Chapter 1. Red Hat Software Collections 1.2
This chapter serves as an overview of the Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 content set. It sums up its main features, provides a list of components and their descriptions, compatibility information, and a list of known issues.
1.1. About Red Hat Software Collections
For certain applications, more recent versions of some software components are often needed in order to use their latest new features. Red Hat Software Collections is a Red Hat offering that provides a set of dynamic programming languages, database servers, and various related packages that are either more recent than their equivalent versions included in the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux system, or are available for this system for the first time. For a complete list of components that are distributed as part of Red Hat Software Collections and a brief summary of their features, see Section 1.2, “Main Features”.
Red Hat Software Collections does not replace the default system tools provided with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Instead, a parallel set of tools is installed in the
/opt/ directory and can be optionally enabled per application by the user using the supplied scl utility. The default versions of Perl or PostgreSQL, for example, remain those provided by the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux system.
With the notable exception of Node.js, all Red Hat Software Collections components are fully supported under Red Hat Enterprise Linux Subscription Level Agreements, are functionally complete, and are intended for production use. Important bug fix and security errata are issued to Red Hat Software Collections subscribers in a similar manner to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for at least three years from the release of each major version. A new major version of Red Hat Software Collections is released approximately every 18 months, and in each major release stream, each version of a selected component remains backward compatible.
Red Hat Developer Toolset is now part of Red Hat Software Collections, included as a separate Software Collection. For more information about Red Hat Developer Toolset, refer to the Red Hat Developer Toolset Release Notes and the Red Hat Developer Toolset User Guide.
1.2. Main Features
Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 provides recent stable versions of the tools listed in Table 1.1, “Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 Components”.
| Component | Software Collection | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Developer Toolset 3.0 | devtoolset-3 | Red Hat Developer Toolset is designed for developers working on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. It provides current versions of the GNU Compiler Collection, GNU Debugger, Eclipse development platform, and other development, debugging, and performance monitoring tools. For a complete list of components, see the Red Hat Developer Toolset Components table in the Red Hat Developer Toolset User Guide. |
| Perl 5.16.3 | perl516 | A release of Perl with a number of additional utilities, scripts, and database connectors for MySQL and PostgreSQL. This version provides a large number of new features and enhancements, including new debugging options, improved Unicode support, and better performance. Also, it adds perl-DateTime and mod_perl, which is supported only with the httpd24 Software Collection package. |
| PHP 5.4.16 | php54 | A release of PHP with PEAR 1.9.4 and a number of additional extensions. PHP 5.4 provides a number of language and interface improvements. The APC, memcache, and Zend OPcache extensions are also included. |
| PHP 5.5.6 | php55 | A release of PHP with enhanced language features including better exception handling, generators, and Zend OPcache. The memcache and mongodb extensions are also included. |
| Python 2.7.5 | python27 | A release of Python 2.7 with a number of additional utilities. This Python version provides various new features and enhancements, including a new ordered dictionary type, faster I/O operations, and improved forward compatibility with Python 3. The python27 Software Collections contains the Python 2.7.5 interpreter, a set of extension libraries useful for programming web applications and mod_wsgi (only supported with the httpd24 Software Collection), MySQL and PostgreSQL database connectors, and numpy and scipy. |
| Python 3.3.2 | python33 | A release of Python 3 with a number of additional utilities. This Software Collection gives developers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux access to Python 3 and allows them to benefit from various advantages and new features of this version. The python33 Software Collection contains Python 3.3.2 interpreter, a set of extension libraries useful for programming web applications and mod_wsgi (only supported with the httpd24 Software Collection), PostgreSQL database connector, and numpy and scipy. |
| Ruby 1.9.3[a] | ruby193 | A release of Ruby 1.9.3 and Ruby on Rails 3.2.8 with a large collection of Ruby gems. This Software Collection gives developers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux access to Ruby 1.9, which provides a number of new features and enhancements, including improved Unicode support, enhanced threading, faster load times, and mod_passenger, which is supported only with the httpd24 Software Collection package. |
