[2509] in Release_7.7_team
Should we upgrade IRIX?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert A Basch)
Wed Dec 6 23:07:31 2000
Message-Id: <200012070407.XAA117819@aupair.mit.edu>
To: cease@MIT.EDU, owls@MIT.EDU
cc: release-team@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 23:07:17 -0500
From: Robert A Basch <rbasch@MIT.EDU>
It is nearing the time when we need to decide whether to upgrade the
version of IRIX running on our SGI machines next year for Athena 8.5.
We are currently running IRIX 6.5.7; the 6.5.10 maintenance release
came out recently, and we expect 6.5.11 to be released in time to be
included in Athena 8.5.
The arguments in favor of upgrading include:
* We get all of the OS bug fixes between 6.5.7 and 6.5.11.
* By keeping relatively up to date, it would be easier to get
support from SGI, and to persuade them to issue a patch to
fix any critical problem that might arise.
* As a maintenance update, no major effort to revise the Athena
install and update systems should be required.
Counter-arguments are:
* Currently we do not seem to have any outstanding critical bugs.
There is a major bug in the 6.5.7 X server, fixed in 6.5.10,
which we would need to fix for the deployment of software as
part of the AUI project; however, initial testing shows that
this bug can be worked around by installing the appropriate
binaries from the 6.5.10 release.
* Critical problems tend to be introduced by the new OS revision
itself.
* Even a maintenance update requires a significant commitment of
resources.
In the past we have also upgraded the "Varsity" software packages
as part of the operating system update; however, I have not seen
any new versions of this software recently. (The SGI Varsity web
page, at http://www.sgi.com/education/varsity/index.html, still
refers to the June '99 update as the apparent latest version).
From a discussion at today's release team meeting, our initial feeling
is that we should not bother to upgrade IRIX next year. If you feel
otherwise, have other perspectives that we ought to consider, or know
of other relevant issues, please speak up soon; if we are going to do
the upgrade, the decision should be made by the end of January. In
particular, please indicate if you know of any applications which
could require an OS upgrade.
Bob
