[geeks] Okay, I relent.

[Eric Dittman]

> > > > No, but they are annoying, and every time I look at Debian
> > > > it is using a lot of old versions of software, like OpenBSD.
> > > This is considered to be a feature, not a bug.  On my production systems,
> > > I like to be able to trivially keep it up-to-date with bug fixes and patches
> > > for security flaws, whilst not having the feature set change under my feet
> > > and break everything.  And all my machines are production systems.  If they
> > > weren't doing anything useful, they'd be turned off.
> > I don't consider it to be a bug, I consider it to be inconvenient
> > since they are several versions out of date for some of the more
> > important packages (like the kernel; 2.4 is much better than 2.2).
> 
> Relying on pre-built packages for your kernel strikes me as being really
> silly anyway, as there would by necessity only be generic kernels without
> the particular mixture of drivers you need.  If you feel the urge to put
> your own kernel under package management, then the procedure for doing so
> is well-documented.

There are some things that rely on the kernel, like the filtering,
so you'd have to upgrade those, too.  If you are going to have to
upgrade a lot of stuff after installing you might as well just roll-
your-own like in the old days (which isn't such a bad idea).

Also, at least in the case of RedHat, just about all the drivers
are modules, so you wouldn't have to build a new kernel just to
get the mix of drivers you need.
-- 
Eric Dittman
dittman at dittman.net
Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/