CentOS - Jan 2011 - how to move forward/undo/revert/fix re: a failed CentOS 5.5 to SL 5.5 migration ...

For various reasons which seemingly fail the necessary/sufficient
tests with the benefit of hindsight, I attempted to migrate a shell
machine which is the beach front from which I work (not a production
server) from CentOS 5.5 to Scientific Linux 5.5 yesterday.

Karanbir is quoted on this list as having said something like:

"All that you should need to do is install centos-release, remove
redhat-release rpms and just yum update the machine, which should
bring in all packages changed by CentOS ( since they will have a
slightly higher E-V-R )."

In other words, is there a get out of jail card based on Karanbir's
stanza which will return the machine to a consistent state without a
fresh install?

The results from the bad migration are below the sig.

The stanza used was from the SL mailing list, namely:

"To be REALLY sure of a full conversion one might try:

yum reinstall $(rpm -qa --qf "%{name}.%{arch} %{vendor} \n" | \
  grep -i centos | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | sort | uniq | grep -v kernel)

Need special handling for kernel and kernel-devel as you will get
messages about multiple versions being allowed, and cutting off the limb
on which you are standing is not recommended."

In short, I pray for the community's thoughts about how to proceed
with either going forward, reverting back to Centos 5.5 or even RHEL
5.5 without having to do a fresh install.

THANKS for your help.

kind regards/ldv

==
[root at shell work-2011-01-25-migrate-centos55-to-scientific-linux55]#
yum list installed | grep -i centos
geronimo-specs.i386                     1.0-0.M2.2jpp.12.el5.centos    installed
geronimo-specs-compat.i386              1.0-0.M2.2jpp.12.el5.centos    installed
nss.i386                                3.12.8-1.el5.centos            installed
nss-devel.i386                          3.12.8-1.el5.centos            installed
nss-tools.i386                          3.12.8-1.el5.centos            installed
[root at shell work-2011-01-25-migrate-centos55-to-scientific-linux55]#

BUT, more devils in the details are:

[root at shell SL-rpms]# rpm -ivh kernel*
warning: kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature:
NOKEY, key ID 192a7d7d
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
        package kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i386 is already installed
        package kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686 is already installed
        package kernel-devel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686 is already installed
        file /boot/.vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.hmac from install of
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686 conflicts with file from package
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686
        file /boot/System.map-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5 from install of
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686 conflicts with file from package
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686
        file /boot/config-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5 from install of
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686 conflicts with file from package
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686
        file /boot/symvers-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.gz from install of
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686 conflicts with file from package
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686
        file /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5 from install of
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686 conflicts with file from package
kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686
        file
/lib/modules/2.6.18-194.32.1.el5/kernel/arch/i386/crypto/aes-i586.ko
from install of kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686 conflicts with file
from package kernel-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.i686