| Ruby 2.0.0 | ruby200 | A release of Ruby 2.0.0. This version provides substantial performance and reliability improvements and includes a number of new features and improved debugging capabilities, while maintaining source level backward compatibility with Ruby 1.9.3. |
| Ruby on Rails 4.0.2[a] | ror40 | A release of Ruby on Rails 4.0, a web application development framework written in the Ruby language. This version provides a number of new features and improvements and adds live streaming for persistent connections. This Software Collection is supported together with the ruby200 collection. |
| MariaDB 5.5.37 | mariadb55 | A release of MariaDB, an alternative to MySQL for users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. MySQL is binary compatible with MariaDB and can be replaced with it without any data conversions. This version adds the PAM authentication plugin to MariaDB. |
| MongoDB 2.4.9[b] | mongodb24 | A release of MongoDB, a cross-platform document-oriented database system classified as a NoSQL database. This Software Collection includes the mongo-java-driver package. |
| MySQL 5.5.37 | mysql55 | A release of MySQL, which provides a number of new features and enhancements, including improved performance. |
| PostgreSQL 9.2.8 | postgresql92 | A release of PostgreSQL, which provides a number of new features and enhancements, including cascading replication, native JSON support, improved scalability, and better performance. |
| Node.js 0.10[b][c] | nodejs010 | A release of Node.js with npm 1.3.24. This Software Collection gives users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux access to this programming platform. |
| nginx 1.6.1 | nginx16 | A release of nginx, a web and proxy server with a focus on high concurrency, performance and low memory usage. This version introduces a number of new features, including various SSL improvements, support for SPDY 3.1 (limited to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7), cache revalidation with conditional requests, and authentication request module. |
| Apache httpd 2.4.6 | httpd24 | A release of the Apache HTTP Server (httpd), including a high performance event-based processing model, enhanced SSL module and FastCGI support. The mod_auth_kerb module is also included. |
| Thermostat 1.0.4 | thermostat1 | A release of Thermostat, a monitoring and instrumentation tool for the OpenJDK HotSpot JVM, with support for monitoring multiple JVM instances. This Software Collection depends on the mongodb24 component. |
| Git 1.9.4 | git19 | A release of Git, a distributed revision control system with a decentralized architecture. As opposed to centralized version control systems with a client-server model, Git ensures that each working copy of a Git repository is its exact copy with complete revision history. |
| DevAssistant 0.9.1 | devassist09 | A release of DevAssistant, a tool designed to assist developers with creating and setting up basic projects in various programming languages, installing dependencies, setting up a development environment, and working with source control. DevAssistant supports the C, C++, Java, and Python programming languages but it is able to support working with any other language, framework, or tool due to its modular architecture. |
| Maven 3.0.5 | maven30 | A release of Maven, a software project management and comprehension tool used primarily for Java projects. Based on the concept of a project object model (POM), Maven can manage a project's build, reporting, and documentation from a central piece of information. |
[a]
A part of this Software Collection requires a JavaScript engine. The v8314 Software Collection included in Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 provides the V8 JavaScript engine and is supported only as the Software Collection's dependency.
[b]
This Software Collection also requires v8314. The v8314 Software Collection included in Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 provides the V8 JavaScript engine and is supported only as the Software Collection's dependency.
[c]
In Red Hat Software Collections 1.2, Node.js is included as a Technology Preview. For more information about Red Hat Technology Previews, see https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/techpreview/.
| ||
1.3. Changes in Red Hat Software Collections 1.2
1.3.1. New Components
Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 adds these new components:
- devtoolset-3 — see Section 4.1, “Red Hat Developer Toolset”
- git19 — see Section 4.5, “Git”
- devassist09 — see Section 4.6, “DevAssistant”
- maven30 — see Section 4.7, “Maven”
1.3.2. Changes in nginx
Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 brings a significant change to nginx: it has been upgraded to version 1.6.1 and it is now supported. In accordance with this change, the Software Collection has been renamed to nginx16. nginx 1.6.1 introduces a number of new features, including various SSL improvements, support for SPDY 3.1 (limited to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7), cache revalidation with conditional requests, authentication request module, and more. For a complete list of changes, refer to http://nginx.org/en/CHANGES-1.6.
For information on migrating to the later version, see Section 5.3, “Migrating from nginx 1.4 to nginx 1.6”.
