Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL)  Release Notes

  (Release 5.5 )


Introduction

 This document covers the following topics regarding Oracle Enterprise  Linux 5.5 (OEL 5.5).

For the latest updates please refer to the online version of release notes available at:

http://oss.oracle.com/el5/docs/

NOTE
:  Upgrade of Oracle Enterprise Linux from a beta release is not supported.  Further, in-place upgrade between major versions of  Oracle Enterprise Linux is not supported. Oracle does not recommend to upgrade from earlier major versions of Oracle Enterprise Linux though anaconda provides an option do to this upgrade.  A fresh installation is strongly recommended rather than a system upgrade between major versions.

Changes from Upstream Release

The following rpms are modified from the upstream . All changes are trademark and look/feel related unless otherwise noted below under the specific RPM.

Path of the Distribution changed from RedHat to Enterprise on the install CDs.
Additional kernel shipped with Oracle Enterprise Linux with fixes added by Oracle mentioned in kernel and driver update section. This kernel must be installed manually.
ocfs2 related fix.

The following packages are removed

           Replaced by oracle-logos
           Replaced by enterprise-release
           Replaced by enterprise-release-notes-5Server
              Replaced by up2date               Replaced by up2date The following documentation packages are removed

New Packages added by Oracle

  Oracle Enterprise Linux  has these additional  packages

New Packages added in this release

       The following packages were added upstream for this release (5.5) which were not in the previous update release  (5.4)


Kernel  and Driver Updates

This section covers  significant changes in the kernel in this release.

Optional Kernel with Bug Fixes by Oracle

Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5 ships with two sets of kernel packages. One with  bug fixes added by Oracle [kernel-2.6.18-194.0.0.0.3.el5]  and another unmodified kernel [kernel-2.6.18-194.el5].  The default installation installs the kernel without fixes added by Oracle.The  kernel with  bug fixes added by Oracle needs to be manually installed. Following are the steps required  to install this kernel

1. mount Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5 CD 1 or DVD

2. copy the rpms from <mount_point>/Server/oracle_updated to your system

3. install the required  kernel using the rpm command, e.g.
             # rpm -ihv kernel-2.6.18-194.0.0.0.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
 

Bug Fixes  in kernel-2.6.18-194.0.0.0.3.el5


Fixes/Additions from the upstream distribution provider

Driver Updates

Network

Storage

General

 

Technology Preview Features


The following Technology Preview features are currently not supported under  Oracle Enterprise Linux  5 and may not be functionally complete.

These features are  not suitable for production use. However, these features are included  to provide the feature with wider exposure. 

Known Issues

1. pirut and system-config-packages  cannot be used to manage, install, and uninstall software packages. Follow the steps describe below to resolve the issue

Use the following command for mounting the DVD media inserted in /dev/cdrom

# mount -r -o loop -t  iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt

Use following command to mount iso image file

# mount -o loop <iso image file name>  /mnt


[dvd]
name=OEL5DVD
baseurl=file:///mnt/Server
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///mnt/RPM-GPG-KEY file:///mnt/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle


# yum clean all
# yum update


2. Following packages can not co-exists due to file conflict

3. If updating from OEL 5 GA or RHEL 5 GA using up2date, you may encounter the following error:

Unresolvable chain of dependencies:
xen-3.0.3-64.el5                      requires xen-hypervisor-abi = 3.1

This happens because a kernel-xen package update is needed by the xen package, but 'kernel*' is part of the up2date pkgSkipList.  To get around this, add 'xen;xen-devel;' to the the pkgSkipList line in /etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date and then run up2date.  You can update the xen and kernel-xen packages together later via 'up2date --force xen kernel-xen'.

Unbreakable Linux Support

Oracle Enterprise Linux offers an option to keep your operating system up to date with latest operating system patches using up2date.  To be able to  use this option you need to have Unbreakable Linux  Support. For more information  please visit http://linux.oracle.com

Note: Prior to using up2date, import the RPM-GPG-KEY for Oracle Enterprise Linux:

rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY