Wrote this comment a while ago for anyone wondering about this:
Just installed it in a VM, changes that jumped out at me:
• No Python (that you should develop against) installed out of the box. There's a /usr/libexec/platform-python (3.6) that yum (dnf) runs against, and then python2/python3 packages you can optionally install if you want to run python scripts.
• Kernel 4.18
• No more ntpd, chrony only
• /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts is a ghost town, save for a lonely ifcfg file for my network adapter. No more /etc/init.d/network, so /etc/init.d is finally cleaned out. It looks like static routes still go in route-<adapter> and you ifdown/ifup to pull those in (it calls nmcli).
Neat, but a great isolated example of the ancient software people who use RHEL have to deal with. RHEL 7 has dmesg from util-linux 2.23, the "colors by default" feature[1] first came out with 2.24 released on October 21st, 2013, which is around the time[3] the first beta of RHEL 7 came out.
So I hope I can answer some of these [disclaimer: I work for Red Hat]:
Python: This is about the module system. Modules let you install different versions of parts of the stack. For example, different Python, different Apache version, different QEMU. These will move much faster than base RHEL because they're now decoupled. You can install one version of each module from a choice of several versions available at any one time -- it's not parallel install (for that there is still Software Collections). The reason for not having parallel install is basically because people use containers or VMs so they don't really need it, and parallel install brings a lot of complexity.
For Python we tried to remove all the Python dependencies from the base image, didn't quite do it because of dnf (although that is in the works with at least the base dnf 3 being rewritten in C++). So we need a reliable System Python which isn't in a module (else dnf would break if you install modular Python 2.7). Basically don't use System Python unless you're writing base system utilities, instead "yum install python3" should pull in the right module.
Kernel: As usual the version number isn't that interesting, as a lot of work will be done through backports.
ntpd: Can't say I'm very happy about this myself :-(
Network scripts: It's NetworkManager all the way. Again, mixed feelings about this, but I can't say I loved network scripts either.
Not surprising. I've been preferring Chrony to ntpd on systems without systemd-timesyncd (like CentOS 6 and 7) for at least two years since I read this Core Infrastructure article about Chrony:
Anyone have any thoughts on why chrony vs openntpd?
Back when the ntpd security became a thing I evaluated chrony and openntpd as replacements and went with openntpd. It seemed to be simpler, used fewer system resources and had the openbsd teams reputation behind it.
My most disliked feature. The colors in everything always clashes with both my background color (the best one for my eyes) and my vision in general. The first thing I do on any new system is to figure out how to turn of the colors. Otherwise I can't see any of the output.
I have no appreciable Linux skills so forgive my naïvety with this question:
In the promo vid on their site, there are a couple of people gaming. Is this alluding to the fact that you can game on RHEL or that it powers the backend of games?
1) There actually are quite a few games available that run natively on Linux these days. Usually not AAA titles but lots of indie games. I've got (checks) about 550 games on Steam, largely through various bundle sales, and something like 30% of them run natively on Linux.
2) Steam now bundles Wine and lots of games are tested and semi-officially supported with it now, bumps the playable fraction to more like 60-70%—and you can enable it for all games with a settings checkbox, too, and more often than not it works.
I don't think so - I know the CentOS folk and they are working very hard on a release. There is no interference from IBM, partly because Red Hat hasn't been acquired yet, and partly because why would they kill a cash machine that's proven to work so well? Despite some nonsense you read online IBM are not stupid.
chomp|6 years ago
Just installed it in a VM, changes that jumped out at me:
• No Python (that you should develop against) installed out of the box. There's a /usr/libexec/platform-python (3.6) that yum (dnf) runs against, and then python2/python3 packages you can optionally install if you want to run python scripts.
• Kernel 4.18
• No more ntpd, chrony only
• /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts is a ghost town, save for a lonely ifcfg file for my network adapter. No more /etc/init.d/network, so /etc/init.d is finally cleaned out. It looks like static routes still go in route-<adapter> and you ifdown/ifup to pull those in (it calls nmcli).
