Upgrade path from 8.10?

[mkbrown69]

Good day folks!

Are there plans for an LinuxMCE upgrade path from 8.10, or will it be a "blow it away and re-install" type upgrade?

Just curious, as I'd like to get an idea of how much effort I should put into the 8.10 environment I'm presently kicking the tires on vs the 10.04 environment I plan on setting up.

Thanks for your time!

/Mike

[Marie.O]

Good question.

I know of 2 people who have successfully upgraded their 810 installation 1004.

The good thing about the upgrade is, that you keep all your device information and media information intact. But it is not straight forward, and lots of swearing is part of the process. But the goal is, to eventually have a defined way to do the upgrade.

[tmwillett]

Posde, can you tell me how to keep your settings when upgrading?  I've tried the Backup/Restore via webadmin, but it does not work.  I've been playing with the snapshots for the past month or so, and each time, I have to completely blow away the installation and re-build from scratch when I upgrade to the next snapshot.  I can't find anything online or in the wiki/forums that shows the commands needed to backup LMCE and restore it.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

[Marie.O]

I've never tried backup 810 and restore on 1004.

What I did was an inplace upgrade from 810 to 1004.

[klovell]

Wait a minute... I know i was out of the country for a while but what am i missing?  I am under the impression that 8.10 is still in bata and wasn't released.  How does 10.04 fit into the picture? 

[brake16]

Wait a minute... I know i was out of the country for a while but what am i missing?  I am under the impression that 8.10 is still in bata and wasn't released.  How does 10.04 fit into the picture?

Anybody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but:  Yes 8.10 is still in beta and wasn't released.  10.04 is undergoing the initial stages of development for two reasons:

• There's a massive effort underway to use 10.04 to go completely to the GPL and get completely away from the PPL.
• 10.04 is a long-term-supported release, so the odds go up dramatically that lmce 10.04 will be released before Ubuntu support stops.  This is in no way a knock against any of the developers, or their commitment to the project.

I believe I've also seen reference to the possibility that starting from 10.04, it will be easier to update lmce as new Ubuntu releases come out, such that there shouldn't be such a lag between Ubuntu releases and lmce releases.

Having said all that, 10.04 is not for the faint of heart, and would probably be best described as pre-alpha at this point.  Also, 8.10 continues to be developed, with a new snapshot having been uploaded this morning.

Bryce
...these are just my observations/interpretations...I could be completely off my rocker...

[phenigma]

As I understand it:

A move to 1004 will not move the system away from the PPL.  DCERouter, Orbiter and other parts of the system are PPL'd and would need to be re-written from scratch as new software under the GPL.

A 1004 release will not allow LMCE to follow ubuntu releases any quicker.  Dianemo, from CHT, have re-factored their build system and they now say that they are able to transition quickly to new Ubuntu releases.  LMCE does not currently have this capability.

You are correct that the odds of 1004 being released before Ubuntu drops support are much greater...

Possy:  Did you upgrade from 0810 to 1004 directly?  Or did you step through 0904 or 0910 before 1004?

J.

[Marie.O]

@phenigma: I upgraded directly, but it was quite a hassle.

Re PPL: DCERouter is not PPL, but GPL. Other parts still are PPL. And yes, the move to 1004 has nothing to do with licensing, and yes, with the stuff we (LinuxMCE devs and CHT) learned from the move to 1004, we now know that moving to newer releases is fairly straight forward.

What stays is the problem with the asterisk integration, and the way Plug-and-play stuff is working on each new release.

Apart from that, we still have a LOT of bugs which are in no way distribution related, which need to be fixed.

[phenigma]

Thanks possy.  I forgot that DCErouter was GPL.

J.

[rchamp]

is there any documentation as of yet of the direct upgrade to 1004?

[phenigma]

Nope.  I wouldn't expect anything of the sort until 0810 is released and/or 1004 reaches a release candidate stage.  Any kind of upgrade documentation will not be coming anytime soon.  1004 is under development, and not supported nor is it encouraged for use at this point.

J.

[klovell]

I'm sorry if this a tread jack but I have to ask.  I also am not trying to offend anyone, this is truly out of curiosity. 

Isn't LinuxMCE suppose to be an appliance?  I've used many... many linux based appliances but I've never used one that kept with the new releases of the underlying OS the way LMCE does.  Usually the devs get it working and release updates for the overall appliance accordingly, and not "reinvent the wheel" every time there's a new version of the base OS.  It sounds like the plan is to release a new version of Lmce for every other release of Kubuntu.  Am I wrong? That sounds like a painful amount of work.

Please excuse my ignorance, I'm not trying to pick a fight, suggest a better way or offend, I just don't understand.

[Aviator]

I'm sorry if this a tread jack but I have to ask.  I also am not trying to offend anyone, this is truly out of curiosity. 

Isn't LinuxMCE suppose to be an appliance?  I've used many... many linux based appliances but I've never used one that kept with the new releases of the underlying OS the way LMCE does.  Usually the devs get it working and release updates for the overall appliance accordingly, and not "reinvent the wheel" every time there's a new version of the base OS.  It sounds like the plan is to release a new version of Lmce for every other release of Kubuntu.  Am I wrong? That sounds like a painful amount of work.

Please excuse my ignorance, I'm not trying to pick a fight, suggest a better way or offend, I just don't understand.

I agree that this is an appliance and the base OS does not matter with one caveat.  810 hit EOL, which means there are no more security updates.  Combined with the fact that newer hardware requires a newer kernel to get driver support, there is a need to move to the newer OS.  For me the lack of security updates is a big issue, and I think this is why there is a push to work on 10.04 alongside 8.10.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here...