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August 2015

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Subject:
Re: Version of Linux
From:
David Sommerseth <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
[log in to unmask]
Date:
Mon, 31 Aug 2015 01:10:15 +0200
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On 30/08/15 16:15, Keith Smith wrote:
> Jamie - Thank you.
> 
> My reason for asking is that 7.10 'expires' in Sept 2015. I know the
> Linux kernel doesn't disappear like a jini on September 30, 2015, but
> there are several long term stable versions that are much newer than
> 7.10.

I believe you mean 3.10, not 7.10.

Anyhow, you need to understand that Enterprise Linux distributions are very
different beasts than the other more main stream distributions.

When Red Hat provides 10 years support from the first release of a major
version of their Enterprise Linux, that implies that Red Hat will support
these "old" versions.  I've said it quite often, that with Enterprise Linux
distros you must not look blindly at the version number.  You must see what
the 'rpm -q --changelog $PACKAGE' tells you.

That means that Red Hat will backport upstream fixes and features to the older
versions when there is a need or valid customer demand.  Each issue is
evaluated and it is considered how doable it is or not.  Where it is doable
and a benefit doing such backports, they are usually done.

I usually pull out RHEL5 with the 2.6.18 kernel as an example.  RHEL5 got KVM
support during it's life cycle.  But KVM landed first in 2.6.20-something.
That means that all the KVM features was backported to thje 2.6.18 kernel,
went through QA and was in the end released to customers, with support.  And
Scientific Linux benefits from all this work.

The same goes for bug and security fixes.  All important issues are usually
resolved in a very timely manner.

Yes, the RHEL 7 kernel is based on the 3.10 kernel.  But it doesn't mean it is
comparable to an upstream 3.10 kernel at all.  You really need to look at the
changelog and release notes from Red Hat.

I hope this clarifies things a bit.


--
kind regards,

David Sommerseth


> On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 9:14 AM, Jamie Duncan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> One with a lot of backports, yes.
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Aug 30, 2015, 9:05 AM Keith Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Am I correct that Scientific Linux 7.1 has 3.10 as its version of the
>>> Linux kernel?
>>>
>>>
>>> Keith Smith
> 
> 
>

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