[PLUG] upgrading a redhat 7 kernel

Daniel Pittman daniel at rimspace.net
Fri Oct 29 05:46:04 UTC 2010


"Michael C. Robinson" <plug_1 at robinson-west.com> writes:
> On Thu, 2010-10-28 at 14:43 -0700, alan wrote:
>> On Thu, 28 Oct 2010, Daniel B. Herrington wrote:
>> 
>> > I've got to build a sybase 12- server on redhat 7. ASE requires 2.4.9 or
>> > greater though.  I built a redhat 7.2, but maybe should do a 7.3 as that
>> > seems to be the easier route.
>> 
>> Why are you using a Linux distrobution that has not been supported for 5+ 
>> years?
>
> Redhat 7.x was a good run.  It is 2.4.x based which seems ancient, but
> Sybase 12 may require ancient kernels.  So, should the old Sybase software
> be abandoned because the Linux kernel and C libraries have changed?

Shouldn't you identify if Sybase 12 runs on a modern system before asking that
question?

> Linux may change less in the future than it has in the past, which I hope
> will be the case.  The API changes over time pose a real problem as there
> are still among the vendors that support Linux a number that don't offer
> open source software.

...this is a problem with the internal API / ABI of the kernel, *NOT* with the
interface between applications and the kernel.  That ABI is fanatically
protected and compatible, by upstream design.

> This closed source software which can be very popular is not fixable.  Some
> minor examples are the Nvidia and Catalyst video card drivers, but there are
> other examples as well.

Those are apples and porcupines you are comparing there.

> I'm sure the Linux kernel developers are trying to provide a more consistent
> API over time, but it may be too early for that.

No, they are not.  Wait, yes they are!  Both!  The "binary blob device driver"
API/ABI is by design not going to become stable.

The userland interface of the kernel is fanatically so, and you should be fine
running your Sybase 12 system on the latest release of anything - provided you
supply all the dynamic libraries that are required.

Regards,
        Daniel

If it was, say, Sybase 12 for SCO run through the Linux ABI project then you
would have trouble as /that/ has not been maintained. :)
-- 
✣ Daniel Pittman            ✉ daniel at rimspace.net            ☎ +61 401 155 707
               ♽ made with 100 percent post-consumer electrons



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