[CentOS-devel] Balancing the needs around the CentOS platform

On Sun, Dec 20, 2020 at 10:19 PM Mark Mielke <mark.mielke at gmail.com> wrote:
> > In RHEL, a minor release is a branch.  You can install RHEL 7.8, and
> > keep a host on RHEL 7.8 until the end of its life cycle.  If you want
> > long term support for an OS with minimal changes, but continued support,
> > that's a thing that RHEL provides.
> You can also install CentOS 7.9, and keep a host on CentOS 7.8 until
> the end of its life cycle. That is what RHEL is. If you can prove
> otherwise, then please prove it. Show us an example of where this is
> not true.

Grrr... an unfortunate typo for me. But, I'll fix it and expand:

You can install CentOS 7.8, and keep a host on CentOS 7.8, receiving
security patches that are on both RHEL 7.8 and CentOS 7.8, until the
end of the RHEL 7.8 and CentOS 7.8 life cycle. This is because RHEL
7.8 is a branch, and CentOS is regularly importing changes from this
branch, which means that CentOS 7.8 is also a branch.

Once RHEL 7.9 is out, RHEL 7.8 is "end of life", and similarly, CentOS
7.8 is also "end of life". Once RHEL 7.9 is out, the "c7" branches are
updated to reflect RHEL 7.9, and follow the RHEL 7.9 branch, as CentOS
7.9. If there was a RHEL 7.10, then it would be on a private 7.10
branch in RHEL, and run in parallel to the 7.9 that is being imported
into CentOS 7.9.

Everything you are saying about RHEL being some branch that lives
longer than CentOS applies to RHEL EUS, not RHEL:

> You and Matthew are confusing RHEL with RHEL EUS. They are not even
> the same subscription type! Somebody who buys RHEL, is not permitted
> to access EUS, without either having a Premium subscription, or a
> separate EUS subscription.

-- 
Mark Mielke <mark.mielke at gmail.com>