Yum configuration to allow multiple versions to co-exist?

MikeyCarter · 06-28-2014, 10:45 AM

I have jre and jdk from sun in a local mirror for all my internal computers to consume. Works great as I only have to dump the rpms in one place.

However, jre7 and jre8 need to co-exist on the same system. Since I have no control over the base packages, is there a way from a repository configure to say these should only upgrade minor versions and leave the major versions to co-exist? Or treat them the same as kernel and keep the last 3 or so version on the same system?

dijetlo · 06-30-2014, 01:01 PM

Mike, the first problem that comes to mind is the value of the system variable "$JAVA_HOME" is going to be a problem.

MikeyCarter · 06-30-2014, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dijetlo

Mike, the first problem that comes to mind is the value of the system variable "$JAVA_HOME" is going to be a problem.

System variable normally points to /usr/java/LATEST which is an alias to the latest version. Then anything requiring a specific version usually sets their own JAVA_HOME... problem is yum update jre is killing the older versions.

dijetlo · 07-01-2014, 08:46 AM

Quote:

... problem is yum update jre is killing the older versions.

Killing it as in removing it or "killing it" as in resetting the $JAVA_HOME variable and effectively removing the older version from $PATH?

Quote:

Then anything requiring a specific version usually sets their own JAVA_HOME

You sound like you know more about this than I do but my experience has been that most applications use the version of java identified by the generic "$JAVA_HOME" unless they were configured with a specific $JAVA_HOME at build.