For the record, this view of CERN is very wrong. It implies that CERN
keeps "the good stuff" hidden for itself, excludes scientists who are not "in".

Actual situation is quite different, as many people know and most people
can experience first hand by joining projects and discussion forums hosted at CERN.

(true, not everything is open to all comers, you cannot join the ALPHA experiment mailing list
except by invitation and you need a CERN account to use the CERN helpdesk).


K.O.



On Wed, Dec 07, 2022 at 02:22:47PM -0800, Yasha Karant wrote:
> Hi Glenn,
> 
> I find it unusual that HEP will find an AlmaLinux list of much use
> in many circumstances.  Internal to CERN, and perhaps Fermilab
> and/or the various signatories to which HEP collaborations are
> getting AlmaLinux from CERN/Fermilab (along with any experiment/data
> analysis specific software that is required to be present at all
> collaboration sites), will there be additional INTERNAL list/s
> and/or support?  I fully understand that these sources would only be
> available to CERN/Fermilab/Collaboration-signatories -- but the
> existence thereof is important for those of us who do NOT have
> access to such resources.  I also fully understand that this is not
> the sort of "cradle-to-grave" support provided under vendor contract
> to many for-profit enterprises as HEP has qualified professional
> computer scientists and engineers as well as physicists who are well
> versed on systems internals.
> 
> Just curious.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Yasha
> 
> 
> 
> On 12/7/22 13:01, Glenn Cooper wrote:
> >Hi Yasha,
> >
> >>Will CERN/Fermilab provide the same level of support to AlmaLinux that currently is provided for Scientific Linux?
> >
> >AlmaLinux has its own support channels, so those are the way to go if you choose Alma.
> >
> >>Will this list transition into an AlmaLinux list?
> >
> >There are no plans for that. We'll continue to support Scientific Linux, and this list, until the end of upstream support in 2024.
> >
> >>Very few of these have the general professionalism that was present on the SL list.
> >
> >Thanks to all for the helpful answers and friendly attitude!
> >
> >Yours,
> >Glenn
> >
> >
> >On 12/7/22, 2:11 PM, "[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Yasha Karant" <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> on behalf of [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> >
> >
> >Will CERN/Fermilab provide the same level of support to AlmaLinux that
> >currently is provided for Scientific Linux? Will this list transition
> >into an AlmaLinux list?
> >
> >
> >I have looked at the non-vendor lists for non-vendor ports of production
> >RHEL current (CentOS basically is a vendor port). Very few of these
> >have the general professionalism that was present on the SL list. I
> >personally have transitioned to Ubuntu LTS current production; one thing
> >I sorely miss is straightforward answers that the SL list provided.
> >However, unlike RHEL, Ubuntu LTS does support a larger selection of
> >recent laptop hardware platforms and allow for the most recent
> >production versions of particular end-user applications. Nonetheless,
> >there are situations in which a RHEL current tested production clone
> >would be of use
> >
> >
> >On 12/7/22 11:53, Glenn Cooper wrote:
> >>CERN and Fermilab jointly plan to provide AlmaLinux as the standard
> >>distribution for experiments at our facilities, reflecting recent
> >>experience and discussions with experiments and other stakeholders.
> >>AlmaLinux has recently been gaining traction among the community due to
> >>its long life cycle for each major version, extended architecture
> >>support, rapid release cycle, upstream community contributions, and
> >>support for security advisory metadata. In testing, it has demonstrated
> >>to be perfectly compatible with the other rebuilds and Red Hat
> >>Enterprise Linux.
> >>
> >>CERN and, to a lesser extent, Fermilab, will also use Red Hat Enterprise
> >>Linux (RHEL) for some services and applications within the respective
> >>laboratories. Scientific Linux 7, at Fermilab, and CERN CentOS 7, at
> >>CERN, will continue to be supported for their remaining life, until June
> >>2024.
> >>
> >
> >
> >

-- 
Konstantin Olchanski
Data Acquisition Systems: The Bytes Must Flow!
Email: olchansk-at-triumf-dot-ca
Snail mail: 4004 Wesbrook Mall, TRIUMF, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 2A3, Canada