Members of the ISP-Linux list delve into that constant neverending topic, when to upgrade your operating system. Here, the discussion revolves around Red Hat Linux.

[March 19, 2002]

On the ISP-Linux list in February, TB inquired,

"I keep talking to admins who are running servers with Red Hat 6.x rather than 7.x. Is there a reason why 6.x appears to be more widely deployed than 7.x.?"

Most respondents saw no need to make the change:

[WP noted] "When you have a Red Hat 6.x server running perfectly, giving you no problems, there's no reason to bother with a new installation. Taking into account all the security things I'm aware of, I don't see the need to change it."

[SM agreed] "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. You'll spend way too much time doing the upgrade, and for what? To take a box that's running perfectly, and put a newer version on it? What have you gained?"

[WD added] "Every box I set up with Red Hat 6.2 has been running flawlessly for over a year. I'm not about to bow to the Microsoft mentality and upgrade just because a new version comes out."

TM explained that the early 7.x releases did have some problems:

"Red Hat 6.2 with a few updates is solid and works great. Red Hat 7.0 and Red Hat 7.1 left a lot to be desired. Red Hat 7.2, though, was a big improvement: we're now running some 7.2 and some 6.2."

MG added that, for him, it was a simple question of familiarity:

"I know 6.2 like the back of my hand, and it took some time to adjust to working on both 7.2 and 6.2. I could have used a little more documentation on the differences between 6.2 and 7.2, but it's okay once you've gotten used to it."

—End