Comment by shaklee3
7 years ago
Ubuntu seems like a good replacement. We use it, and I greatly appreciate that the compiler is not stuck on barely getting C++11 support.
7 years ago
Ubuntu seems like a good replacement. We use it, and I greatly appreciate that the compiler is not stuck on barely getting C++11 support.
The problem isn't that RedHat's release cycle was too long, it's that companies want support for 5 year release cycles. Most places I've been don't even look at testing a major version of a new OS for at least year. There are just too many variables between hardware, drivers, and software and little to no benefit in staying bleeding edge.
Let's say there was a new feature. It might be an improvement in almost every regard, but how it behaves at the limits or when left unattended might not play well with every other piece in the system. Part of it might be changing user/business expectations, or changing the pieces around, but that can literally take years.
A few wrinkles I've heard about, but haven't directly dealt with is that RHEL7/systemd is too polite about unmounting disks on shutdown which means it will just hang. This is a huge problem for remote workstations that don't have IPMI. Another issue I've heard about is issues with a bunch of our diskless servers don't play well with it. Having to migrate and troubleshoot core issues like these every 2 years is just unfeasible.
As you point out, just working at a place where everything is 10 years old is frustrating, too. Last week I was trying to build VLC, which requires C++11 and had issues. At previous jobs I pushed really hard for a new enough kernel to evaluate Docker and have spent a lot of time selling people on Git.