Hello guys

every so often I get the red dot going on my task bar.
I click and it shows several pending updates.
I scroll through them but I don't have time to invesigate
everything.

SO, I just click download and get them all.

Is this dangerous?

so far so good..

On 2008-02-23, Helaman <zoraster@REMOVEopera.com> wrote:
> Hello guys
>
> every so often I get the red dot going on my task bar.
> I click and it shows several pending updates.
> I scroll through them but I don't have time to invesigate
> everything.
>
> SO, I just click download and get them all.
>
> Is this dangerous?
>
> so far so good..

Blindly installing all updated packages is probably less
dangerous than not installing any. For example, the most
recent kernel update fixed a vulnerability that was being
actively exploited. I normally do updates once a week, but
I made an exception and installed that one as soon as I
could.

If you wanted to check on the updates, it's pretty easy.
First, you could point a web browser at

http://www.mandriva.com/en/security/...ies?dis=2008.0

Second, you could click on any interesting-looking ones when
running MandrivaUpdate and look at the "Reason for update"
section.

HTH

(By the way, I like that handle. For some reason, the
numbers 2000 and 2060 come to mind. :-)

--
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@verizon.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

Helaman wrote:
> every so often I get the red dot going on my task bar.
> I click and it shows several pending updates.
> SO, I just click download and get them all.
> Is this dangerous?

For a home machine, not required to meet any special
requirements for security, what you do is normal.

Many of those who leave their computer on 24/7 create
a little script and have it run as root every night to
download and install all updates. If you do this, you
have to inspect the logs in /var/log to see if there
were any problems.

And, in earlier versions, you had to deliberately install
a new kernel. The automatic update would not do it for
you. I am not sure this is still true, but you should
check http://www.mandriva.com/en/rss/feed/security
to make sure you do not miss any needed security updates.
Doing that will make sure you are aware of any kernel
updates.

Cheers!

jim b.

--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:32:49 GMT, Helaman wrote:
>
> every so often I get the red dot going on my task bar.
> I click and it shows several pending updates.
> I scroll through them but I don't have time to invesigate
> everything.
>
> SO, I just click download and get them all.
>
> Is this dangerous?

Define dangerous?

If you mean can you trust the update to not break your system?
I can not recommend having backport mirrors as part of the updates
because of some of the failures they introduced.

If an update is bad, they turnaround an update fix pretty quick.
Other than that, I say they are safe.

On the other hand, the next update could break your install. There is
no telling do the variables like your hardware and what software you
have installed.

If you want to play safe, create/format another partition (hotbu), copy
current install into hotbu, modify hotbu/etc/fstab to default to
hotbu's partition, add to boot loader, play with your updates there.
If good, boot your production copy and upgrade it.

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:47:26 -0500, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:

> you. I am not sure this is still true, but you should
> check http://www.mandriva.com/en/rss/feed/security
> to make sure you do not miss any needed security updates.
> Doing that will make sure you are aware of any kernel
> updates.

I'm not sure either, as I know I've made changes in /etc/urpmi/skip.list,
in the past.

Any way, even if it does auto-install the new kernel, It won't
reboot, for you, or load the new kernel, unless you specifically
select it.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change nomail.afraid.org to ody.ca to reply by email.
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

Jim Beard wrote:
> Helaman wrote:
>> every so often I get the red dot going on my task bar.
>> I click and it shows several pending updates. SO, I just click
>> download and get them all. Is this dangerous?
>
> For a home machine, not required to meet any special
> requirements for security, what you do is normal.
>
> Many of those who leave their computer on 24/7 create
> a little script and have it run as root every night to
> download and install all updates. If you do this, you
> have to inspect the logs in /var/log to see if there
> were any problems.
>
> And, in earlier versions, you had to deliberately install
> a new kernel. The automatic update would not do it for
> you. I am not sure this is still true, but you should
> check http://www.mandriva.com/en/rss/feed/security
> to make sure you do not miss any needed security updates.
> Doing that will make sure you are aware of any kernel
> updates.
>
> Cheers!
>
> jim b.
>
The 2008.0 automatic update has installed several kernel updates for me,
with nothing on my part other than an okey-dokey. I do still have to do
a reboot before it takes effect, though. The old kernel is not deleted
automatically - that has to be done manually.

TJ

David W. Hodgins wrote:
> Any way, even if it does auto-install the new kernel, It won't
> reboot, for you, or load the new kernel, unless you specifically
> select it.

On a reboot, the latest kernel version *is* automatically selected as
the default, even though the latest version is *also* listed at the
bottom of the versions list.
Art

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:00:09 -0500, art <artmartz@triad.rr.com> wrote:

> On a reboot, the latest kernel version *is* automatically selected as
> the default, even though the latest version is *also* listed at the
> bottom of the versions list.

If you're booting using the symlink vmlinux, then you will get
the new kernel, on reboot. In /etc/sysconfig/installkernel, I have
NOLINK="yes"
to prevent the creation of the symlinks in /boot, and specify the
full names in lilo.conf.

In my case, I don't automatically get the new kernel, but I'd forgotten
that this is not the default behaviour. Thanks for the correction.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change nomail.afraid.org to ody.ca to reply by email.
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

Helaman wrote:
> Hello guys
>
> every so often I get the red dot going on my task bar.
> I click and it shows several pending updates.
> I scroll through them but I don't have time to invesigate
> everything.
>
> SO, I just click download and get them all.
>
> Is this dangerous?
>
> so far so good..
I didn't know 2008 had a new automatic installer, yet, I was happily
surprised when all the needed files were there with it. What I just
thought is that sometimes the new mdrv files are newer than a plf file,
as in mplayer. My problem then is that it doesn't play some of the movies.

On 2008-02-24, David W. Hodgins <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:47:26 -0500, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> you. I am not sure this is still true, but you should
>> check http://www.mandriva.com/en/rss/feed/security
>> to make sure you do not miss any needed security updates.
>> Doing that will make sure you are aware of any kernel
>> updates.
>
> I'm not sure either, as I know I've made changes in /etc/urpmi/skip.list,
> in the past.

Yes, new kernel are installed by default. It is not installed if you
remove the kernel-latest package (which is installed by default).