Hi Chris,

> --- original message --
> 
> I'm confused as to what you're asking. If you'd like to pay someone for
> supporting your Linux distribution, then maybe SL have a donation system?
> 
> I honestly don't understand what criteria you're trying to meet, are 
> you just more comfortable with paying for something that getting 
> something for free?
> 
> Michael.
> 
> > Chris Howard
> -----------------------
> 
> Right now I run yum periodically, then sweat bullets if there are any
> kernel updates, or just don't run yum.    I would rather have 
> someone to yell at if an automatic update breaks things.
> 
> In theory I could put oracle on a spare box and test it right?
> Wrong, because licensing for another app server box is many thousands
> of dollars.  The cheapest OUL subscription is something like 
> $200/year and I think that will just let me slurp from their update 
> stream which is all I really want anyway.
> 
> I've been happy with not doing updates very often.  But
> now I have some (microsoft type) people asking me why
> I don't have a regular pattern of updates to apply.  The best
> answer is, "Because my system actually works." But that is
> inconvenient in the given circumstances.

Ok I understand where you're coming from now. You basically don't want the
buck to stop with you and the money isn't coming out of your pocket.

I guess the only thing I can say is that you're not the only Oracle on Linux
installation in the world, I consulted for various companies which ran similar
configs and never had problems with kernel updates or other Linux-based updates.

In terms of scheduled patching, Linux is just an OS like any other OS, you
should periodically apply errata on a schedule. You need to review the errata
documents to see what's changed and what's been fixed, in case it would affect
your installation. One of the good things about a RHEL-based release is that
bug-fixes and security errata are typically back-ported, so the changes of an
update to "break" a package and stop it running after the update is minimised.

I guess a problem with Linux package management in general is that it's
difficult to "roll-back" RPM updates if something goes wrong, which would
really give you more comfort than yelling at someone on the phone while
management are on your back asking you when the app will be up again.

Regards,

Michael.