kernel upgrade with yum removed old kernels

[Rahul Sundaram]

Kam Leo wrote:

> The life time of a Fedora release is short. Previous FC releases had
> less than 10 kernel updates. The number is probably on the same scale
> as a RHEL release over a longer period of time.
> 

If you notice the number of end users asking about editing grub to 
change the number of kernels have just about disappeared compared to the 
time before the plugin was introduced. That is a pretty strong 
indication that this plugin had the desired effect and is helpful.

RHEL tends to attract sys admins. If you buying a subscription you are 
probably already invested in time and resources towards a solution and 
hence usually more experienced.

Fedora tends to attract a lot more new users. Barrier to entry is low - 
zero cost, free media, retail redistribution. Latest software is 
appealing to desktop folks. A plugin which manages the kernels in a 
reasonable way is useful for this audience. Others who are more 
experienced can very easily tweak it or turn it off.

> Since reaching 2.6.18 the number and velocity of kernel changes
> reaching the user base is greater. Why?

Security issues, bugs. Got to ask the kernel maintainer. Nothing 
relevant to this discussion really.

> Only if a user is running yum from the commandline. Some users
> automate updates.

If you are smart enough to tweak the default behavior which is not to do 
automatic updates then you as smart enough to change the plugin behavior 
too.

Rahul