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RedHat Enterprise AS 3.0 for my ia64 machine came with gcc. That was over 3 years ago. That version of gcc has some unresolved bugs in g77 that are giving me trouble, so I downloaded version 4.2.1 ( the next to the latest release) from one of the GNU mirror sites and proceeded to try to install it. The configuration step worked perfectly and the build step almost completed. But then the build step stopped with the following error and an instruction to submit a bug report:
gcc is pretty integral to any linux install. The version of gcc that the version of linux was built around is quite difficult to replace (it can be done, but it is a real PITA). Actually it cannot be replaced but you can install another version alongside. The system depends on the libraries in that specific version of gcc in order to operate. It would be far, far, easier to update the entire system to ver 5.1. Centos is RedHat el with the logos removed. It is binary compatible with the equivalent version of RHel (RHel5.1=Centos 5.1). Which means that you can run 99% of RH el rpms on Centos. It is free to download.
When I saw the fourteen different packages associated with c++, I realized what a problem it would be to uninstall them. And, there would be no guarantee that I could build and install 4.2.1 from scratch.
I like your idea, but I am nervous about that too. My machine is a six year old Dell PowerEdge 7150 with Itanium cpus. The machine came with RH 7.2 installed. About four years ago, the OS was clobbered and when I wanted to re-install it from the installation disks, I found that disk1 was a copy of disk2. My search for replacement disks came to naught. And, I was informed by Dell that RH7.2 was the only linux OS qualified for this machine. RH convinced me to buy Enterprise AS 3.0. I have been using that OS continuously. But, if I dare to make updates, using RHN, I can no longer boot the machine. So, I am careful to keep running the original 3.0.
Since there are four HDs in the machine, I would very much like to try your suggestion to install a new version of the OS on an auxiliary drive. Any hints that you can give would be appreciated.
The key search phrase will be "dual boot" if you want to keep the machine as is while trying the new OS.
Personally I do not dual boot. My data is just too valuable and I cannot afford to be down for any significant amount of time. What I do is mark all the cables and drives (masking tape is your friend), pull out the important drives(you can just unplug them,no need to physically unmount them), and install the new OS on the remaining drive. As long as all goes well, I then add the "old" drives back in. Sometimes it can take some time to get all the "bugs" worked out. Don't get excited about these "bugs" they are usually just some minor thing that needs tweaked. About 90% of the time I have no issues at all. All the Qualified thing means is that they have thoroughly tested that specific box with that specific version. Ninety percent of the time this is not necessary, this is especially true if you are running an earlier version of the same OS.
You are right about pulling all drives but the one on which you want to install. I recently replaced my boot drive with a much larger one. The only way that I could safely install the system on it was to take out all the other drives. The four drives on the 7150 are plug accessible from the front panel and can be easily unlocked and slipped out. (Due to software limitations, the drives are not hot-pluggable.)
Am I correct that I need to buy or burn (from disk images) a set of Centos 5.1 installation disks?
I may have a few more questions as I get closer to doing the install.
This (above) should get you started. They also list sources to buy(for a nominal charge) the disks if you need to. I just burned it when I switched my server to Centos 5. Just make sure to check the shasum (sha1sum) of the image before you burn it to make sure you have a good image.
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