kernel upgrade with yum removed old kernels

[Kam Leo]

On 5/6/07, Rahul Sundaram <sundaram at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> Kam Leo wrote:
>
> > The life time of a Fedora release is short. Previous FC releases had
> > less than 10 kernel updates. The number is probably on the same scale
> > as a RHEL release over a longer period of time.
> >
>
> If you notice the number of end users asking about editing grub to
> change the number of kernels have just about disappeared compared to the
> time before the plugin was introduced. That is a pretty strong
> indication that this plugin had the desired effect and is helpful.
>

I have not noticed. Enabling hiddenmenu in grub probably played a
greater part than the plugin in reducing questions regarding changing
the number of kernels. Most new users would not know that they have
the capability to choose kernels at boot time.

> RHEL tends to attract sys admins. If you buying a subscription you are
> probably already invested in time and resources towards a solution and
> hence usually more experienced.
>
> Fedora tends to attract a lot more new users. Barrier to entry is low -
> zero cost, free media, retail redistribution. Latest software is
> appealing to desktop folks. A plugin which manages the kernels in a
> reasonable way is useful for this audience. Others who are more
> experienced can very easily tweak it or turn it off.
>
> > Since reaching 2.6.18 the number and velocity of kernel changes
> > reaching the user base is greater. Why?
>
> Security issues, bugs. Got to ask the kernel maintainer. Nothing
> relevant to this discussion really.

Yes, it does.The base for FC6 went from 2.6.18 to 2.6.20. Bug and
security fixes alone would not have necessitated the version changes
that followed. What I see is that the installonlyn plugin was created
to fix the side effects of Fedora Core's kernel update
mechanism/policy.

> > Only if a user is running yum from the commandline. Some users
> > automate updates.
>
> If you are smart enough to tweak the default behavior which is not to do
> automatic updates then you as smart enough to change the plugin behavior
> too.

We weren't talking about me, at least I hope not, but about less
knowledgeable users.
I hope our mutual goal is to improve Fedora Core.

By the way, regarding ideas for improving documentation:  It is highly
desirable to have man pages for all released software. Yum's plugins
seem to have fallen through the cracks. If the release notes are not
been maintained then I would recommend that any functional/behavioral
change be documented via comments in the .conf file. It shouldn't take
too much effort and is better than nothing.

> Rahul