[Linux] RHEL vs CentOS feedback
Kwan Lowe
linux@flux.org
Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:58:05 -0500
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>
> 1) What package managers are those two using now and how is performance of
> those package managers compared to a few years ago.
>
RHEL is using up2date or RHN (RedHat Network). up2date is a command line
updater and package installer that pulls from the RHN repository. The
web-based RHN is what you'd expect from a typical package management
console. It's probably overkill for a single instance, but with more than
three or four machines it's actually quite useful. There are open versions
of RHN available however.
Centos uses yum and a couple frontend packages (Software Updater, yumex,
etc). I almost exclusively use yum from the command line, but have found
yumex (Yum Extender) useful also. As you know, Centos is tracks the RHEL
distribution. It takes a day or so before packages from RHEL make it to yum
so keep this in mind if you anticipate needing updates immediately on
release.
If you stick with the RH packages that have been re-compiled for Centos,
everything works identically to RHEL. However, you can also add other
third-party repositories with varying stability levels. These generally work
well, but I have seen some conflicts with some multimedia packages.
Occasionally you'll see a dependency error if an updated package did not
make it to the repository servers along with its pre-requisites.
As for stability, the RHEL has been solid though there are fewer packages.
yum works great except with the one-off repositories that pull in strange
deps. I generally set up my own repositories though, so this is not an issue
for me.
2) How up-to-date are packages?
>
RHEL focuses on stability rather than cutting edge. It's faster than say
Debian-stable, but don't expect to see the latest desktop effects, etc..
3) Does one distro generally have a larger selection of packages than the
> other? My specific concerns lie in the availability of some of the less
> used PHP modules that may not be installable via pecl.
>
There are alternate repositories available that work with both RHEL and
Centos including rpmforge, aptrpms, etc.. These have many of the less common
packages including multiple perl modules, php modules, codecs, etc..
Thanks in advance.
>
>
> Larry Kagan
> Superiocity, Inc.
> www.superiocity.com <http://superiocity.com/>
> Join the PHP Contractor Network <http://pcn.superiocity.com/>
>
>
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<div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div style=""><div>1) What package managers are those two using now and how is performance of those package managers compared to a few years ago.
</div></div></blockquote><div><br>RHEL is using up2date or RHN (RedHat Network). up2date is a command line updater and package installer that pulls from the RHN repository. The web-based RHN is what you'd expect from a typical package management console. It's probably overkill for a single instance, but with more than three or four machines it's actually quite useful. There are open versions of RHN available however.
<br><br>Centos uses yum and a couple frontend packages (Software Updater, yumex, etc). I almost exclusively use yum from the command line, but have found yumex (Yum Extender) useful also. As you know, Centos is tracks the RHEL distribution. It takes a day or so before packages from RHEL make it to yum so keep this in mind if you anticipate needing updates immediately on release.
<br><br>If you stick with the RH packages that have been re-compiled for Centos, everything works identically to RHEL. However, you can also add other third-party repositories with varying stability levels. These generally work well, but I have seen some conflicts with some multimedia packages. Occasionally you'll see a dependency error if an updated package did not make it to the repository servers along with its pre-requisites.
<br></div><br>As for stability, the RHEL has been solid though there are fewer packages. yum works great except with the one-off repositories that pull in strange deps. I generally set up my own repositories though, so this is not an issue for me.
<br><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div style=""><div>2) How up-to-date are packages?</div></div></blockquote><div><br>
RHEL focuses on stability rather than cutting edge. It's faster than say Debian-stable, but don't expect to see the latest desktop effects, etc.. <br></div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style=""><div>3) Does one distro generally have a larger selection of packages than the other? My specific concerns lie in the availability of some of the less used PHP modules that may not be installable via pecl.</div>
</div></blockquote><div><br>There are alternate repositories available that work with both RHEL and Centos including rpmforge, aptrpms, etc.. These have many of the less common packages including multiple perl modules, php modules, codecs, etc..
<br> </div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div style=""><div>Thanks in advance.</div><br><br><div> <div><table style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 102);" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0">
<tbody><tr> <td><font face="helvetica,arial"> Larry Kagan<br> Superiocity, Inc.<br> <a href="http://superiocity.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
www.superiocity.com</a><br> <a href="http://pcn.superiocity.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Join the PHP Contractor Network</a> </font>
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> </div><br></div></blockquote></div><br>
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