Full Disclosure mailing list archives
RE: Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and tr ansition planning
From: John.Airey () rnib org uk
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 17:45:39 -0000
-----Original Message----- From: Ron DuFresne [mailto:dufresne () winternet com] Sent: 04 November 2003 15:57 To: Paul Tinsley Cc: Michael Gale; full-disclosure () lists netsys com Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and transition planning Ahh, yes, but, try and determine of yhe RH rpm's are up-to-date with current sploits. RH has it's own versioning system and one can find temselves doing a RH website crawl into the ethers... Or, talk to John Airey <hope I spelled that correctly John> about trying to upgrade openssl and or mod_ssl for apache. As a few others have hinted; RH imagines itself to be a contender with the M$ desktop market, and even M$ in it's past anti-trust suits tried to bolster that image... But, the plain and simple is, many RH users founder at a commandline. Thanks, Ron DuFresne
Since Ron's thrown my name into the mix (good spelling too, I've had eerie, eyrie, airy...) I'll throw my tuppence worth into the mix as well. Red Hat are a commercial company who are trying to make money. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that. (Now extortion or anti-competitive practices are another matter). They have decided to separate their commercial offering from their "free" offering (I know that Red Hat 9 et al are sold commercially, but the ISOs have been available for download for some time). These changes to licensing make for a lot of work for us, however we've been running Red Hat Linux 7.2 for over two years now for next to nothing in actual cost terms. We may go for Fedora or Enterprise Linux or even a mixture of both. We might even change completely to another distro, though we'd have to lose a lot of investment in Red Hat if we did. Red Hat is making ISO images available for Fedora, so apart from the lack of Red Hat Network support (not very well advertised I have to say) and the rapid development, there's not a great deal of difference. However, it's going to take some work for anyone to run anything critical on it (as you'll be reinstalling every 7-9 months). I notice also that Red Hat are even discounting subscriptions to Red Hat Network to $20, even though there is nearly six months support of Red Hat 9 left. Currently registered users are getting a 50% discount on their WS and ES offerings, so the additional per server cost can be as low as $115 per year for the first two years. So really I think Red Hat have been quite generous, as they have also been generous in allowing you to update more than one server with only a single subscription. So I don't understand what the fuss is about. As for building mod_ssl and openssl, what Ron is referring to is me helping out people who have stuffed their installation of Red Hat by removing the openssl packages from post Red Hat 7.0 machines (Bad idea. Don't do it). There's a section in the openssl FAQ now that I wrote which advises users not to overwrite the version installed if they want to build openssl separately. I've ignored the rants of those who insist that they can advise people to remove it simply because I can't be bothered to argue with them. I include my qualifications not as a badge of merit, but to show where my bias might lie. I also have at least one friend from university who works for Red Hat. I would end by saying that the RHCE exam was the toughest of my life (and that includes my driving test that I failed five times). - John Airey, BSc (Jt Hons), CNA, RHCE Internet systems support officer, ITCSD, Royal National Institute of the Blind, Bakewell Road, Peterborough PE2 6XU, Tel.: +44 (0) 1733 375299 Fax: +44 (0) 1733 370848 John.Airey () rnib org uk Political correctness - a modern day tool to confuse the minds of the unwary. - DISCLAIMER: NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to delete it and any attachments from your system. RNIB endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However, it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments. Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RNIB. RNIB Registered Charity Number: 226227 Website: http://www.rnib.org.uk _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
Current thread:
- RE: Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and tr ansition planning Duncan Lindley (Nov 03)
- RE: Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and tr ansition planning Eric Bowser (Nov 04)
- Re: Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and tr ansition planning Michael Gale (Nov 04)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and tr ansition planning John . Airey (Nov 04)
- RE: Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and tr ansition planning John . Airey (Nov 05)
- Re: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and transition planning Cael Abal (Nov 05)
- RE: Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and tr ansition planning Ron DuFresne (Nov 05)
- Re: Fw: Red Hat Linux end-of-life update and tr ansition planning Georgi Guninski (Nov 05)