On Linux upgrades

[sawyl]

I've been working with one of my colleagues on a plan to upgrade the production version of Linux on one of the tin gods. Being supremely laid back about the whole thing, I produced a plan with three steps:

1. Install new kernel
2. Shutdown
3. Reboot

Needless to say, my colleague and the High Commander wanted more detail, so we came up with a plan with ℵ0 steps and scheduled some downtime for next week. Unfortunately, it looks like there's way too much work to do in next to no time, so it looks like we're going to have to ditch a load of stuff. While attempt to cheer up my despairing cow orker, I remembered Karl von Clausewitz' famous quote:

No Battle Plan Survives First Contact With the Enemy.

I bet if he were alive today, Clausewitz would be a sysadmin.