installing new kernels

[Michael Meissner]

In article <2534 at sud509.ed.ray.com> heiser at tdw206.ed.ray.com (Bill
Heiser - Unix Sys Admin) writes:

| I've always been under the impression that a machine should be
| in single user mode before installing a new kernel.  As such,
| I've always brought the machine down before removing /unix and
| installing the new version there.
| 
| If a machine is in a controlled lab environment where no one
| else will be logged in, is there any reason not to install a
| new /unix while in multi-user mode (with me being logged in 
| across the ethernet)?  The procedure would be something like this:
| 
| - build new kernel
| - get rid of all logged in users
| - cd /
| - remove (or move) old /unix
| - cp in new unix
| - shutdown -r (or whatever to reboot)
| 
| Is there a problem with this?  All the manuals, etc, always
| say to be in single user.  Is there a reason for that?

I do it all the time, though I usually take it a step further by doing
it from a modem from home.  Obviously, if the kernel is bad, I lose in
the modem case, but thems the breaks.  I believe the main reason the
manuals says to go to standalone mode is to prevent people from
logging in after you have started copying the kernel, since ps
typically goes off into the wild blue yonder if the installed kernel
is not the same as the kernel running.
--
Michael Meissner	email: meissner at osf.org		phone: 617-621-8861
Open Software Foundation, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA, 02142

You are in a twisty little passage of standards, all conflicting.