centOS reporting two different versions

digity · 03-28-2013, 06:21 PM

At the console it says centOS 5.7, but "lsb_release -a" returns 5.9. What gives? Which is the correct version and how could I verify that so I know for sure?

suicidaleggroll · 03-28-2013, 06:34 PM

At what console? You mean your command prompt? What is the output of

Code:

echo $PS1

chrism01 · 03-28-2013, 06:56 PM

Also try

Code:

cat /etc/centos-release

unless that's what you meant by 'console'

digity · 03-28-2013, 08:55 PM

The console meaning that old text based interface you get when physically at the computer and monitor - when the machine restarted it dropped out of the windows manager (Gnome) and into the text based interface for about ten seconds before actually rebooting the machine. During those ten seconds that's when I saw centOS 5.7 above the login prompt.

echo $PS1

Code:

[\u@\h \W]\$

cat /etc/centos-release

Code:

cat: /etc/centos-release: No such file or directory

spiky0011 · 03-29-2013, 02:15 AM

Try

Code:

cat /etc/system-release

shivaa · 03-29-2013, 03:26 AM

Can you try:

Code:

~$ cat /etc/issue

And how console is displaying centOS 5.7? Do you see it in login banner when you open a new terminal? If yes, then banner could be set wrongly.

digity · 03-29-2013, 12:00 PM

cat /etc/system-release

Code:

cat: /etc/system-release: No such file or directory

cat /etc/issue

Code:

CentOS release 5.9 (Final)
Kernel \r on an \m

So is it safe to say this is indeed 5.9? If so, I have one quick question... would centOS have auto upgraded itself to 5.9 in January when it was released or did someone have to manually upgrade it to 5.9?

shivaa · 03-29-2013, 12:46 PM

Yes, it's indeed 5.9. You will need to upgrade it manualy, it will not be upgraded automatically.

rknichols · 03-29-2013, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shivaa

Yes, it's indeed 5.9. You will need to upgrade it manualy, it will not be upgraded automatically.

That is incorrect. CentOS will automatically upgrade to the latest point release unless you have edited the files in /etc/yum.repos.d to lock it to a specific point release. The .repo files that come with the installation just request the updates for version "5", and on the servers, "5" is just a symlink to the latest point release.

If you did want to stay locked at a particular point release, you would have to edit the .repo file and change all instances of "$releasever" to "5.7", or whatever point release you wanted. Doing so is inadvisable because you would get no further security updates once a later point release came out. If you wanted to run on a particular point release, you would be better off using Scientific Linux, which does continue to offer security updates for older point releases (and does not, by default, automatically update to newer point releases).