[rancid] Re: upgrade from 2.3.2-a7-2?

[Per Carlson]

Hi.

This is more related to managing a Debian-based (like Ubuntu) server
than a RANCID topic, but I'll answer it here anyway.

> I had the 3 packages mentioned previously installed.  What someone did when packaging for Ubuntu was to split the installation into 3 different debian packages (why??? Who knows...)

This is a very normal approach in the Debian world.

If, for example, a software is a bundle of several components that
functions seperatly, some users are only interested in componentA,
while others in componentB. Why forcing users to install components
(which potentionally could be large) they don't use? Instead Debian
splits the (binary) package in componentA and B, and gives the users
the freedom to choose.

That's exactly the argument here: some wants to run the looking glass
portion of RANCID, and others want to run the configuration
maintenance task, and some of *those* also want the web-ui.

(There are other arguments behind splitting a package, but they don't
apply to RANCID.)

> If I uninstall the package, then I will lose my configs and repository, right?

No you won't (but a backup never hurts). Debian differs between
"uninstall" and "purge". Uninstall don't remove any config files or
data files, just binaries (this is not 100% correct, but I'll drop the
details here). Purge on the other hand also removes the config files,
and potentionally the data files.

> How would you handle this?  I think I need to uninstall the 3 rancid packages and build from source.  I just don't want to lose everything in the process.

The best way to do this is using multiple package sources. You can use
the normal repository for Hardy as normal, and add a "lastest and
greatest" repository separatly. You then use APT-Pinning to set the
priorities between the repositories (Hardy as default, "lastest and
greatest" when specifically asked for). A simple web-search returns a
lot of guides and howto's on the topic.

As a side note: tracking "lastest and greatest" is much easier in
Debian (always testing and/or unstable) then in Ubuntu (right now:
lucid).

-- 
Pelle