[CentOS] "yum --security" and staying with 5.0

Wed Dec 12 16:32:33 UTC 2007
Karanbir Singh <mail-lists at karan.org>

Kai Schaetzl wrote:
> Karanbir Singh wrote on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:41:49 +0000:
> 
>> thats mostly correct, except for the fact that there will be only 3 
>> releases in any branch, so while /5/ will continue to be supported for 
>> the 7 years + that a EL version is, the 5.1 will only exist for 18 
>> months,
> 
> Yes, that is clear. But now I'm still not sure about the "point releases" 
> (minor version no.s) and their life cycle. 
> There will be 5.1.1, 5.1.2 and 5.1.3. no more?

redhat will do 5.1.1 5.1.2 5.1.3 - we will do 5.1.z and just call it 
that. which is what makes it different from /5/

and yes 18 months = 3 6monthly updates, which is what upstream seem to 
be doing at the moment. so when you get to 5.1.3, its end of the road. 
So you can see why we dont really want people to default into that zone. 
and why redhat is actually asking people to pay more money to get into a 
branch.

> How long will their support cycle be? As long as 5? As long as 5.1?

no. I already answered this question in my last email.

>> "for a period of time next to the latest version of the 5 series"
> I think I misunderstand this again (in my last reply). The "latest version 
> of the 5 series" would be (for me) the latest version of the 5 series that 
> ever comes out. So, basically, it means the end of the life cyle of 5 (7+ 
> years). That's obviously not what it means. We should rather read it as 
> "the latest version at this point in time" which would be "the current 
> version at that time"? So, 5.1.1 branch will be supported as long as 5.1 
> is supported, then both go to 5.2?

you are confusing yourself beyond what is required. So let me restate 
this again.

There is 1 Distro - its called CentOS-5, and its what most people run.

Every 6 odd months, the ISOS are rebuilt to include all updates released 
in the last 6 months and also some bugfix's. These new ISOS are called 
5.x ( so 5.1 and 5.2 etc ). So that people know what ISO set they have 
downloaded and installed. Its no - as some people seem to be confused 
about - a new Distro or a completely new release.

What Redhat is now also going to offer in about 6 months time, is the 
ability for people to just stay within one branch of the release ( so, 
people who installed 5.1 might want to stay within the 5.1 package set 
and not get any enhancements, or bugfix's or package updates - they just 
get a very small subset of security fixs ). And to do that you would 
need to put your machine into a Branch, which will be called 
5.x.<something>. ( eg. for the entire life of 5.1.* your redhat-release 
file on centos is going to say : CentOS release 5.1.z (Branch) )

If you still dont get it, dont worry - just sit back for 6 months. The 
situation will hopefully clear itself out in that time. There is nothing 
that needs to be done now, and there is no 5.0.* Branch.

-- 
Karanbir Singh : http://www.karan.org/  : 2522219 at icq