Игорь Олемской — практические заметки по системному администрированию Linux CentOS

I've got a position for a SQL Server Report Developer/Analyst available for immediate, full-time hire, for any qualified individual within reasonable distance of Malvern, PA (19355).
This job reports to me and would be responsible for creating reports in SQL Server Reporting Services (including the T-SQL, Stored Procedures, etc. behind the reports), assisting users in developing [...]

A Flamethrower is the best birthday present ever, thanks wife!

For those wondering, this is the Weed Dragon VT 2-23 SVC (full disclosure: Amazon Affiliate link).  It's basically a flamethrower that you hook up to a standard propane tank.  There is a cheaper model without the squeeze valve, that's the VT 2-23 C, though I'd highly [...]

Hello all,

RHEL 5.6 beta was recently released.  In it includes an optional ‘php53′ upgrade that is very much the same as the php53 package in IUS.  It Conflicts with and replaces stock PHP if one so chooses to replace it (same as IUS).  Some issues exist:

• (a) The package version locked in at 5.3.2 which is behind IUS which is 5.3.3
• (b) Some of the subpackages were removed (mcrypt, zts, embedded, etc)

Because of both (a) and (b), we can’t simply just remove php53 from IUS as it would disrupt current installations and not provide the same features.  That said, we will not be able to keep php53 in the stable repo based on part of our policy, specifically:

Replacement Packages …

• Can not have the same name as another Stock Distro Package
• Must not automatically install, upgrade, or replace Stock Distro Packages when subscribing to the repo.

The above is part of the Safe Repo Initiative written to provide some level of standardization for 3rd party repos.  The problem with leaving php53 in the stable repo is that anyone who subscribes to IUS that has ‘php53′ installed would automatically upgrade to the IUS version of ‘php53′ which breaks policy.

Suggested Resolution

A possible solution would be to create an additional repository for these types of packages.  Essentially, a repo where IUS packages can move to if they are added to RHEL base.  This repo would be different in that it would not be enabled by default via the ius-release package… and the packages in the repo have the same name as a package in stock RHEL.

We have not made any changes at this point.  If you have any feedback please feel free to reply on the ius-community mailing list.  Thinking of an appropriate name for the repo would be helpful as well, as we are unsure what name would make sense to users.

—
BJ Dierkes
Linux Systems Engineer IV / [RH]acker
Infrastructure Services [Development]
Rackspace Hosting

As is documented in a number of places (soon to be removed though), IUS packages introduced an incompatibility with how Yum handled compare_providers.  The issue is outlined in LP#453543.  That said, as of upstream version 3.2.26 and RHEL 5.5/6.0 (backported: 3.2.22-23) Yum now better supports the IUS package naming convention.

In short, IUS names its packages slightly off from stock package names.  For example, mysql becomes mysql50 or mysql51… php becomes php52 or php53, etc.  The reason is outlined in FAQ #1098.  This introduced a dependency issue where if you tried to install a package that say “Requires: php-mysql” … if you had php52 installed, yum would previously attempt to install stock php-mysql rather than the more appropriate php52-mysql.  As of the latest release, Yum now checks to see if a providers ‘base package’ is installed, and if so awards it points in the comparison process.  This makes php52-mysql win out as a better provider for the dependency ‘php-mysql’ becuase it a) provides php-mysql and b) it’s base package (php52) is already installed.  Does that sound confusing?

Many thanks to the Yum developers for accepting our request and helping make IUS the best 3rd party repo for upgrading RHEL!

Per today’s announcement from the PHP Development Group, we have just completed building out updates for our php52 packages bringing them inline with upstream stable 5.2.12.  IUS maintains php52 for Redhat / CentOS Enterprise Linux 4 and 5, and plan to do so until the 5.2 branch is EOL upstream.

Along with this update we have also rebuilt the available PECL packages for php52 for Redhat/CentOS EL 5 only.  The available PECL packages are:

• php52-pecl-memcache
• php52-pecl-apc
• php52-pecl-imagick (new)

As you can see this is a pretty skimpy list.  We are hoping to add more PECL packages to this list, but in order to do so we really need contributions from the community.  Our goal would be to eventually have a comparable list of PECL packages to what EPEL has in their repo.  If you are interested in helping contribute packages to the project, please see the Developer Guide.

Testing IUS Packages

All packages and updates mentioned in this post are currently in ius-el5-testing meaning that they haven’t quite made it to our production/stable repositories.  Any help testing packages is more than extremely appreciated.  If you are interested in contributing to the project by way of testing and feedback, see the Getting Started Guide and more specifically the section from the wiki on Installing Packages from IUS Testing. Once complete either email us or submit feedback via the appropriate tracker on our LaunchPad site.

Along with PHP 5.2.12, there are also updates for:

• mod_wsgi-python31
• rsyslog4

Contacting the IUS Core Development Team

If you are unable to communicate via our bug tracking system, mailing list, answers section, etc please send us an email to coredev@iuscommunity.org.

We also hangout in #iuscommunity on irc.freenode.net.

I've got a permanent PHP Development position available at work.  If you (or someone you know) has the skills below and are within commuting distance to Malvern, PA 19355, or are willing to relocate at your own expense within the next month or so, please use the comment form on the About page to contact [...]

A couple days ago I noticed that this site didn't really lend itself to a mobile browser.  Not sure why WordPress doesn't include a mobile theme, but anyway, that's fixed now, thanks to a mobile-optimized theme and a plugin that automatically switches you based on your browser identification (no separate URL required).  If you should [...]

Alright, just about every package in the repo was just updated. Some significantly, others not so much, but the ones people are likely to care about are there. MySQL is now up to 5.0.84, PHP is up to 5.2.11, and httpd is up to 2.2.13.

We have finally setup the IUS Community Wiki and kicked it off with the following docs:

• Client Usage Guide
• Developer Guide

The wiki is open for community contributions and editing, though we have limited this to OpenID logins with LaunchPad only.  Our reason in doing so is to limit spammers/bots as well as to encourage anyone and everyone to join the IUS Community Members Team on LaunchPad.

If you have any issues using or editing the wiki please send us an email to coredev@iuscommunity.org and we will get things squared away asap.

Ok, maybe not like a bear.  Bears eat a bunch before they sleep and wake up lighter.  I, on the other hand, have put on about 10 lbs over the past year (need to spend more time at the gym and less time at the office).  Oh, and bears don't do anything while hibernating, whereas [...]