[K12OSN] Release cycle too fast

[Rob Owens]

Jim,

Just to be clear, are you saying that I can apt or yum
from one release version and end up with the latest
release version?  for example, using yum to upgrade
from FC2 to FC3.

-Rob

--- Jim McQuillan <jam at mcquil.com> wrote:

> Rob,
> 
> What you've described below is exactly how apt works
> with debian.
> 
> and I think that's how yum works on fedora.
> 
> Jim McQuillan
> jam at Ltsp.org
> 
> 
> On Fri, 1 Apr 2005, Rob Owens wrote:
> 
> > I realize that I'm asking for a lot, and I don't
> want
> > it interpreted as me being ungrateful.  I'm just
> > trying to give input from the point of view of
> > somebody who is primarily a user, and not an
> > administrator.
> >
> > I realize that I can manually install packages,
> and
> > even source if I need to.  I've done it before,
> but
> > one of the really great things about linux is the
> > automatic dependency-checking installers like apt,
> > yum, urpmi (for Mandrake).  But keeping an old
> system
> > up to date without that would mean being on an
> email
> > list for every application that the old system
> runs so
> > I could keep informed of security updates.
> >
> > Thanks for the explanation of applications,
> libraries,
> > etc.  I'm still a bit confused about it.  I don't
> > understand why this situation is not possible: 
> I'm
> > running FC1.  Application "xyz" needs updating,
> but no
> > packages are available because FC1 is unsupported.
> > yum xyz2 to get the updated package from the FC2
> > repository.  But xyz2 requires abc version 2.  My
> > system has abc version 1.  yum uninstalls xyz1,
> > uninstalls abc version 1, installs abc version 2,
> and
> > installs xyz.  Of course, it also has to take into
> > account what else depends on abc version 1 and
> upgrade
> > that to a version that can use abc version 2.  It
> gets
> > complicated, but isn't that what these packaging
> > systems are supposed to do?  Conceivably, with
> enough
> > updates, my FC1 system could become FC2.  At least
> > that's the way it seems to me, so tell me why I'm
> > wrong.  (I'm sure I am, otherwise we'd already be
> > doing it that way).
> >
> > -Rob
> >
> > --- Petre Scheie <petre at maltzen.net> wrote:
> >
> > > When you consider that "an application" isn't
> really
> > > a single entity but rather  a
> > > collection of files--the main executables,
> myriad
> > > support libraries, drivers,
> > > etc.--updating even just one application isn't
> > > updating just one thing.  And very often,
> > > those support libraries and drivers are used by
> more
> > > than one application--that's the
> > > point of an operating system.  So, a problem is
> > > found in one of the libraries, and a new
> > > version is created that fixes the problem.  But
> that
> > > change may mean that some
> > > applications have to also be changed to work
> with
> > > the new library.  Most distros come
> > > with more than 2000 applications, many
> > > inter-related. And many/most of those
> > > applications are being further developed. In
> some
> > > ways, it's amazing they don't release
> > > new versions more often than they do.
> > >
> > > Having said that, you don't need to upgrade the
> > > whole OS just to keep, for example, SSH
> > > current.  You DO have to step outside the
> automated
> > > tools the Distro vendor provides,
> > > and go to installing the packages manually, but
> on a
> > > 'older' system that is relatively
> > > static--that is, you're not adding additional
> > > functionality--that's not that hard.  I
> > > have some RH 8 boxes in which we just upgrade
> the
> > > SSH package as necessary.
> > >
> > > If you want to buy 'tires' for your
> > > more-than-two-year-old system, and 'buy' is the
> key
> > > word here, check out progeny.com.  For $60 per
> year
> > > per box, they will provide patches
> > > for your Red Hat 7.2, 7.3, 8.0, systems, and
> other
> > > custom platforms for a fee.  For a
> > > business, it's a pretty good deal.  If you want
> FREE
> > > updates you have to go where free
> > > stuff is available, and that means things like
> > > Fedora.  Perhaps linux usage will some
> > > day reach a critical mass such that there will
> be
> > > enough people involved that there will
> > > be some interested in continually maintaining
> older
> > > distributions for free.  But I
> > > suspect that day is a ways off yet.
> > >
> > > Petre
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! Personals - Better first dates. More second
> dates.
> > http://personals.yahoo.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > K12OSN mailing list
> > K12OSN at redhat.com
> > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn
> > For more info see <http://www.k12os.org>
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> K12OSN mailing list
> K12OSN at redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn
> For more info see <http://www.k12os.org>
> 



		
__________________________________ 
Yahoo! Messenger 
Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun. 
http://www.advision.webevents.yahoo.com/emoticontest