I am a bit puzzled at the versioning scheme of the RedHat clone family.
RedHat seems to use integer 4, Tao and Centos does the same. If you do
rpm -q --qf '%{version}\n' -f /etc/redhat-release
you get '4'.
However, Scientific Linux uses 4.0, and that seems to me to be a more
logical choise, since presumable there are going to be versions 4.1,
4.2, etc.
Is there any good reason for the version of package centos-release NOT
to be 4.0? It has a significance in automated scripts trying to work out
which distribution and version you are running, and it seems silly to
treat the different RHEL4 clones differently.
It would make sense for CentOS to coordinate/agree_upon a common scheme
among the different distributions.
Cheers,
Morten
PS: Perhaps someone can provide info about other RHEL clone distros!
--
Morten Kjeldgaard, Asc. professor, Ph.D.
Department of Molecular Biology, Aarhus University
Gustav Wieds Vej 10 C, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Lab +45 89425026 * Mobile +45 51860147 * Fax +45 86123178
Home +45 86188180 * ICQ 27224900 * http://www.bioxray.dk/~mok
On Fri, 3 Jun 2005, Morten Kjeldgaard wrote:> I am a bit puzzled at the versioning scheme of the RedHat clone family. > > RedHat seems to use integer 4, Tao and Centos does the same. If you do > > rpm -q --qf '%{version}\n' -f /etc/redhat-release > > you get '4'. > > However, Scientific Linux uses 4.0, and that seems to me to be a more > logical choise, since presumable there are going to be versions 4.1, > 4.2, etc. > > Is there any good reason for the version of package centos-release NOT > to be 4.0? It has a significance in automated scripts trying to work out > which distribution and version you are running, and it seems silly to > treat the different RHEL4 clones differently.CentOS uses '4' purely and simply to be compatible with Dag's (and other) repos, whixch ae geared towards rhel using 4. We used to use 4.x but had compaints that the configuration of yum was not compatible with that suggested by Dag for rhel.> It would make sense for CentOS to coordinate/agree_upon a common scheme > among the different distributions.CentOS has no control over what other distros do. Regards Lance -- uklinux.net - The ISP of choice for the discerning Linux user.
On Fri, June 3, 2005 9:49 am, Morten Kjeldgaard said:> I am a bit puzzled at the versioning scheme of the RedHat clone family. > > RedHat seems to use integer 4, Tao and Centos does the same. If you do > > rpm -q --qf '%{version}\n' -f /etc/redhat-release > > you get '4'. > > However, Scientific Linux uses 4.0, and that seems to me to be a more > logical choise, since presumable there are going to be versions 4.1, > 4.2, etc. > > Is there any good reason for the version of package centos-release NOT > to be 4.0? It has a significance in automated scripts trying to work out > which distribution and version you are running, and it seems silly to > treat the different RHEL4 clones differently. > > It would make sense for CentOS to coordinate/agree_upon a common scheme > among the different distributions. > > Cheers, > Morten > > PS: Perhaps someone can provide info about other RHEL clone distros! >We (CentOS) chose to use 4 to be compatable with the dag repo ... and other 3rd party software. Tao Linux and WhiteBox Linux do the same. 4 (or 3 for CentOS-3.x) will always be the version ... and: http://mirror.centos.org/centos/4/ Will always point to the latest version of the distro. /4/ will always be a symlink to the latest version (4.1, 4.2, 4.3, etc.). If you look at the redhat-release file, you can cat it and get the real release as well. So, you can use this in a script to get the number you are looking for: cat /etc/redhat-release | awk {'print $3'} and you can use: rpm -q --qf '%{version}\n' -f /etc/redhat-release to get a number that is compatable to RHEL's numbering scheme. -- Johnny Hughes <http://www.HughesJR.com/>