[lug] Redhat Enterprise Linux

[Nate Duehr]

Joseph McDonald wrote:

>>If you want a free OS to last several years on a stable server and have
>>someone else do the packaging of the security/bug/errata fixes to the
>>software installed, I believe it is time to switch to a new distro.  If
>>you don't mind following the security releases, taking the redhat srpms,
>>patching them yourself, rebuilding them, etc., then you can continue to
>>use Redhat or Suse or any other "consumer" versioned distro.
> 
> 
> I wonder if using APT (http://apt.freshrpms.net/) and doing dist-upgrades
> would keep a system current. Does anyone know how packaging works behind
> the scenes at freshrpms.net?

That's one of the pluses and minuses of Debian... the update process for 
both the distribution itself and the security patches is well-documented 
and open for review.

I assume freshrpms has some sort of QA process on their stuff too, but 
don't know.

The idea of KRUD getting new life from RH's change of direction is 
appealing.

We've all been wondering about this stuff a bit lately at our shop, and 
being able to say there's a locally-produced RH variant with updates 
available that doesn't cost more than the entire company's IT budget for 
licensing will certainly be another useful option to look at for our 
systems.  Especially considering others at the office appear a little 
afraid of Debian/SuSE as alternatives.

In reality, it's all about the kernel... the rest is just details.  ;-)

-- 
Nate Duehr, nate at natetech.com

"A mind is like a parachute--you should open it only in certain
very specific life-threatening situations." - Frank Willison