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December 2007

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Subject:
I wish your R RPM did not have the Epoch set
From:
Paul Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Paul Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 1 Dec 2007 22:45:05 -0600
Content-Type:
text/plain
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text/plain (24 lines) 
I built R-2.6.0 from the fedora distribution and was using it in my
SL5 systems.

Today I noticed that when yum ran, it wanted to update that version
with the old one from SL5, 2.4  . That was weird.  Why install an old
one?

After some checking, I learned that the Epoch had been set at 2 on the
RPM from the SL 5 distribution.  I've been knocking around in the RPM
building community for about 10 years and I've never been persuaded
the epoch serves a valid purpose, especially when it comes to
differentiating R-2.4 from R-2.6 or whatnot.  The Epoch only
frustrates people who are trying to stay up to date.   The Epoch is a
frustrating value in this case because so 2:2.4.1 appears to  be
newer than 0:2.6.0.

Just singing the complaining song...

-- 
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas

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