Hi Yasha Karant!

 On 2014.12.26 at 08:15:41 -0800, Yasha Karant wrote next:

> >This replacement of packages is totally safe (everyone who uses
> >postgresql 9 in EL6 does it, anyway), just remember to keep postgresql
> >repo enabled from now on.
> >
> >
> To all respondents on this topic whose time and commentary I do appreciate,
> as well as the SL Fermilab/CERN support/porting/development team:
> 
> Supposedly, SL6x is kept "current".  I seem to find the necessary packages
> on RHEL6 as displayed in this thread, but these do not seem available on
> SL6x, despite RHEL6 being "Linux / open source / GPL source licensed".  Are
> these packages proprietary or not allowed in he USA (in the latter case, the
> CERN EU repository should have these)?
> 
> If one needs repo for SL6 from
> http://yum.postgresql.org/repopackages.php#pg93, why is this dependency not
> made clear?  I am not complaining about the merry chase -- having
> experienced this many times before due to packaging inconsistencies -- but
> this is a massive waste of time, and even more so if I assign a research
> student to this sort of thing (I do not have any postdoctoral fellows at
> this time).

One does not "need" that repo. You were interested in functionality
beyond what was provided by distribution; in these cases, especially for
desktop functionaly, using latest version (SL7 in this case) is *highly*
recommended. So, if you don't want to use latest version, you need some
other workaround - I offered you the one I know about. I'm sure there
are other ways of getting libevent 2, it's just that postgresql repos
are the way I tested myself. But it doesn't mean that there is problem
with SL6 packages per se.

I know other examples of desktop software which you simply won't be able
to build or run on SL6 due to gcc or gtk/qt version requirements, for
example, but it doesn't mean anything as well. Due to many reasons EL is
better suited for server than desktop, it can be used for desktop but
with its release and support cycle it usually gets a bit too stale for
running newest desktop software eventually; which is why for desktop I'd
recommend updating to latest release as soon as you can afford it.

Thus, latest desktop needs (like firefox+flash player 16 in this case)
either require SL7 or various tricks and add-on repos if you're trying
to make it work on SL6. This is expected. Like I said, there is some
desktop software which you can't even run on SL6 at this point.


> This is NOT a question of support; it is a question of just how much of RHEL
> (TUV that evidently now is allowed to be mentioned rather than hidden) is
> reflected in SL (or for that matter CentOS that is a wholly owned/controlled
> subsidiary of Red Hat).
> 
> Yasha Karant
> 

-- 

Vladimir