On Mon, 20 Mar 2006, Troy Dawson wrote:
> Hi Art,
> Looks like you're new to the world of RHEL and Clones.
>
> First thing to remember we (the Scientific Linux community) didn't take
> anything out of RHEL, so if you want to ask why thing's were taken out,
> ask RedHat, because we didn't do it, and some things we just don't know.
> Now you arn't actually asking that, it looks more like you are asking
> why some things are put in, when other's weren't. And where to get
> other packages that weren't included.
>
> First: Why were some things added and not others?
> We first wanted to put in as few extra packages as possible. This is
> because the more packages we add, the more work it is for us. We have
> to keep up on the security aspects for each of these packages.
> So we had to look at if there was a good alternative, the past security
> problems with the packages, and if the code was really being maintained.
> Some, like pine, were really obvious, RedHat didn't include it because
> of it's license, but I believe about 20% of the users at Fermilab use
> pine, or at least used to. So we found a good place to get it from, and
> included it.
> Some, like midnight commander, had security holes you could drive car's
> through. I didn't want to have to worry about maintaining that, and
> have the responsibility of someone's machine being hacked be on my
> shoulders.
>
> Second: Where to get packages that weren't included in S.L.?
> https://www.scientificlinux.org/community/repo/
> This list several repositories with packages that are compatible with
> Scientific Linux 3.0.x, and/or Scientific Linux 4.x.
> We actually have those mirrored at
> ftp://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/extra/
> if we have a better connection for you.
> Also, you could check CentOS, and see if they might have a package you
> don't find with those.
> Although we are not compatible with Fedora, many of the Fedora packages
> can be recompiled to work with Scientific Linux if you really need to.
> Just remember that Fedora Core 1 packages tend to compile ok with
> Scientific Linux 3.0.x, and Fedora Core 3 packages tend to compile ok
> with Scientific Linux 4.x.
>
> I hope that answers the majority of your questions, but I'll comment of
> a few ...
>
> Art Wildman wrote:
> > Anyone know where a package might be to restore the missing 'tree'
> > command in RHEL3.7. IIRC it is also missing on Fedora & some RH clones
> > though there are 'extra' repo packages that support it. Tree is also
> > missing in my SL 3.05 install... I'm using the following tree.sh script,
> > but would rather have it builtin via a package.
> >
> > # up2date install tree #returns nothing
> >
>
> Please don't use up2date on Scientific Linux. It is only included
> because other packages require it. Use yum instead.
>
> yum list tree
> yum install tree
>
> man yum
>
> > # man tree
> > http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man1/tree.1.html
> > # tree.sh script
> > http://www.centerkey.com/tree/
> >
> > From the command line what do you use to recurse a dir tree? I'm
> > wondering what obsoleted these very basic & useful tools? What other
> > common utils do you miss & would like included in RHEL/SL?
> >
> > What extras other repos can be safely added to RHEL3.5 or SL3.5, where
> > are these extra repos?
> > Fedora 1 extras compatible with RHEL3?
> > Fedora 4 extras compatible with RHEL4?
> >
> > The RH Manuals errata pages list "Changes to packages", but don't always
> > explain why packages we removed or are no longer supported. Links to
> > other information on missing commands, utils and apps would be welcome.
> >
> > http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-3-Manual/release-notes/as-x86/RELEASE-NOTES-U3-x86-en.html
> > http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/release-notes/as-x86/RELEASE-NOTES-U3-x86-en.html
> >
>
> We cannot link to points inside www.redhat.com, it's a legal thing. And
> it's not just redhat that we can't do that to.
>
> > The release notes to SL are very informative about which apps & packages
> > are included
> > https://www.scientificlinux.org/distributions/4x/42/sl.release.note.42.i386
> >
> > MISC
> > Added these rpms because they are important but upstream vendor did
> > not include them.
> >
> > gv-3.5.8-29.i386.rpm from Fedora Core 3
> > jpilot-0.99.7-2.i386.rpm from Fedora Core 3
> > ncurses4-5.0-12.i386.rpm from Scientific Linux 3.0.x
> > pine-4.62-1.SL.i386.rpm from Dag's Repository
> > readline41-4.1-17.i386.rpm from Scientific Linux 3.0.x
> >
> >
> > Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 - Missing Packages
> > http://www.slac.stanford.edu/comp/unix/linux/install_rhel30.html#known_issues
> > "Missing packages. A number of packages that were formerly included in
> > Red Hat Linux distributions have been dropped from Red Hat Enterprise
> > Linux. Typically this was done when there were concerns that a package
> > was no longer being well-maintained upstream or because it was felt that
> > an alternative package provided improved functionality."
> >
> > These include:
> >
> > Dropped package Possible Alternatives
> > galeon Mozilla
> > Epiphany (from Fedora & RHEL 4 candidate)
> > gv ggv, xpdf
We added gv.
> > lynx elinks
I think that lynx is in both 30x and 4x.
> > mc konqueror, nautilus
> > ncftp lftp
> >
> >
> >
> > Midnight Commander (mc) and ncftp are also missing... are these packages
> > still poorly maintained or obsoleted? MC is useful when navigating and
> > performing complex file operations from a terminal and ncftp seems
> > superior to lftp in features.
> >
> > [user]$ which ncftp
> > /usr/bin/which: no ncftp in
> > (/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin)
> >
> > [user]$ lftp --help
> > Usage: lftp [OPTS] <site>
> > `lftp' is the first command executed by lftp after rc files
> > -f <file> execute commands from the file and exit
> > -c <cmd> execute the commands and exit
> > --help print this help and exit
> > --version print lftp version and exit
> > Other options are the same as in `open' command
> > -e <cmd> execute the command just after selecting
> > -u <user>[,<pass>] use the user/password for authentication
> > -p <port> use the port for connection
> > <site> host name, URL or bookmark name
> >
> > --
> > Art Wildman - [log in to unmask] - [log in to unmask]
> > National Weather Service Office - http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jax
> > Insanity is... repeating the same mistakes, while expecting different
> > results. -Anon
>
> I do miss some features of ncftp, (ncftpget) but there are also features
> in lftp that are very nice, such as scripting.
> Again, I didn't take them out, redhat did.
>
> Troy
>
I suggest that if you really want to have a say in what goes into Fedora
Core that you participate in that "Community".
-Connie Sieh
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