what people really mean when they say they're running "5.3"?
 

On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 9:11 AM, Robert P. J. Day <rpjday@crashcourse.ca> wrote:
>
:
>
> *when i asked the organizer to identify the specific version of RHEL
> that was being used at the client site, i was told 5.3 so i can easily
> install 5.3 on the classroom machines, but i'm curious about something
> and i'll have my contact look into it: *if people *initially* install
> 5.3, is it standard behaviour to still regularly upgrade as new
> releases come out?
>
Terminology: generally an upgrade refers to moving from one major
release to another, whereas an update is moving forward to the newest
sub-release. I.e., CentOS 5.5 -> CentOS 6.0 will be an upgrade (and
not recommended as an upgrade per se), whereas CentOS 5.3 -> CentOS
5.5 is an update.

> *obviously, i have to ask my contact to verify what the client has
> been doing all this time but, in general, what's the normal behaviour
> for people running centos/rhel? *and is there a way to examine an
> install to see how updated it's been since that original installation?
>
Check /etc/redhat-release; also uname -a if you know which kernel to look for.

> *i just don't want to teach off of 5.3, only to find out later that
> they've been keeping up to date and 5.5 would have been a more
> appropriate choice. *thanks for any tips.
>
They're both CentOS 5. The differences are mainly (but not
exclusively) in security enhancements, upgrades to applications (like
Firefox or OO) and the like. I would check to be sure if you think it
will make that much difference (and it might - 5.3 is what, a year old
now?).

HTH

Mark
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what people really mean when they say they're running "5.3"?
 

At Sun, 8 Aug 2010 12:11:35 -0400 (EDT) CentOS mailing list <centos@centos.org> wrote:

>
>
> more a terminology usage question than anything else, but in a
> couple of weeks, i'll be teaching the first of a few sessions on RHEL
> admin and, unsurprisingly, i'll be using centos (as i've done in the
> past).
>
> when i asked the organizer to identify the specific version of RHEL
> that was being used at the client site, i was told 5.3 so i can easily
> install 5.3 on the classroom machines, but i'm curious about something
> and i'll have my contact look into it: if people *initially* install
> 5.3, is it standard behaviour to still regularly upgrade as new
> releases come out?

Depends. Most people do update as new updates come out. Doing 'yum
update' regularly will update to newer point releases automagically.
Some people (for various reasons) don't regularly update their systems.

Look in /etc/issue

>
> obviously, i have to ask my contact to verify what the client has
> been doing all this time but, in general, what's the normal behaviour
> for people running centos/rhel? and is there a way to examine an
> install to see how updated it's been since that original installation?
>
> i just don't want to teach off of 5.3, only to find out later that
> they've been keeping up to date and 5.5 would have been a more
> appropriate choice. thanks for any tips.

On a certain level there really isn't much difference from a general
admin POV -- it does not really make sense to go into a certain level of
detail (like specific version numbers). Basic functionallity is not
going to change from point version to point version.

>
> rday
>

--
Robert Heller -- Get the Deepwoods Software FireFox Toolbar!
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what people really mean when they say they're running "5.3"?
 

>>
>> * i just don't want to teach off of 5.3, only to find out later that
>> they've been keeping up to date and 5.5 would have been a more
>> appropriate choice. *thanks for any tips.
>
> On a certain level there really isn't much difference from a general
> admin POV -- it does not really make sense to go into a certain level of
> detail (like specific version numbers). Basic functionallity is not
> going to change from point version to point version.
>

There is a limited amount of truth to this - but it depends on the
topic being taught. Redhat usually adds functionality to the point
releases as they go - a few examples in the current 5.X release cycle
being KVM virtualisation, postgres-8.4 and the ext4 filesystem.....

The X part of 5.X refers to a point in time of Redhat... but that
really is a point in time and in terms of maintaining a system there
is only RHEL5... there really is no point installing 5.3 when you
should keep up to date on updates and particularly depending on the
topic to be taught as well.

James
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what people really mean when they say they're running "5.3"?
 

On Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 09:18:58AM -0700, Mark wrote:
>
> Check /etc/redhat-release; also uname -a if you know which kernel to look for.

Actually, a combination of "uname -a" for kernel rev and then
"rpm -q centos-release" is a more much sane and accurate method
to identify which CentOS release is in use.




John


--
Another age must be the judge.

-- Charles Babbage, realizing the technology did not exist to construct his
"difference engine", 1837; a full-size implementation exists at the Mountain
View, CA Computer History Museum (CHM), where this quote is displayed. The
same can be said of the PLATO computer project, which was celebrated in the
PLATO@50 conference at the CHM, 2-3 June 2010
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what people really mean when they say they're running "5.3"?
 

On Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 01:29:48PM -0400, Robert Heller wrote:
>
> Depends. Most people do update as new updates come out. Doing 'yum
> update' regularly will update to newer point releases automagically.
> Some people (for various reasons) don't regularly update their systems.
>
> Look in /etc/issue

Why? That file bears no relation to system identification
purposes. "uname -a" followed by "rpm -q centos-release"
will properly identify a system release level.



John

--
Much of what looks like rudeness in hacker circles is not intended to give
offence. Rather, it's the product of the direct, cut-through-the-bullshit
communications style that is natural to people who are more concerned about
solving problems than making others feel warm and fuzzy.

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
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what people really mean when they say they're running "5.3"?
 

I do find this behaviour very odd... if you are not intending to get support from redhat why not just install CentOS in the beginning so you can still get updates? Ah well...


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On 8 Aug 2010 18:58, "John R Pierce" <pierce@hogranch.com> wrote:> On 08/08/10 9:11 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
>> when i asked the organizer to identify the specific version of RHEL

>> that was being used at the client site, i was told 5.3 so i can easily
>> install 5.3 on the classroom machines, but i'm curious about something
>> and i'll have my contact look into it: if people *initially* install

>> 5.3, is it standard behaviour to still regularly upgrade as new
>> releases come out?
>
> sadly, I find far too many people who installed RHEL x.y, but don't have
> an RHN subscription so they NEVER UPDATE THE SYSTEM.

>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS@centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos



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