2014-06-26 16:48:13 +00:00
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---
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layout: post
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title: "Upgrades requiring a reboot on Linux? At last!"
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2016-02-26 15:19:42 +00:00
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date: 2012-06-22T20:04:51Z
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2014-06-26 16:48:13 +00:00
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tags: [linux]
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permalink: /blog/2012/6/22/upgrades-requiring-a-reboot-on-linux-at-last
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published: true
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author:
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name: Gergely Polonkai
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email: gergely@polonkai.eu
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---
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I’ve recently received an article on Google+ about Fedora’s new idea: package
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upgrades that require a reboot. The article said that Linux guys have lost
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their primary adoo: “Haha! I don’t have to reboot my system to install system
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upgrades!” My answer was always this: “Well, actually you should…”
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I think this can be a great idea if distros implement it well. PackageKit was
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a good first step on this road. That software could easily solve such an
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issue. However, it is sooo easy to do it wrong. The kernel, of course, can not
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be upgraded online (or could it be? I have some theories on this subject,
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wonder if it can be implemented…), but other packages are much different.
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From the users’ point of view the best would be if the packages would be
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upgraded in the background seemlessly. E.g. PackageKit should check if the
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given executable is running. If not, it should upgrade it, while notifying the
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user like “Hey dude, don’t start Anjuta now, I’m upgrading it!”, or simply
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denying to start it. Libraries are a bit different, as PackageKit should check
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if any running executables are using the library. Meanwhile, PK should also
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keep a notification somewhere telling the users that some packages could be
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upgraded, but without stopping this-and-that, it can not be done.
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I know these things are easier said than done. But I think (a) users should
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tell such ideas to the developers and (b) developers (mostly large companies,
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like Microsoft or Apple) should listen to them, and at least think of these
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ideas. Some users are not as stupid as they think…
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