RISC OS Upgrade

About this document

This is a brief guide to the steps that you should probably go through when upgrading from one stable release of RISC OS to the next. It does not include instructions for system-specific issues (such as flash programming a new ROM) but covers the generic steps to get your disc image and at least a softload installed and working.

It assumes some level of prior RISC OS knowledge, notably how to open directories and applications in the Filer, how to move and copy things around the file system, how to extract the contents of zipfiles and so on. You may also need to understand how to edit files (such as Obey files) in order to fix issues that might crop up.

The process is not very streamlined. Some steps are being made to improve the situation by using PackMan to manage updates, but currently only the applications outside of !Boot are packaged.

Procedure to upgrade from RISC OS 5.24 or later

The procedure given here is suitable for upgrading from RISC OS 5.24 or 5.26. If you are upgrading from RISC OS 5.22 or earlier, see below.

• Download the stable HardDisc4 zipfile from the ROOL downloads page
• Open the archive and double click on the obey file called InSituBootUpdate – this will apply all the changes from the previous stable release.
  • Once InSituBootUpdate has finished, try rebooting – find out what’s broken and fix it.
  • If you are trying to upgrade from too old a version of RISC OS, InSituBootUpdate won’t work: in that case you will have to follow the procedure to upgrade from RISC OS 5.20 or 5.22 instead.
• The remainder of the contents of the HardDisc4 zipfile are ordinary applications. Simply delete the old ones you have of the same name and replace them – this is safe because none of them store any settings inside themselves, that’s all in !Boot.Choices.

That should leave you with a fully up to date !Boot on your current OS. Once that’s been shown to work for a week or two, you can progress to upgrade the OS by downloading the respective stable RISC OS 5 ROM or softload for your computer.

Procedure to upgrade from RISC OS 5.20 or 5.22

To perform an “in-situ” upgrade upgrade from these releases you will need the RISC OS 5.24 HardDisc4 zipfile and the appropriate RISC OS 5.24 ROM (if upgrading from RISC OS 5.20 you will also need the corresponding RISC OS 5.22 versions). These are not currently available for download, so if you are unable to find them elsewhere you will need to follow the procedure to upgrade from RISC OS 5.19 or earlier instead.

• If upgrading from RISC OS 5.20, unzip the RISC OS 5.22 HardDisc4 zipfile and double-click on the obey file called InSituBootUpdate – this will apply the changes necessary to bring !Boot up to the RISC OS 5.22 level. Once this is complete, install the appropriate RISC OS 5.22 ROM and reboot.
• Unzip the RISC OS 5.24 HardDisc4 zipfile and double-click on the obey file called InSituBootUpdate – this will apply the changes necessary to bring !Boot up to the RISC OS 5.24 level. Once this is complete, install the appropriate RISC OS 5.24 ROM and reboot.

You are now ready to upgrade from RISC OS 5.24, as described above.

Procedure to upgrade from RISC OS 5.19 or earlier

Whenever the OS version rolls over to the next multiple of 0.10 (5.09 to 5.10, 5.19 to 5.20, and so on) extra actions are usually required because major versions within !Boot are handled with that granularity (500, 510, 520 and so on). Rather than attempt to do this by hand, it is safer to start from the new !Boot and import any modifications you made from your old !Boot.

• Move your existing !Boot aside (rename it Boot or Old!Boot or anything not starting with a ! pling)
• Extract the new !Boot from the stable HardDisc4 zipfile from the ROOL downloads page
• Reboot – this will populate a default set of choices which correspond to your OS (this only happens once)
• Added any additional modules to your old !System?
  • Merge this with the new one by running !Configure and opening the System plug-in, then drag your old !System on top
  • Try rebooting – find out what’s broken and fix it
• Added any additional fonts to your old !Fonts?
  • Merge this with the new one by running !Configure and opening the Fonts plug-in, click Install fonts…, then drag your old !Fonts on top
  • Try rebooting – find out what’s broken and fix it
• Added any custom stuff to !Boot.Library?
  • Move these across from your old !Boot, taking care not to overwrite any newer versions
  • Try rebooting – find out what’s broken and fix it
• Added any custom stuff in !Boot.Resources?
  • This could include things like !SysLog, !ConfiX, !Packages, !UnixHome, etc. It could also include monitor definition files in !Boot.Resources.Configure.Monitors
  • Move these across from your old !Boot, many will have been updated so it’s worth getting newer copies rather than copying
  • Try rebooting – find out what’s broken and fix it
• Move across everything from your old !Boot.Choices except !Boot.Choices.Boot
  • Moving Choices.Boot will break things; it’s best to forget about it!
  • Try rebooting – find out what’s broken and fix it
• Personalise your set up (pinboard, backdrop, other things you had set up at boot time) using !Configure
• The remainder of the contents of the HardDisc4 zipfile are ordinary applications
  • Simply delete the old ones you have of the same name and replace them – this is safe because none of them store any settings inside themselves, that’s all in !Boot.Choices

That should leave you with a fully up to date !Boot on your current OS. Once that’s been shown to work for a week or two, you can progress to upgrade the OS too by downloading the respective stable RISC OS 5 ROM or softload for your computer.