CentOS - Jun 2006 - Old (really old) programs under CentOS.

Ok, I have a small dilemma, and I'm hoping someone here has had to do this
before.

I have at a site (not PARI) a server running some mission critical software that
was written in 1997 for libc5, under AOLserver 2.3.? No, source code is not
available for that version of AOLserver (it wasn't open-sourced until
version 3.0, and the API changed rather dramatically at that point), not that it
would help any, as gcc has undergone so many changes since RH5 that a recompile
would be very difficult.? The software is currently running on Redhat 5.2
(don't laugh; it's got a 2,716-day uptime right now! (yes, that's
over 7 years!)) with the libc5 libs loaded.? The server hardware is just about
ready to fly apart, and I need to see about running this on more modern
hardware.? Of course, they already have bought the replacement server, a Dell
PowerEdge 1850.? No way RH 5.2 is going to load on a PE1850 with the megaraid
PERC 4e/Si.

Now, I've thought about a couple of possibilities:
1.)??  QEMU or VMware or similar running a RH5.2 instance under CentOS 4;
2.)??  Running a libc5 setup on CentOS 4.? I'd rather do this, as security
fixes would at least be available.

Going back to a RH5 machine and working was a real trip; had to use telnet (no
ssh on RH5); Kernel 2.0 is still there, no yum, no chkconfig/service subsystem,
etc.

The custom code is written specifically for AOLserver 2.3 in its tcl dialect and
using API functions that don't exist in AOLserver 3.0 or later (or it would
be a snap to compile AOLserver 4.0.10 on CentOS4 and roll);? there's a
couple hundred thousand lines of tcl code here, and while they will be
contracting a replacement webapp using Plone/Zope, they aren't ready to
transition as yet.
--
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC? 28772
828-862-5554
www.pari.edu

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On Sat, Jun 10, 2006 at 10:26:29PM -0400, Lamar Owen
wrote:
> 2.)??  Running a libc5 setup on CentOS 4.? I'd rather do this, as
security fixes would at least be available.
This should be possible. I never tried doing it on CentOS, but I did it
on more than one Conectiva 10 machines. They did provide a compat-libc5
package for running old application.

You have to be careful, tho, cause your old AOLServer might need other
libraries too.

Even if you can't find something like a compat-libc5 package for
CentOS, it should be relatively easy to get the srpm from Conectiva 10
and rebuild it for CentOS. I know I did it for some other packages (including
Mutt).

- -- 
Rodrigo Barbosa
"Quid quid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur"
"Be excellent to each other ..." - Bill & Ted (Wyld Stallyns)

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On Sat, 2006-06-10 at 21:26, Lamar Owen wrote:
> Now, I've thought about a couple of possibilities:
> 1.)    QEMU or VMware or similar running a RH5.2 instance under CentOS 4;
> 2.)    Running a libc5 setup on CentOS 4.  I'd rather do this, as
security fixes would at least be available.
I'd expect the VMware route to be completely painless and have
the least surprises.  It doesn't make much sense to throw extra
work at something with no future.  Security fixes probably won't
help with the parts you have to keep running anyway - just
firewall access to anything else.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   lesmikesell at gmail.com