Update RedHat Enterprise without a subscription

[Bob McClure Jr]

On Wed, Sep 02, 2009 at 02:32:28PM -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
> Robert Gonzales wrote:
>> I would like to know if it is possible to apply security and bug fixes
>> to RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 without purchasing a subscription?
>
> To answer both of your posts, RHEL doesn't use yum for updates.  It uses  
> "up2date" and it requires a subscription (or to use their terms, an  
> "entitlement"--what are they, government workers?)

Umm, as it turns out RHEL4 used up2date, but RHEL5 uses yum.  One of
my clients has four real servers and four virtuals and all of them are
on RH subscriptions.  We update all of them with yum.

> yum is used by CentOS and Fedora.  CentOS is built from Red Hat's SRPMs
> and tracks RHEL closely, but does lag behind a bit (a couple of days at
> most, usually).  Most fixes to RHEL can be found in CentOS.
>
> Now, you CAN use yum and aim it at the CentOS 5 repositories for free.
> You may have to bugger the repo scripts a bit because the
> /etc/redhat-release" file for RHEL (where yum gets its "$releasever"
> variable from) has different data than that for CentOS.
>
> <stupid disclaimer deleted>
>
> I'd encourage you speak to your corporate lawyer and have the
> spectacularly silly disclaimer removed from your company's outgoing
> messages.  Posting to a public email list instantly voids any possible
> pretension towards confidentiality.  It is absolutely useless verbiage
> and I refuse to quote it here.  If you're worried about dissemination of
> emails, then everything should be GPG-encrypted so only those with your
> key can read them.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer                      ricks at nerd.com -
> - AIM/Skype: therps2        ICQ: 22643734            Yahoo: origrps2 -
> -                                                                    -
> - "People tell me I look at the dark side.  That's not true.  I have -
> -   the heart of a small boy......in a jar right here on my desk."   -
> -                                                    -- Stephen King -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
bob at bobcatos.com             http://www.bobcatos.com
I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in
the land of the living.  Psalm 27:13 (NIV)