[rhelv6-list] Apache 2.2 EOL - what is Red Hat's story for RHEL6?

[Bryan Smith]

On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 6:34 PM, Alan McKay <alan.mckay at gmail.com> wrote:
> So looks like the definitive answer is here for those who have access
> https://access.redhat.com/solutions/2595461

Indeed, I missed that solution.

> What I don't understand is in the top left it says "solution
> unverified" and I"m not sure what that means.

It can mean many things.

Typical Rule-of-Thumb:  The Customer Access Portal is driven by
Customers (and Partners), especially when it comes to Support Cases
and related Support Entitlement.**

E.g., "Solution Verified" could mean ...
 - A Customer and/or Partner Case has not been filed, where ...
 - The Solution has been used, and ...
 - The Customer/Partner Verified the Solution to Solve their Problem

A lot of more "Info" type "Solutions" go "Unverified" whereas an
actual "Procedure" would likely be "Verified."

> Basic summary is that RH will continue to support apache 2.2 to the
> end of life of RHEL6

Red Hat tends to backport by default, rebase only sparingly, and only
during Phase 1 (and 2 if absolutely required), and virtually never
during Phase 3, of the RHEL Life Cycle.

I cannot think of a single subsystem where Red Hat has flat out
'deprecated' support for something, not even in Phase 3, and I don't
see them ever doing it to anything remotely of the importance and
proliferation of Apache.

- bjs

**P.S.  Several other vendors, on the other hand, I've seen a number
of rebasing and API/ABI breakage very late in their cycles, if they
even supported more than 5 years.  It's part of the reason why those
entities I were at went Red Hat the next time their support agreement
was up.  The literal, "They are charging as much as Red Hat, so why
not Red Hat?"

Understand what a Red Hat "Entitlement" is really about.  It's not so
much a "License," like most people think of "Commercial Software."
It's an Entitlement of Support.  E.g.,
 - To pay for the [Sustaining] Engineering to backport newer 2.4 fixes
to 2.2 after EoL, which no one is doing in the "Upstream" any more
 - To pay the Support to answer Cases or Inquiries like the one you just made
 - Etc...

So if you don't want to be at the mercy of Upstream, consider what
that "Entitlement" gives you.  It's not just Red Hat 'leeching' off of
Upstream.  And it pays for a lot of Upstream development too.



--
Bryan J Smith  -  http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith
E-mail:  b.j.smith at ieee.org  or  me at bjsmith.me