Confused

[Craig White]

On Wed, 2002-02-27 at 18:07, Jim wrote:
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> As newer releases of the kernel and other components that make up all 
> distributions, they (i.e. Red Hat, Mandrake, etc.) continually release newer 
> versions of their products.  You can be sure that if you install the most 
> current release of your favorite distribution, you are getting the most 
> secure, least bug-infested versions of the software that is included.  With 
> the lead time from typing in the text of a book to the time it hits the 
> bookshelves, the software references in almost any technical book are 
> woefully our of date.
> 
> My particular beef regarding the marketing of distributions is that the 
> clueless stores, like Borders for instance, leave outdated distributions on 
> the shelf.  This just confuses the uninitiated.  Maybe we should see if we 
> can get some sort of information out to those stores so that new users are 
> not buying old versions of the distributions with all the attendant issues 
> that those older versions are known to have.
> 
> On Wednesday 27 February 2002 17:39, you wrote:
> > I'm confused by one thing (Ok, a lot more than one) that is I see a lot of
> > current books still talking about Red Hat 6.2 and I also see Red Hat 7.2.. 
> > What is the Red Hat 6.2 that is in these books?  They are mostly server
> > type books.
> >
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It's not unusual for people to use a slightly older distro for server
based application since there is a distinct advantage of the beast that
you know. The biggest problem becomes the updating necessary to cure
known security issues. For example, Redhat 6.2 would be a pretty solid
choice for a firewall.

I tend to use the current versions because I see the progress but it
does mean that I have to fight through things like iptables which is
less understood (at least by me) but other things such as the
improvements in Samba are so vast that it's worth the pain.

Craig