[SOLVED] Centos + Alternative Repos? Stability?

Hi Guys. After a horrible breakdown using Ubuntu LTS I decided to switch to other distros for my professional work on my home desktop. At first I thought about Slackware 14.01. But after trying it in a VM for a while I realized that all though a great distro it is not the distro for me at the moment.

So I installed Centos 6.5 as my base system that I will mostly use for work and run VM's for everything else.

My question is about the Alternative Repos that are available for Centos. Particularly El Repo, RPMFusion (EPEL) and RPMForge.

Can I trust these guys? I don't want to bork my beautiful setup system. I am very happy with it but I would also prefer to run certain programs from the base as opposed to using VM's. So Should I use priorities if I do add them to my repos?

I have turned on all of the plausible looking alternative repos in my Centos 6.5 including the ones you mentioned. The packages I find myself needing usually come from there. Centos would be a pretty lame desktop OS without those.

In my non-expert opinion, those are safe and are necessary enough that if you decide they are not safe, Centos is not a Desktop distribution.

Originally Posted by johnsfine I have turned on all of the plausible looking alternative repos in my Centos 6.5 including the ones you mentioned. The packages I find myself needing usually come from there. Centos would be a pretty lame desktop OS without those. In my non-expert opinion, those are safe and are necessary enough that if you decide they are not safe, Centos is not a Desktop distribution.

Thanks. Have you had any breakages so far using them? Everything running smoothly?

Originally Posted by Mercury305 Thanks. Have you had any breakages so far using them? Everything running smoothly?

I use firefox a LOT and use libreOffice calc a lot. So it is not surprising that those are the programs in which I have seen the most serious glitches. But not enough to stop my using them nor enough to make me want to experiment with another distribution.

I don't happen to recall where (which repo) firefox and libreOffice calc came from.

It is always possible those malfunctions are due to some version skew (the kind of risk magnified with use of extra repos). But I have no specific reason to suspect that, as opposed to the programs simply not being perfect and my use has triggered some flaws.

I don't know if I would ever describe an experience with a computer as "Everything running smoothly". Programs have bugs and I'm not an average user and I always trigger more bugs than an average user would.

But compared to most OS switches I have experienced, my switch of my home system from an ancient Mepis to Centos 6.5 and my switch of a work system from XP to Centos 6.5 both went smoother than average.

Originally Posted by johnsfine I use firefox a LOT and use libreOffice calc a lot. So it is not surprising that those are the programs in which I have seen the most serious glitches. But not enough to stop my using them nor enough to make me want to experiment with another distribution. I don't happen to recall where (which repo) firefox and libreOffice calc came from. It is always possible those malfunctions are due to some version skew (the kind of risk magnified with use of extra repos). But I have no specific reason to suspect that, as opposed to the programs simply not being perfect and my use has triggered some flaws. I don't know if I would ever describe an experience with a computer as "Everything running smoothly". Programs have bugs and I'm not an average user and I always trigger more bugs than an average user would. But compared to most OS switches I have experienced, my switch of my home system from an ancient Mepis to Centos 6.5 and my switch of a work system from XP to Centos 6.5 both went smoother than average.

Thanks both of those files though are from the centos repos. When I meant problems I meant system wise. I can live with minor glitches and bugs but I can't live with the type of sh*t that happened to me in Ubuntu land before where everything just started to fall apart as if a stack of cards.

Originally Posted by Mercury305 both of those files though are from the centos repos.

Sorry about my bad memory. I know I needed other repos a lot: for wine and for utilities I needed for my ntfs USB drive and for so many other things I don't recall.

I use a lot of different programs a little each. But I see more bugs in the few programs I use a lot.

The biggest pain in Centos was getting Java installed right with the correct security exceptions for my employer's VPN and webex. It took a lot of experimentation and help from our IT person. But once finally installed correctly, those are robust.

When I meant problems I meant system wise. I can live with minor glitches and bugs but I can't live with the type of sh*t that happened to me in Ubuntu land before where everything just started to fall apart as if a stack of cards.

I don't know what happened to you in Ubuntu. I've never had that feeling of all falling apart like a house of cards in Linux, only in Windows. Take a sick Windows system and guess/try a corrective action and as soon as you see the results realize you have done far more harm than the original problem and can't go back.

I've tried some distributions where I never got off the ground on specific unusual hardware. But once a Linux is basically live, I've never seen the admin blunder that couldn't be quickly diagnosed and cleaned up while booted from a liveCD.

On Centos 6.5 I haven't yet made any blunders that needed cleanup via liveCD.

Blindly installing almost any package that seems like something I should try (with that range of alternative repos enabled) has so far gone surprisingly well. Some of those installs have been valuable, others have not. None of them has messed me up yet.

