Filepro-list Digest, Vol 92, Issue 14

[Boaz Bezborodko]

> Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:38:10 -0700 From: Bill Campbell 
> <bill at celestial.com> Subject: Re: Looking for someone to set up a new 
> server To: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com Message-ID: 
> <20110913213810.GB26715 at ayn.mi.celestial.com> Content-Type: 
> text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Tue, Sep 13, 2011, Fairlight wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 02:48:52PM -0400, Boaz Bezborodko, the prominent pundit,
>> witicized:
>>> I can wait a bit if necessary, but I remember going with Centos 4 just
>>> as 5 was coming out.  I don't like loading a new OS into an operating
>>> system and especially not in software that hasn't be certified for it.
>>> I could be convinced to go with 5, but since our demands don't grow all
>>> that quickly servers tend to last 4 or 5 years.  I was just trying to
>>> avoid outdating the OS too early.
>> CentOS 5 has official updates until March 31, 2014.  I'd take that over
>> going to CentOS 6 straightaway.  It's part of the cost of doing business on
>> linux servers and expecting stability--you sacrifice the first year or so
>> of any given life-cycle.  That's just the way it's always been with even
>> the best distros.
>>
>> I really do concur with Bill on staying with 5.x for now.
>>
>> Even after that point, given that SRPMs are readily available, you can
>> still hold it together with duct tape and baling wire.  Grab the SRPM,
>> install it, rip out the old source and patches, drop in the new vendor
>> source, and build the RPM.  Often, things need to be tweaked a bit if they
>> won't build, but sometimes you get lucky and nothing extra is necessary to
>> make it work.  You thus get new versions with CentOS stock configs.  I've
>> held both Red Hat and SuSE systems together for up to 2yrs past EOL using
>> this methodology.  Not as easy as grabbing vendor updates, slightly more
>> expensive depending on the package (PHP is a lot bitchier than OpenSSL,
>> for instance...I know kernel developers that would rather reinstall a new
>> OS than upgrade PHP this way, since PHP breaks things on a z-level point
>> release [where z is in x.y.z version numbers), but I've done it with 100%
>> success rates), but definitely doable.  Even without SRPMs, it's possible
>> to hold a system together well past EOL (even without the stuff Bill uses),
>> but it's a nice shortcut that meshes with the vendor stock specs.  You
>> never know the difference, the way I go about it.
> We don't worry about vendor updates for most server software,
> openssh, openssl, apache, postfix, postgresql, etc. as we use
> these from the OpenPKG portable package management system.  This
> is a system that's completely independent of the underlying
> vendor's packaging system, and works with Linux, FreeBSD, HP-UX,
> etc., and I even have the critical parts running on OSR 5.0.6a.
> Using these doesn't break the vendor's on-line updates or touch
> vendor stuff beyond adding a few cron entries, the start/stop
> scripts, and pointing the vendor's sendmail to the proper place.
>
> Typically critical updates for the OpenPKG SRPMS are done within
> 24 hours of the source's updates for things like clamav, either
> done by the OpenPKG team or I do them myself for packages where
> I've done some customization.
>
> Bill
> -- INTERNET: bill at celestial.com Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC 
> URL: http://www.celestial.com/ PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way Voice: 
> (206) 236-1676 Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820 Fax: (206) 232-9186 Skype: 
> jwccsllc (206) 855-5792 People who relieve others of their money with 
> guns are called robbers. It does not alter the immorality of the act 
> when the income transfer is carried out by government.

Thanks for pointing me to OpenPKG.  That alleviates the problem of 
having to manually track the packages I am using or relegating myself to 
whatever versions RH or Centos maintains.

Boaz