Re: Goofy RedHat Problem

[Michael Ströder <michael@stroeder.com>]

John Klein wrote:
> To put it more clearly: it's entirely understandable for distros to be a 
> few versions behind for the reasons you cite. It's inexcusable for them 
> to be /two and a half years/ behind[0], especially /because/ so much 
> other software depends on things like OpenLDAP to function properly. 
> Stability is not a strict linear progression with age - it's more like a 
> parabolic curve.

And I'd like to add that it's nearly impossible for OSS developers to 
maintain old versions and give support for each and every outdated release 
ever made in combination with each and every version of all other software 
used. I'm pretty sure that the time is more worthful spent improving the 
code, releasing fixed versions.

If other software is relying on OpenLDAP the authors are also in charge of 
keeping up with current OpenLDAP development. Yes, I have to myself (e.g. 
with python-ldap and web2ldap).

Since especially Red Hat is a commercial driven distribution you should 
blame them for not working on it to keep the software they *distribute* up 
to date. Remember: That's what Linux distributions are for and some charge 
money for this...

Ciao, Michael.

P.S.: Most problems I'm facing with supporting web2ldap and python-ldap are 
caused by people using pre-built RPMs not tested by the "distributor"...