What's the difference between a major, minor, and asynchronous release?

转帖者注：关于RHEL的 major release 、minor release、 asynchronous release 的各自定义见下：

https://access.redhat.com/solutions/401413

 SOLUTION 已验证 - 已更新 2014年七月2日05:37 - 

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环境

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
• Red Hat Storage Server

问题

• How do I distinguish between a major release, a minor release, and an asynchronous release?
• How do I identify the release I'm running?

决议

Compare and Contrast

	Major Release	Minor Release	Asynchronous Erratum
Examples (Naming)	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1	RHSA-2013:xxxx-x
Requirements	None	Major Release	Major or Minor Release
Release: Frequency	Years	Months	Days/Weeks
Release: Basis/Driver	Schedule	Schedule	Incident
Includes: Number of Updated Packages	All (thousands)	Some (hundreds)	Few
Includes: Rebases1	All (thousands)	Few	None
Includes: Select Backporting	Yes	Yes	Yes
Includes: Features, Hardware Enablement	Yes	Yes2	No
Includes: Critical and urgent security and bug fixes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Includes: Criteria	Liberal	Strict3	Very Strict4
Hardware Certification Required	Yes	No5	No
Available to all customers	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fully Tested by Red Hat QA	Yes	Yes	Yes
Utilizes Red Hat Network	Yes	Yes	Yes
Application compatibility Assurances	No6	Yes	Yes
Is Upgradable	Yes	Yes	Yes

Please refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle Page for more information.

Identifying a Release

Major Release

Easily identified via subscribed Red Hat Network channels. Installation of packages between major releases is not supported, and therefore a system is based on a major release until upgrading/migrating to the next major release is required.

• For example, a system may be based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, but not a mix of both.

Minor Release

Installed on top of major releases to provide larger-scale point-release updates via Red Hat Network, after initial installation via traditional methods (PXE, DVD, etc.). More difficult to identify since the installation of packages between minor releases is supported. Red Hat does not require a system to be entirely composed of packages from a single minor release, but many regard the kernel version and the contents of /etc/redhat-releaseas two data points that assist in labeling a minor release without deeper introspection into additional userspace package updates. Others have stated that minor releases are just hundreds of errata published on the same day and labeled as a release for convenience.

• For example, a system may have the kernel installed from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1, but user space packages installed from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2. This would still be considered fully supported.

IMPORTANT: Red Hat's independent software vendors (ISVs) may require that a system have packages installed solely from a single minor release for it to be fully supported by the software vendor. Please check with the ISV if there are any support caveats to installing packages from different minor releases on a single system.

Asynchronous Release

Easily identified via installed RPMs mapped to specific errata, and can be queried via yum and rpm commands.

Footnotes

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1. "Rebases" refers to user space package rebases, as well as kernel device driver rebases ↩

2. Highly dependent on where the release is in its product life cycle. ↩

3. Highly dependent on where the release is in its product life cycle. ↩

4. Each product has its own published criteria for asynchronous errata. ↩

5. Not required if already certified during the major release. For example, if certified on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2, it is certified on all newer minor releases as well, but not 6.1 or 6.0. ↩

6. No ISV assurances due to a full rebase of the product/distribution. Please refer to the ISV directly or the Red Hat ISV Software Catalog for a list of certified software solutions on Red Hat products. ↩