| % |
| % $Id: release.tex 6024 2010-06-28 04:28:27Z al $ |
| % |
| \section{The CentOS Release Schema} |
| \hypertarget{sec:Concepts:CentOS:Release}{} |
| \label{sec:Concepts:CentOS:Release} |
| |
| The upstream vendor has released 4 versions of enterprise Linux that |
| CentOS rebuilds the freely available SRPMS for. So, the major CentOS |
| releases are CentOS 2, CentOS 3, CentOS 4 and CentOS 5. The upstream |
| vendor releases security updates as required by circumstances. CentOS |
| releases rebuilds of security updates as soon as possible. Usually |
| within 24 hours (our stated goal is with 72 hours, but we are usually |
| much faster). |
| |
| The upstream vendor also releases numbered update sets for Version 3, |
| Version 4 and Version 5 of their product (Currently EL 3 update 9, EL |
| 4 update 6 and EL 5 update 1) 2 to 4 times per year. There are new |
| ISOs from the upstream vendor provided for these update sets. Update |
| sets will be completed as soon as possible after the vendor releases |
| their version ... generally within 2 weeks. CentOS follows these |
| conventions as well, so CentOS 3.9 correlates with EL 3 update 9 and |
| CentOS 4.6 correlates with EL 4 update 6, CentOS 5.1 correlates to EL |
| 5 update 1, etc. |
| |
| One thing some people have problems understanding is that if you have |
| any CentOS-3 product and update it, you will be updated to the latest |
| CentOS-3.x version. |
| |
| The same is true for CentOS-4 and CentOS 5. If you update any CentOS-4 |
| product, you will be updated to the latest CentOS-4.x version, or to |
| the latest CentOS 5.x version if you are updating a CentOS 5 system. |
| This is exactly the same behavior as the upstream product. Let's |
| assume that the latest EL4 product is update 6. If you install the |
| upstream original EL4 CDs (the ones before any update set) and upgrade |
| via their up2date, you will have latest update set installed (EL4 |
| update 6 in our example). Since all updates within a major release |
| (CentOS 2, CentOS 3, CentOS 4, CentOS 5) always upgrade to the latest |
| version when updates are performed (thus mimicking upstream behavior), |
| only the latest version is maintained in each main tree on the CentOS |
| mirrors. |
| |
| There is a CentOS Vault containing old CentOS trees. This vault is a |
| picture of the older tree when it was removed from the main tree, and |
| does not receive updates. It should only be used for reference. |
| |
| |