Hardware: i586 Linux
Priority: Normal minor
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Thierry Vignaud
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: Junior_job
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2013-05-09 21:01 CEST by Lewis Smith
Modified: 2017-01-20 20:02 CET (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Source RPM:
CVE:
Status comment:


Attachments

Description Lewis Smith 2013-05-09 21:01:40 CEST
Description of problem:

On a system with existing Mageia(s), the Installer offers to UPGRADE the other(s) or Install from scratch. Even if the other systems are more recent...
1) Most serious, the Mag2 Installer offers to update another Mag3!
2) But the Mag3 Installer also offers to Upgrade an existing Mag3 - which is unlikely to be meaningful.
I was using both Mag2 & Mag3 full 32-bit Install DVDs.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
I noticed (1) with the Mag2 Installer, (2) with the Mag3 one. But it is probably inherent in the Installer rather than dependant on its version, and may show itself again when Mag4 appears.

How reproducible:
Automatic when you have a Mageia installed >= the Installer version.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Just do an Install from a full Install medium.

A related 'problem'.
If an existing Mageia system is detected, it is offered to upgrade *without* citing its partition-ID. This is dicey: is it the right one?
If 2 different Mageia versions are detected, they are both listed *without* their partiton-IDs.
Correctly, if the Installer finds 2 *equivalent* Mageias installed (which it offers to upgrade) it *does* cite their partition-IDs.

Reproducible: 

Steps to Reproduce:
Comment 1 Manuel Hiebel 2013-05-11 23:02:32 CEST
to check for mga3>4

CC: (none) => manuel.mageia
Assignee: bugsquad => thierry.vignaud

Comment 2 Manuel Hiebel 2013-08-06 22:12:57 CEST
seems this test http://svnweb.mageia.org/soft/drakx/trunk/perl-install/install/steps_interactive.pm?&view=markup#l135

@l = grep { $_->{arch} eq $arch && $_->{version} !~ /201[1-9]/ } @l;
if (@l) {
_try_to_upgrade($o, @l);
}

and for the other comment is in the same part too

Keywords: (none) => Junior_job
Version: 2 => Cauldron

Comment 3 Marja Van Waes 2015-01-03 19:42:54 CET
(In reply to Lewis Smith from comment #0)
> Description of problem:
> 
> On a system with existing Mageia(s), the Installer offers to UPGRADE the
> other(s) or Install from scratch. Even if the other systems are more
> recent...
> 1) Most serious, the Mag2 Installer offers to update another Mag3!
> 2) But the Mag3 Installer also offers to Upgrade an existing Mag3 - which is
> unlikely to be meaningful.
> I was using both Mag2 & Mag3 full 32-bit Install DVDs.
> 


Upgrading borked systems with the same version is something I've done several times. IIRC, it always fixed the problems :-)

I'd appreciate it that remains possible

CC: (none) => marja11

Comment 4 Lewis Smith 2015-02-14 09:00:25 CET
Can this be closed - invalid?
Comment 5 Marja Van Waes 2015-02-14 09:55:01 CET
(In reply to Lewis Smith from comment #4)
> Can this be closed - invalid?

Well, the other part, it offering to upgrade a newer version, would be OK to have fixed, if it hasn't already.

Maybe you can change an existing Mageia on your HD into a fake Mageia 6 install to see whether it still happens with 5beta3. I assume (but did not check!) installer reads /etc/mageia-release to determine the version.
Comment 6 Mauricio Andrés Bustamante Viveros 2015-06-20 09:27:42 CEST
Testing with the MGA5 Classical installer in all archs (i586 & x64) and faking MGA6

CC: (none) => neoser10

Comment 7 Luke Jones 2015-11-25 10:50:52 CET
Would it be a good idea to add an extra install option; Repair Existing?

This could appear when a 'same version' is detected, and perhaps run a reinstall of installed packages.

CC: (none) => luke.nukem.jones

Comment 8 Lewis Smith 2015-12-20 20:42:42 CET
Have just followed Marja's note from Comment 3:
> Upgrading borked systems with the same version is something I've done several
> times. IIRC, it always fixed the problems :-)
> I'd appreciate it that remains possible
Using the Mageia 5 Classic Installer to update my more up-to-date but *broken* Mageia 5 (EFI unbootable) did indeed bring it back to life - but not without some head-scratching & misbehaviour. Big thanks for that tip.

So this *is* an important ability: Comment 7 is just:
> Would it be a good idea to add an extra install option; Repair Existing?
> This could appear when a 'same version' is detected
And needs to be both documented, & noted in the Installer itself when it recognises such a situation.
I have always complained that this 'update' facility:
- previous version, to upgrade it
- same version to revive it
should be on the boot menu rather than something you discover by chance along the way.

OTOH If by ill chance the Installer finds a *more recent* Mageia version, it certainly should *not* offer to update it. I imagine that would be disastrous. I was wanting to close this bug, but this last point does need to be fixed if still extant. Comment 5 supports this view:
> Well, the other part, it offering to upgrade a newer version, would be OK
> to have fixed, if it hasn't already.

Once pre-release Mageia 6 becomes installable, I will try the M5 Classic Installer to see whether it offers to update M6.
Comment 9 Lewis Smith 2017-01-20 20:02:56 CET
Although logically this bug is legitimate - it makes little sense to offer to upgrade a Mageia installation more recent than the installer - this behaviour *does* have a useful spin-off in being able to revive an existing unbootable Mageia installation. Essentially, the whole 'update' process is skipped because there is nothing to do, BUT the bootloader is re-installed. A lifesaver if the result then re-boots successfully.
Closing this WONTFIX on Marja's recommendation; with which I agree.

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => WONTFIX


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