Mergemaster on a distant system

[Sam Nilsson]

Erik Trulsson wrote:
> It is not necessary to reboot or go into single user mode in order to
> run mergemaster, and I doubt the handbook says it is necessary.
> 
> It is sometimes necessary to reboot with a new kernel to let
> installworld work properly, but most of the time rebooting is not
> needed.
> 
> It is usually a good idea to boot into single-user mode to make sure
> that there is no programs running in the background that can disrupt/be
> disrupted by  the upgrade process, but it is rarely necessary.

That's right. Just to chime in, I did the whole make buildworld ...
buildkernel ... installworld ... mergemaster all over ssh yesterday.

For me it wasn't much of a risk because the computer was in the same
room. The biggest risk is that the new kernel doesn't boot up. I don't
know how often that happens, but that is what I would worry about if I
didn't have access to the boot prompt.

Anyway, my upgade went flawlessly. Just shut down all services except
for sshd that are running before you installworld and mergemaster.

- Sam Nilsson