• Pretty colors when running dmesg!
avar|6 years ago
Neat, but a great isolated example of the ancient software people who use RHEL have to deal with. RHEL 7 has dmesg from util-linux 2.23, the "colors by default" feature[1] first came out with 2.24 released on October 21st, 2013, which is around the time[3] the first beta of RHEL 7 came out.
1. https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/9bc2b51a06dc9c...
2. https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/releases/tag/v2.24
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux#RHEL_...
rwmj|6 years ago
Python: This is about the module system. Modules let you install different versions of parts of the stack. For example, different Python, different Apache version, different QEMU. These will move much faster than base RHEL because they're now decoupled. You can install one version of each module from a choice of several versions available at any one time -- it's not parallel install (for that there is still Software Collections). The reason for not having parallel install is basically because people use containers or VMs so they don't really need it, and parallel install brings a lot of complexity.
For Python we tried to remove all the Python dependencies from the base image, didn't quite do it because of dnf (although that is in the works with at least the base dnf 3 being rewritten in C++). So we need a reliable System Python which isn't in a module (else dnf would break if you install modular Python 2.7). Basically don't use System Python unless you're writing base system utilities, instead "yum install python3" should pull in the right module.
Kernel: As usual the version number isn't that interesting, as a lot of work will be done through backports.
ntpd: Can't say I'm very happy about this myself :-(
Network scripts: It's NetworkManager all the way. Again, mixed feelings about this, but I can't say I loved network scripts either.
Qerub|6 years ago
sparkling|6 years ago
aorth|6 years ago
Not surprising. I've been preferring Chrony to ntpd on systems without systemd-timesyncd (like CentOS 6 and 7) for at least two years since I read this Core Infrastructure article about Chrony:
https://www.coreinfrastructure.org/blogs/securing-network-ti...
eikenberry|6 years ago
Back when the ntpd security became a thing I evaluated chrony and openntpd as replacements and went with openntpd. It seemed to be simpler, used fewer system resources and had the openbsd teams reputation behind it.
Tor3|6 years ago
My most disliked feature. The colors in everything always clashes with both my background color (the best one for my eyes) and my vision in general. The first thing I do on any new system is to figure out how to turn of the colors. Otherwise I can't see any of the output.
paulcarroty|6 years ago
Great news, don't like Python by default. All Linux basic services works great without it.
w-m|6 years ago
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterp...
CiPHPerCoder|6 years ago
Bad news: ...without ext/sodium
That's a frankly irresponsible decision for Red Hat to make.
apaprocki|6 years ago
lelf|6 years ago
nilskrau|6 years ago
found by removing the query part
_Understated_|6 years ago
In the promo vid on their site, there are a couple of people gaming. Is this alluding to the fact that you can game on RHEL or that it powers the backend of games?
Just curious...
asark|6 years ago
2) Steam now bundles Wine and lots of games are tested and semi-officially supported with it now, bumps the playable fraction to more like 60-70%—and you can enable it for all games with a settings checkbox, too, and more often than not it works.
aetimmes|6 years ago
You can game on RHEL but it wouldn't be my first choice of distro for it - IMO, Ubuntu and Fedora are both better-suited for that task.
officeplant|6 years ago
foobarbazetc|6 years ago
We basically packaged our own RHEL8 on top of 7 and I’m glad we don’t have to do that for 95% of the packages anymore.
acdha|6 years ago
https://access.redhat.com/containers/?tab=images#/registry.a...
Following the pattern of https://access.redhat.com/containers/?tab=images#/registry.a... and https://access.redhat.com/containers/?tab=images#/registry.a...
Spiritus|6 years ago
cwt137|6 years ago
satya71|6 years ago
digitalsushi|6 years ago
pnutjam|6 years ago
grep -rli 'centos' * | xargs -i @sed -i 's/centos]/Oracle\ Unbreakable\ Linux/gi' @
done
ParadisoShlee|6 years ago
pnutjam|6 years ago
robbyt|6 years ago
baijum|6 years ago
lima|6 years ago
IBM has zero incentive to interfere with CentOS, it's the best advertising for RHEL they can get.
rwmj|6 years ago
adontz|6 years ago
unixhero|6 years ago
dralley|6 years ago
ilovecaching|6 years ago
Diederich|6 years ago
pnutjam|6 years ago