Originally Posted by johnsfine Sorry about my bad memory. I know I needed other repos a lot: for wine and for utilities I needed for my ntfs USB drive and for so many other things I don't recall. I use a lot of different programs a little each. But I see more bugs in the few programs I use a lot. The biggest pain in Centos was getting Java installed right with the correct security exceptions for my employer's VPN and webex. It took a lot of experimentation and help from our IT person. But once finally installed correctly, those are robust. I don't know what happened to you in Ubuntu. I've never had that feeling of all falling apart like a house of cards in Linux, only in Windows. Take a sick Windows system and guess/try a corrective action and as soon as you see the results realize you have done far more harm than the original problem and can't go back. I've tried some distributions where I never got off the ground on specific unusual hardware. But once a Linux is basically live, I've never seen the admin blunder that couldn't be quickly diagnosed and cleaned up while booted from a liveCD. On Centos 6.5 I haven't yet made any blunders that needed cleanup via liveCD. Blindly installing almost any package that seems like something I should try (with that range of alternative repos enabled) has so far gone surprisingly well. Some of those installs have been valuable, others have not. None of them has messed me up yet.

You have been lucky. You should watch out on that type of stuff. Be careful with adding repos freely. Do some research before doing it. I am planning to add the repoforge and el repo repos. For now. It might take the load off my back from compiling source code.

ELRepo, RPMFusion and EPEL are considered to be very safe repos. RPMForge is also safe, but I don't think it plays nice with RPMFusion. I would be very careful with ATrpms though as it can replace a lot of core system packages. Not sure if that is the case still though. ATrpms does carry a lot of packages that nobody else does. One can always build rpms from source, which is not too difficult to do.

I'd also recommend REMI, especially if you're interested in PHP/MySQL

Definitely add http://wiki.centos.org/PackageManagement/Yum/Priorities preferably BEFORE you start using non-Centos repos.

chrism01 beat me to it

install and CONFIGURE!!!! the Priorities plugin

most of the BIG MAJOR problems that were in CentOS 5 and the thirdparty repos
are mostly fixed in 6
BUT NOT ALL OF THEM!!!
and try NOT to mix them
rpmforge dose not play well with elrepo and epel

installing multimedia , video and music, support is the #1 cause of unfixable problems

you can keep RPMforge turned on
but SET "yum-priorites" to 90 for it
priority=90
and only turn on epel and elrepo if needed and set them to 80 each
priority=80
and set cent and updates to 10
priority=10

Originally Posted by John VV chrism01 beat me to it install and CONFIGURE!!!! the Priorities plugin most of the BIG MAJOR problems that were in CentOS 5 and the thirdparty repos are mostly fixed in 6 BUT NOT ALL OF THEM!!! and try NOT to mix them rpmforge dose not play well with elrepo and epel installing multimedia , video and music, support is the #1 cause of unfixable problems you can keep RPMforge turned on but SET "yum-priorites" to 90 for it priority=90 and only turn on epel and elrepo if needed and set them to 80 each priority=80 and set cent and updates to 10 priority=10

I have been having some problems with the 3rd party repos (specifically el repo) with the drivers. I guess I was wrong to use Centos as a Desktop... Its a great Server by all means but being dependent on 3rd party repos by unknown people doesn't make me feel too good. I think in my situation my only 2 valid options left are OpenSuse and Slackware. Both have their ups and downs... Soo thanks for all the help guys. But I read some things about Priorities that are not too nice either. I'm bailing out on the Centos Desktop Project!

it is a great server
desktop??
that is a bit iffy

HOWEVER!!!
on a desktop once things are installed for music and movies and flash and OpenJDK 1.7
and you did not mess up the system doing that .....
it is VERY STABLE
-- with ONE big exception

use the LTS firefox in the repos or "iceweasel "
the current firefox26 has some issues with the older xorg and parts of X
ff 26 will randomly crash

Originally Posted by John VV it is a great server desktop?? that is a bit iffy HOWEVER!!! on a desktop once things are installed for music and movies and flash and OpenJDK 1.7 and you did not mess up the system doing that ..... it is VERY STABLE -- with ONE big exception use the LTS firefox in the repos or "iceweasel " the current firefox26 has some issues with the older xorg and parts of X ff 26 will randomly crash

John, I see you use OpenSuse as well. How would you compare to Centos as far as Desktop is concerned. I won't be using it for server use. Just work related running VM's, Internet and Code mostly. Another reason I wanted to switch is because I want to use the 3.10 kernel for a new wireless device I am about to get. Also I use a Radeon HD card and I heard OpenSuse has good support for AMD due to sponsorship.

But Overall I agree with you that Centos is really some serious enterprise grade distro... But as long as you stay with the supported repos seems you get that benefit of rock solid stability. I don't think that same stability can be guaranteed with 3rd party repos.