greetings
i used to use slackware years ago. i would still use it in conjunction with CentOS etc if i had more time and extra financial resources.
thing is, years ago i used to subscribe to reminder emails from packages like Apache httpd etc and they would tickle me when new releases or betas were available. i still get emails from them...
anyways, the question i am wondering is... when a mainstream package like Apache httpd is upgraded to a newer version and released by the package maintainers, how long does it take for that to be picked up by our "upstream" and then incorporated and pushed to CentOS availability?
thanks in advance
- rh
-- Robert - Abba Communications Computers & Internet Sales/Service www.abbacomm.net
On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 11:45, Robert wrote:
anyways, the question i am wondering is... when a mainstream package like Apache httpd is upgraded to a newer version and released by the package maintainers, how long does it take for that to be picked up by our "upstream" and then incorporated and pushed to CentOS availability?
The short answer is 'never'. The point of enterprise distributions is that within their lifespan there are never major changes to the included applications. Instead, the old versions are supported by backporting security and bug fixes to the original releases so anything that depends on current behavior does not break. Sometimes that's what you want; sometimes it isn't...
Personally I wish there were an intermediate between fedora and Centos that had a slow release cycle for the operating system and hardware-related components but stayed close to the developers on the desktop/application side. That way you wouldn't have to screw up a nice stable installation with new device drivers you don't need just so you can have the recent improvements to OO and Evolution (which won't crash the machine even if they have a problem). But, nobody does it that way.
On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 12:22 -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 11:45, Robert wrote:
anyways, the question i am wondering is... when a mainstream package like Apache httpd is upgraded to a newer version and released by the package maintainers, how long does it take for that to be picked up by our "upstream" and then incorporated and pushed to CentOS availability?
The short answer is 'never'. The point of enterprise distributions is that within their lifespan there are never major changes to the included applications. Instead, the old versions are supported by backporting security and bug fixes to the original releases so anything that depends on current behavior does not break. Sometimes that's what you want; sometimes it isn't...
Right ... during the lifetime of CentOS-4, it will most likely be httpd-2.0.52-*
IF (not likely) the upstream el4 distro changes to a newer version, so will CentOS.
CentOS's goal is to have the exact same versions as the upstream el4 distro.
} Johnny Hughes wrote... } } Right ... during the lifetime of CentOS-4, it will most likely be } httpd-2.0.52-* } } IF (not likely) the upstream el4 distro changes to a newer version, so } will CentOS. } } CentOS's goal is to have the exact same versions as the upstream el4 } distro.
i appreciate the info
under what circumstance(s), if any, does the upstream bail on it's normal policy and procedure and include a large package update whether it is for httpd or anything else as an upgrade ???
to me, it is "kinda" actually happening behind the scenes when they backport security patches etc... YET... is it just really based upon the fact that they actually charge for support and want to keep things somewhat more manageable on a broader scale when dealing the the public in general or??
thanks
- rh
-- Robert - Abba Communications Computers & Internet Sales/Service www.abbacomm.net
On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 13:36 -0700, Robert wrote:
} Johnny Hughes wrote... } } Right ... during the lifetime of CentOS-4, it will most likely be } httpd-2.0.52-* } } IF (not likely) the upstream el4 distro changes to a newer version, so } will CentOS. } } CentOS's goal is to have the exact same versions as the upstream el4 } distro.
i appreciate the info
under what circumstance(s), if any, does the upstream bail on it's normal policy and procedure and include a large package update whether it is for httpd or anything else as an upgrade ???
to me, it is "kinda" actually happening behind the scenes when they backport security patches etc... YET... is it just really based upon the fact that they actually charge for support and want to keep things somewhat more manageable on a broader scale when dealing the the public in general or??
Their policy is here:
http://www.redhat.com/advice/speaks_backport.html
Basically, they will upgrade items that do not break functionality ... but will backport security fixes that do break functionality. So Mozilla, FireFox, etc. will get upgraded ... xorg, gnome, kde, httpd, etc. will get backports.
While it's not directly related to the original thread, there are also efforts to bring some major version changes to centos. These are in the centosplus repository and are mostly contributions from the community that are confirmed working & reasonably stable. Most of them are a major break from the stock centos, things like php5, a kernel with support for xfs/jfs/ntfs etc. Just an FYI.
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Jim Perrin -
Johnny Hughes -
Les Mikesell -
Robert