1.3.3. Changes in Ruby on Rails 4.0
In Red Hat Software Collections 1.2, the ror40-rubygem-jquery-rails package has been upgraded to version 3.1.0, which contains jQuery JavaScript framework version 1.11.0. For more information about the ror40 Software Collection, see Section 4.3, “Ruby on Rails 4.0”
1.3.4. Changes in Thermostat
The thermostat1 Software Collection has been upgraded to version 1.0.4, which provides a number of bug fixes over the previous version. For additional information about using this Software Collection, refer to Section 4.2, “Thermostat 1”
1.3.5. Dockerfiles
Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 is shipped with Dockerfiles for the following Software Collections:
- httpd24
- mariadb55
- mongodb24
- mysql55
- nginx16
- nodejs010
- perl516
- php54
- php55
- postgresql92
- python27
- python33
- ror40
- ruby193
- ruby200
For more information, see section Section 3.4, “Dockerfiles for Red Hat Software Collections”.
1.4. Compatibility Information
Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 is available for all supported releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 on AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures.
1.5. Known Issues
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nodejs-hawkcomponent - The nodejs-hawk package uses an implementation of the SHA-1 and SHA-256 algorithms adopted from the CryptoJS project. In this release, the client-side JavaScript is obfuscated. The future fix will involve using crypto features directly from the CryptoJS library.
-
postgresqlcomponent - The postgresql92 package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 does not provide the
sepgsqlmodule as this feature requires installation of libselinux version 2.0.99, which is not available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. -
coreutilscomponent - Some utilities, for example, su, login, or screen, do not export environment settings in all cases, which can lead to unexpected results. It is therefore recommended to use sudo instead of su and set the
env_keepenvironment variable in the/etc/sudoersfile. Alternatively, you can run commands in a reverse order; for example:su -l postgres -c "scl enable postgresql92 psql"instead ofscl enable postgresql92 bashsu -l postgres -c psqlWhen using tools like screen or login, you can use the following command to preserve the environment settings:source /opt/rh/<collection_name>/enable. -
httpd,mariadb,mongodb,mysql,nodejs,perl,php55,python27,python33,ruby193,ror40,ruby200,thermostat, andv8314components - When uninstalling the httpd24, mariadb55, mongodb24, mysql55, nodejs010, perl516, php55, python27, python33, ruby193, ror40, ruby200, thermostat1, or v8314 packages, the order of uninstalling can be relevant due to ownership of dependent packages. As a consequence, some directories and files might not be removed properly and might remain on the system.
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mariadb,mysql,postgresql,mongodbcomponents - Red Hat Software Collections contains the MySQL 5.5, MariaDB 5.5, PostgreSQL 9.2 and MongoDB 2.4 databases. The core Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 provides earlier versions of the MySQL and PostgreSQL databases (client library and daemon). The core Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 provides the same versions of the MariaDB and PostgreSQL databases (client library and daemon). Client libraries are also used in database connectors for dynamic languages, libraries, and so on.The client library packaged in the Red Hat Software Collections database packages in the PostgreSQL component is not supposed to be used, as it is included only for purposes of server utilities and the daemon. Users are instead expected to use the system library and the database connectors provided with the core system.A protocol, which is used between the client library and the daemon, is stable across database versions, so, for example, using the PostgreSQL 8.4 client library with the PostgreSQL 9.2 daemon works as expected.The core Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 does not include the client library for MongoDB. In order to use this client library for your application, you should use the client library from Red Hat Software Collections and always use the
scl enable ...call every time you run an application linked against this MongoDB client library. -
mariadb,mysql,mongodbcomponents - MariaDB, MySQL, and MongoDB do not make use of the
/opt/<provider>/<collection>/rootprefix when creating log files. Note that log files are saved in the/var/log/directory, not/opt/<provider>/<collection>/root/var/log/. -
httpdcomponent - Compiling external applications against the Apache Portable Runtime (APR) and APR-util libraries from the httpd24 Software Collection is not supported. The LD_LIBRARY_PATH is not set in httpd24 because it is not required by any application in this Software Collection.
-
httpd,ruby193components - In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 and earlier versions, httpd is unable to execute the binary files in the mod_passenger module, namely
PassengerWatchdog,PassengerHelperAgent,PassengerLoggingAgent, andSpawnPreparerin the/opt/rh/ruby193/root/usr/lib64/gems/exts/passenger-4.0.18/agents/directory. To work around this problem, disable SELinux by running the following command asroot:setenforce 0 -
nginxcomponent - In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 and earlier versions, no SELinux policy is applied for the nginx daemon.
