I'm setting up a Rocks Cluster Linux system http://www.rocksclusters.org using Centos 5.3 as the OS. Rocks is an organizing framework for multi node systems, it tries to orchestrate kickstart installs across many systems and interaction among those many systems as a compute cluster.
One problem with administering these systems is that the OS updates can break the Rocks framework. I've tried Rocks with Centos5.4, but there is some incompatability. The Rocks system is based on Centos 5.2, it tolerates 5.3, but not 5.4. The Rocks experts seem to discourage us from making any RPM package updates, but I'm adventuresome enough to think that I can at least try to make some selective updates.
I wish I had access to a Centos update folder AS IT EXISTED before Centos 5.4 was released. The last update set that applied to 5.3,in other words. But I can't figure how to get that, because Centos servers just have the current updates under a folder marked 5. If I try to update against the current 5 server, it will pull in lots and lots of new RPMS from the Centos base, and I don't want that.
I can't afford the risk of updating against the current Centos offerings because Rocks might not work anymore, or so I'm told by the Rocks experts.
Any ideas about how to go back in time and get the last 5.3 update batch??
pj
I wish I had access to a Centos update folder AS IT EXISTED before Centos 5.4 was released. The last update set that applied to 5.3,in other words.
Crap, I just removed one with no backups.
On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM, Alan McKay alan.mckay@gmail.com wrote:
I wish I had access to a Centos update folder AS IT EXISTED before Centos 5.4 was released. The last update set that applied to 5.3,in other words.
Crap, I just removed one with no backups.
Actually, nope, I still have a copy. All 18G of it.
Not sure what would be the best way to get it to you if you cannot find it elsewhere.
On Mon, 7 Dec 2009, Alan McKay wrote:
I wish I had access to a Centos update folder AS IT EXISTED before Centos 5.4 was released. The last update set that applied to 5.3,in other words.
Crap, I just removed one with no backups.
and 1) as it was partially inconsistent with upstream, and prior practice, as some items were pushed 'early' compared to prior release processes, and 2) since vault.centos.org has all, with datestamps to permit building any particular point in time variant,
... this is important just how?
-- Russ herrold
On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 6:03 PM, R P Herrold herrold@centos.org wrote:
On Mon, 7 Dec 2009, Alan McKay wrote:
I wish I had access to a Centos update folder AS IT EXISTED before Centos 5.4 was released. The last update set that applied to 5.3,in other words.
Crap, I just removed one with no backups.
and 1) as it was partially inconsistent with upstream, and prior practice, as some items were pushed 'early' compared to prior release processes, and 2) since vault.centos.org has all, with datestamps to permit building any particular point in time variant,
... this is important just how?
-- Russ herrold
2) 5.3 is NOT on the vault.
3) This is important for the reasons the OP described in his post. Just because you may already know the answer does not make it unimportant to the OP.
On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 6:12 PM, John R Pierce pierce@hogranch.com wrote:
Lars Hecking wrote:
Any ideas about how to go back in time and get the last 5.3 update batch??
Grab a copy of centos/5.3/updates along with centos/5.3/os from your nearest CentOS mirror and set up your own local repository.
that's been purged from the mirrors.
Not true, and it's the thing that's most irritating about this policy. The RPMs are still there, just not the sqlite repodata files that yum needs. So if you got to a mirror, you can see all of the files, but yum doesn't work.
The only way is to make your own repo. You need to mirror the files you want, then install "createrepo". After you've got that installed: cd centos/5.3 for dir in */x86_64/ */i386/ do createrepo --database $dir done
Then you can make a new repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d pointing to your new location.
On 07/12/09 23:19, Brian Mathis wrote:
Not true, and it's the thing that's most irritating about this policy. The RPMs are still there, just not the sqlite repodata files that yum needs. So if you got to a mirror, you can see all of the files, but yum doesn't work.
well, Brian - you seem to be looking in the wrong place, also you are mistaken about requirements for sqlite data. So, here is where it stands:
5.3 has not been moved to vault.c.o as yet, due to disk space issues, we should have that resolved in the next few weeks. Once its moved, it will exist there for as long as we are able to keep it ( we still have all of 2.1 / 3.* / 4.* and 5.* so far )
all metadata for 5.3 is still available in the right place. eg: http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.3/updates/i386/repodata/ http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.3/os/i386/repodata/
Every release ever done by CentOS stays public, and we make every effort to keep atleast the binary and source files available ( so this best-effort-warranty does not extend to debuginfo pkgs ).
hth
- KB
On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 6:25 PM, Karanbir Singh mail-lists@karan.org wrote:
On 07/12/09 23:19, Brian Mathis wrote:
Not true, and it's the thing that's most irritating about this policy. The RPMs are still there, just not the sqlite repodata files that yum needs. So if you got to a mirror, you can see all of the files, but yum doesn't work.
well, Brian - you seem to be looking in the wrong place, also you are mistaken about requirements for sqlite data. So, here is where it stands:
5.3 has not been moved to vault.c.o as yet, due to disk space issues, we should have that resolved in the next few weeks. Once its moved, it will exist there for as long as we are able to keep it ( we still have all of 2.1 / 3.* / 4.* and 5.* so far )
all metadata for 5.3 is still available in the right place. eg: http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.3/updates/i386/repodata/ http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.3/os/i386/repodata/
Every release ever done by CentOS stays public, and we make every effort to keep atleast the binary and source files available ( so this best-effort-warranty does not extend to debuginfo pkgs ).
hth
- KB
Yes, you are right and I was mistaken. I had performed a server install the other day and yum was having issues getting updates because of missing sqlite files. Apparently this was related to something else, as I performed another install today that was able to apply 5.3 updates just fine.
However, the situation does highlight one of the other irritating aspects of the discussion, which is that whenever the topic of holding back a system to an older release comes up, it results in a pigpile of snarky comments about how wrong I am to want to hold back, as if everyone else knows how to manage my environment better than I do.
I'm not saying that's what happened here, but that approach quickly discourages any discussion along those lines, and any resolution of the underlying problem is missed.
The problem highlighted by the OP, and the issue with VMware Server are both very good examples why one might want to hold back updates. In an enterprise environment, it's perfectly reasonable to want to apply updates to the current version but not upgrade to the next, and reducing the hostility towards this sort of discussion would go a long way in fostering community relationships.
Paul Johnson wrote:
I wish I had access to a Centos update folder AS IT EXISTED before Centos 5.4 was released. The last update set that applied to 5.3,in other words. But I can't figure how to get that, because Centos servers just have the current updates under a folder marked 5. If I try to update against the current 5 server, it will pull in lots and lots of new RPMS from the Centos base, and I don't want that.
Any ideas about how to go back in time and get the last 5.3 update batch??
pj
Looks like the mirror sites still have the 5.3 updates at (for x86):
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.3/updates/i386/RPMS/
so I imagine you could manually edit the /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo file and put "5.3" in there explicitly.
Usually, though, old versions like 5.3 are eventually removed from the regular mirror servers and moved to the "vault" site, where you'd be able to access it via:
once it's moved there (not populated at present).
-Greg
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Alan McKay -
Brian Mathis -
Greg Bailey -
John R Pierce -
Karanbir Singh -
Lars Hecking -
Paul Johnson -
R P Herrold