LinuxQuestions.org - shrike and RHE

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- - shrike and RHE (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/red-hat-31/shrike-and-rhe-514651/)

so, i've got a box that, by all accounts, is a rh9 shrike OS.

Linux test.com 2.4.21-20.ELsmp #1 SMP Tue Nov 30 14:55:43 IST 2004 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

cat /etc/redhat-release
Red Hat Linux release 9 (Shrike)

this is a vendor "virtual appliance" build. i asked the vendor why they are still on a very old OS and they told me

Quote:

Originally Posted by my_email_exchange

me: i just noticed that you are still running redhat 9 shrike ??!! thats a very old EOL/EOS platform. why such a outdated OS ?

vendor: According R&D we use Red Hat Enterprise 3.0 Quarterly Update 3 so I don’t know where you see Red Hat 9 signature.

me: cat /etc/redhat-release

vendor: That might be the kernel but for example when we need to download driver for a scsi controller etc, we select enterprise 3 update 3 as the redhat version.

i'm not a linux guru (yet), but it ok to install drivers made for a newer OS onto a older OS ??

Your vendor's Linux skills seem a bit... questionable.

The /etc/redhat-release file, controls the mainenance on the system unless they specifically override the variable with an explicit release in the maintenance configurations (yum, up2date).

You can in fact use software from newer releases, as long as you are properly pulling in dependencies (or rebuilding the source file). However, leaving the release file un-upgraded while updating any significant portion of the system seems odd.

how then can i tell what OS i actually have? if i do rpm -qa i still see redhat-9.3, shouldn't these packages get updated if indeed its really RHEL3 ?

If RHEL3 is installed, the /etc/redhat-release file will reflect that. It sounds like you have some hybrid of RH9 and RHEL3, or an improperly upgraded system.