-
mariadbcomponent - The permissions for the
/var/log/mariadb55-mariadb/directory, in which the log file is stored, are set incorrectly. Consequently, when the/var/log/mariadb55-mariadb/mariadb.logfile is removed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the service fails to start because themysqlddaemon does not have permission to create log files. To work around this problem, either do not remove the log file or change the owner of the/var/log/mariadb55-mariadb/directory tomysql:mysql. -
mysql, mariadbcomponents - In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the
mariadb55-mariadbandmysql55-mysqldservices run under themysqluser account by default. When the/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sockUNIX socket file is created by a different user, the services have insufficient permissions to check whether a process is listening on the socket but the services have sufficient permissions to delete the socket file. Consequently, themariadb55-mariadbandmysql55-mysqldservices can delete the socket file while a process is still using it. -
perlcomponent - In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the perl516 Software Collection tapset conflicts with the core system tapset. As a consequence, the
systemtaputility does not work correctly for perl516. To work around this problem:- Either copy the perl516 tapset to a file renamed by adding the Software Collection's prefix - to do so, use the following command:
cp /opt/rh/perl516/root/usr/share/systemtap/tapset/libperl5.16.3-64.stp /opt/rh/perl516/root/usr/share/systemtap/tapset/perl516-libperl5.16.3-64.stp - Or uninstall the core system perl-devel package.
-
python27component - In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, when the user tries to install the python27-python-debuginfo package, the
/usr/src/debug/Python-2.7.5/Modules/socketmodule.cfile conflicts with the corresponding file from the python-debuginfo package installed on the core system. Consequently, installation of the python27-python-debuginfo fails. To work around this problem, uninstall the python-debuginfo package and then install the python27-python-debuginfo package. -
devassistcomponent - When the user tries to rebuild the devassist09-PyYAML package on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, the build fails due to a soft dependency, if the Pyrex or Cython programming languages are detected. To work around this problem, make sure the pyrex or cython packages are not installed on your system.
Other Notes
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php54component - Note that Alternative PHP Cache (APC) in Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 is provided for user data cache only. For opcode cache, Zend OPcache is provided.
-
nodejscomponent - The nodejs-tobi-cookie package has been renamed to nodejs-cookie-jar.
-
rubycomponent - Previously, in Red Hat Software Collections 1.0, the V8 JavaScript engine was part of the ruby193 Software Collection. Since Red Hat Software Collections 1.1, the v8 packages have been replaced by the v8314 Software Collection, which is installed as a dependency. In order to use therubyracer, it is necessary to enable the v8314 Software Collection as well.
-
nodejscomponent - Previously, in Red Hat Software Collections 1.0, the V8 JavaScript engine was part of the nodejs010 Software Collection. Since Red Hat Software Collections 1.1, the v8 packages have been replaced by the v8314 Software Collection, which is installed as a dependency.
-
pythoncomponent - When the user tries to install both the python27-scldevel and python33-scldevel packages, a transaction check error message is returned. This is an expected behavior because the user can install only one set of the macro files provided by the packages (
%scl_python,%scl_prefix_python). -
phpcomponent - When the user tries to install both the php54-scldevel and php55-scldevel packages, a transaction check error message is returned. This is an expected behavior because the user can install only one set of the macro files provided by the packages (
%scl_php,%scl_prefix_php). -
rubycomponent - When the user tries to install both the ruby193-scldevel and ruby200-scldevel packages, a transaction check error message is returned. This is an expected behavior because the user can install only one set of the macro files provided by the packages (
%scl_ruby,%scl_prefix_ruby). -
libyamlcomponent - A newer version of the libyaml package is provided with Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 for use by Red Hat Software Collections.
-
nodejscomponent - When installing the nodejs010 Software Collection, nodejs010 installs GCC in the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux system as a dependency, unless the gcc packages are already installed.
-
mariadbcomponent - In Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, since version 1.1, the
mariadb55-mysqld.servicefile has been renamed tomariadb55-mariadb.serviceand the/var/log/mariadb55-mysqld.logfile has been moved to/var/log/mariadb55-mariadb/mariadb55-mariadb.log, for the sake of consistency with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
