Re: [cobalt-users] Newbie question on patches for RaQ 4i

[Carrie Bartkowiak <ravencarrie@xxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 27 Aug 2001 11:27:40 -0500, Jerry Kemp mumbled something 
like:
>>How do you tell what patches are installed??

In the GUI: Maintenance-->Install Software
You'll find a list of installed patches here. They're listed 
alphabetically rather than numerically, so you'll have to look around 
a bit when comparing numbers.

>>Do you need to be in single user mode to apply patches??

You can install patches from the command line, but it's not 
necessary. Either copy the URL from the Cobalt support site and paste 
it into the URL field on the Install Software page (then hit Install 
this pkg package), or cd into /home/packages and wget the package. 
Then when you go to the Install Software page, the one you just wgot 
will be listed there for you, ready to install.

>>Does the 4i have some type of a nice patch tool like PatchDiagTool
>>like in the Solaris world??

I'm not sure what this is but the RaQ does have the GUI install 
software page, so that might be akin to what you're looking for. 
There's nothing in the GUI that installs patches automatically, 
although there are plenty of scripts floating around in the archives 
(both here and on the cobalt-security list) that will do such things 
for you. I don't recommend installing patches until you've gotten 
reports from other, braver, users that things are bug-free.

>>Is there some type of a FAQ or something that someone could
>>send me the URL on that covers patching in the Cobalt/linux 
world???

Here it is:
Check the Cobalt support page for your particular blend of RaQ.
Start from the bottom of the page and work your way up, comparing 
numbers to what's listed on your Install Software page.
Copy/Paste the URLs for the patches (again, from the bottom up - 
that's oldest to newest) and hit the little button.
Allow it to reboot if necessary.
Cross your fingers and all ten of your toes. Pray - really hard.
;)

That's it!

>>  I have RTFM'ed the RaQ 4 manual several times, and although
>>it covers quite a few topics, patches, are just
>>not that obvious to me.

While a lot of people bash Cobalt for their lack of documented 
support in so many areas, I can somewhat understand. There's no 
possible way that they can guess what level of knowledge every user 
is going to have. They can assume that someone will have a good look 
around the GUI before asking questions, but that's about it - and 
half the time people don't even do that. Just the cobalt-users list 
members range from the Linux/administration clueless to 
mega-cisco-network gods - trying to write a how-to manual on every 
little detail about the machine to span such a knowledge base is next 
to impossible.

Welcome to the world of the little blue headaches!  *grin*
--
CarrieB
"The point to remember is that what the government gives, it must 
first take away." --John S. Coleman