yum flavors vs/ fc1, fc2, fc3...infinity

[Robert Locke]

On Thu, 2004-07-15 at 04:53, John McBride wrote:

> I suspect it is as I feared. The rules appear to have changed (fedora 
> was originally portrayed as being somewhat stable, but over time more 
> posts are saying it's not suitable for production, only experimentation 
> stuff or home use).

Like you I keep watching these messages declaring Fedora Core for
experimentation only and am a bit concerned....

First Fedora Core 1 has seemed pretty stable for a large body of folks. 
Of course, it could have just as easily been called Red Hat Linux 8.2 (I
still think RHL 9 was really 8.1).

Now, in Fedora Core 2 we are changing the kernel to 2.6.5 or 2.6.6 or
2.6.7rc3 and some folks are having some problems.  Did everyone forget
the pains we went through when the 2.4 kernel first came out?  I think I
saw someone say that it wasn't really usable until around 2.4.10.  By my
count, we still have some "dots" to go before we squelch some of the
bigger issues (like the dual boot with XP and the Asus Motherboard
problem)....

So, yes, FC2, I suppose, could be declared a less stable distribution
but it's not a minor upgrade (a proverbial point release).  To me, FC2
is a dreaded point zero release.  But I refuse to condemn the Fedora
Project for moving forward.

> 
> This is okay and all, but it leaves me in a tough spot. I'm gonna take 
> some hits for migrating a bunch of people off RH 8/9 6 mos. ago and now 
> this product appears to be marketed strictly for experimentation.
> 
> I've tried Suse, Slack, Debian, Mandrake...and all had far more problems 
> than Fedora, in my experience.

I think the real change we need to understand is that the Fedora Project
is just that, a Project that is community supported.

The free lunch is still here, though.  Just as many probably did before
with RHL you can continue to do with FC: download it, install it and use
it.

But, with RHL, how did we get support?  We paid.  But now, you need to
take ownership of supporting it yourself (with your clients paying you)
or you need to find someone to support you.  But expect to pay for that
support.  Of course, if this is a little too shaky for you on who to
find to support you, then go to what the big vendors are supporting:
purchase RHEL or purchase Suse Enterprise and receive a support contract
if the alternative is too shaky.

> RedHat 2004 anyone, coming to a shelf near you?

Actually it already is: shrink-wrapped and called Red Hat Professional
Workstation and based on RHEL 3 WS.  Works nice....

--Rob