CentOS 6.x and CentOS 7 upgrade path and testing PHP on current and future versions.

[George Toft]

Hi Keith,

I have solid word from Red Hat that each minor rev to their major 
releases are 100% binary compatible, and yes, they lock the version 
numbers for the entire release.  If you look at the RH version numbers, 
you'll see something like this:
     5.3.3-27.el6_5
Everything after the dash is Red Hat's patch.  So even after they 
backport a fix, the version (5.3.3) remains the same, but the patch 
number increases.  So in this case, this is the 27th Red Hat patch to 
PHP 5.3.3.

I had fun with that when this high-falutin' Washington DC Beltway Bandit 
risk assessment team came rolling in to do an assessment. They grabbed 
the SSL banner (0.9.8 something) off some web servers and called an OMG 
emergency meeting with the system administrators and management about 
why we're running outdated versions of Apache and SSL.  After they 
presented their "findings" they all looked at me, and I said flatly "We 
don't use Apache here.  We use IHS." (IBM HTTP Server - based on Apache, 
but with IBM secret sauce.) You could have heard a pin drop as they 
huddle and whisper and look silly.  Yeah, that was fun.  They hate me.  
They should have done their research and asked a couple questions 
first.  Oh well. Then I had to research the SSL thing and show the Red 
Hat Errata demonstrating the "old" version of SSL was patched against 
known vulnerabilities.

As far as Centos and RHEL, I don't know why you assume CentOS would be a 
year or two later than RHEL.  This article indicates CentOS will be 
tightly coupled and more fluid than RHEL: 
http://www.zdnet.com/red-hat-reveals-centos-plans-7000027812/
"However, there's a firewall between RHEL and CentOS developers. The net 
effect is that CentOS will continue to lag a bit behind RHEL in 
releases. Even so, CentOS releases will be coming out on RHEL heels 
rather than weeks or months behind."

I'm amused that you are trying to plan 6-10 years out in the IT field.
</sarcasm>

Regards,

George Toft

On 5/6/2014 10:23 AM, keith smith wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I want to test some PHP code on future versions of PHP / MySql / MariaDB.
>
> I'm running CentOS 6.5 that installs php 5.3.3-27 which is at it's end 
> of life.  It is my understanding RHEL 6.x will always be using PHP 
> 5.3.  Is that correct?  RHEL will be supported until Nov of 2020.  
> That is a long time to be running a PHP version that is at end of 
> life.  I understand RH will back port any bug or security fixes to PHP 
> 5.3 (which actually breaks the version numbering system).
>
> It is my understanding RHEL will be based on Fedora 19.  I am 
> downloading Fedora 19 now. I assume testing on Fedora 19 will get me 
> in the ball park for RHEL 7. RHEL 7 will come with MariaDB as it's 
> default DB.  I assume I will not see RHEL 7 in the form of CentOS 7 
> for year or two?
>
> I assume there will be several more releases of RHEL 6 since it will 
> be supported for over 6 more years.
>
> If I plan to stay with CentOS 6.x and if it will use the same MySql 
> and PHP versions until end of life and if RHEL/CentOS 7 will be based 
> on Fedora 19, I assume that is the only configurations I need to test 
> on and I assume that will take me through 6 to 10 years.  Is this a 
> fair expectation and a valid plan?
>
> Any feed back and advice is much appreciated.
>
> Thanks!!
> Keith
>
>
>
>
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