CentOS - Dec 2020 - Is Oracle a real alternative to Centos?

>> On Tue, 08 Dec 2020 12:54:32 -0500,
>> Frank Cox <theatre at sasktel.net> might just possibly have said:
F> Is Oracle a real alternative to Centos?  I'm asking because genuinely
F> don't know; I've never paid any attention to Oracle's Linux
offering
F> before now.

I've used Unix/Linux at Wright-Patterson AFB, USA since 1988 -- this
includes Solaris starting at 2.5.1 up to 11, FreeBSD, and Linux.  I used
CentOS for several years and I'm a refugee simply because it was easier
to get something containing the name "Oracle" approved for use on
base.
(All the stupid sh*t you've heard about gov't procurement is true.)

I *despise* Oracle the company, but I ran Oracle Linux as both a server
for an Oracle DB and as my workstation starting Jan 2018 after a drive
failure knocked my machine out of the park.  Occasionally I had to dork
around looking for a source RPM, but other than that I was fine with it.
You use "yum" like anywhere else.

FWIW, my 6.10 installation had this in /etc/redhat-release:
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.10 (Santiago)

Go to https://linux.oracle.com/switch/centos/, poke around a bit, and you
end up here:
    https://yum.oracle.com/oracle-linux-downloads.html

I just went to the ISO page and I can grab whatever I like without signing
up for anything, so nothing's changed since I first used it.

I use FreeBSD on my home systems to avoid precisely this kind of crap,
so this is *NOT* a recommendation for Oracle in general -- be ready for
them to change the rules at any time.

Finally, I've been on this list for many years -- Johnny H. is the most
responsive and least arrogant person I've ever seen, so please don't pee
in his Wheaties.

--
Karl Vogel / vogelke AT pobox.com / I don't speak for the USAF or any
company

Mangled song lyric: I can't climb this ceiling any more.
Actual lyric: I can't fight this feeling anymore.  (REO Speedwagon)

On Wed, Dec 9, 2020 at 10:05 AM Karl Vogel <vogelke+centos at pobox.com>
wrote:
[snip]
>
> FWIW, my 6.10 installation had this in /etc/redhat-release:
>     Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.10 (Santiago)
>
>
Only to point out that while in CentOS (8.3, but the same in 7.x) the
situation is like this:

[g.cecchi at skull8 ~]$ ll /etc/redhat-release /etc/centos-release
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 30 Nov 10 16:49 /etc/centos-release
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Nov 10 16:49 /etc/redhat-release -> centos-release
[g.cecchi at skull8 ~]$

[g.cecchi at skull8 ~]$ cat /etc/centos-release
CentOS Linux release 8.3.2011

in Oracle Linux (eg 7.7) you get two different files:

$ ll /etc/redhat-release /etc/oracle-release
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 32 Aug  8  2019 /etc/oracle-release
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 52 Aug  8  2019 /etc/redhat-release

$ cat /etc/redhat-release
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.7 (Maipo)

$ cat /etc/oracle-release
Oracle Linux Server release 7.7

This is generally done so that sw pieces officially certified only on
upstream enterprise vendor and that test contents of the redhat-release
file are satisfied.
Using the lsb_release command on an Oracle Linux 7.6 machine:

# lsb_release -a
LSB Version: :core-4.1-amd64:core-4.1-noarch
Distributor ID: OracleServer
Description: Oracle Linux Server release 7.6
Release: 7.6
Codename: n/a
#


Gianluca