Who Uses Scientific Linux, and How/Why?

[Peter Willis]

Hello,
 
The variation in uses of t Scientific Linux is quite interesting.
As mentioned before, we are using it for fluid dynamics modelling and 
oceanography, in the context of parallel computing with OpenMP and MPICH.
 
I am curious to see what everyone else have been using it for.
 
Perhaps, if it’s not too much trouble, people on the list might give a short 
blurb about how they use it and why.
Maybe also mention others they know who are using it who are not on this list.
 
Peter
 
 
 
>I'm no scientist, just an electronics guy who do a lot of research in RF (as 
>hobby, mostly testing antennas for ham radio in VHF bands) from Argentina.
> 
>Fot SL the most "well done" linux distribution, for people who simply knows.
> 
>Will look forward to move to another distribution.
> 
> 
>>I'm an independent electronics inventor, heavily dependent
>>on both competent software and competent laboratory science,
>>both for the knowledge I depend on and the tools I use to
>>transform that knowledge into products and services for
>>my customers.  
>>

RE: Is Scientfic Linux Still Active as a Distribution?

[Peter Willis]

Hello,
 
I can't say I'm negative toward CentOS, I used it back in the late 90s (? Maybe 
early 00s), as an alternative to RedHat at that time.
It's more a familiarity thing.  I have used more Debian based Linux distros 
since the mid 1990s than anything else.
I will certainly look into CentOS as an option. Could be a shorter path to 
completion.
Thanks for reminding of that as an alternative.
 
My friend just toured Fermi Lab and brought me back a lapel pin. I was thankful 
but very envious of her visit there.
It's certainly on my list. 
 
I could probably just retire and, quite happily,  tour all the worlds particle 
accelerator facilities.
Make a nice scrapbook of blueprints.
 
Peter
 
 
 
>Hi,
>I'm surprised by the so negative feeling against CentOS which is a great 
>project too and has been working well since it was "acquired" by Red Hat. I 
>see no >official sign that it should change. Moving from SL to CentOS is 
>straightforward, I don't think you can speak about it as a migration as it is 
>exactly the same >product. And staying with CentOS will give you a chance to 
>meet the DUNE people at some point and more generally the HEP community if you 
>liked >interacting with it!
>Cheers,

RE: Is Scientfic Linux Still Active as a Distribution?

[Peter Willis]

Hello,

Thanks to everyone for clarifying the future status of SL.
I guess it's time to start researching he docs for Ubuntu/Debian or something.
 
Looks like we need to revise our computing cluster plan.
The computer here is pretty small with only two nodes and a controller 
totalling 112 CPUs.
We use it for numerical modelling of ocean and river currents and sediment 
transport (OpenMP/MPICH/FORTRAN).
The changeover will be pretty small. We are still waiting for the OK for a new 
node or two.
The current nodes are ten years old. The update to a controller and SL7 was a 
last ditch effort to join the two nodes and increase the scale of the models 
without costing too much more. 
 
In other news, the link you shared has an article about 'DUNE' which seems like 
an interesting project.
I'd certainly frostbite a few toes to just stand around and watch that thing 
run experiments.
 
Thanks for the info,
 
Peter
 
 
>Hello Peter,
> 
>> Is Scientific Linux still active?
>Scientific Linux 6 and 7 will be supported until they are EOL, but there will 
>be no SL8.
> 
>Here is the official announcement from last April:
> 
>https://listserv.fnal.gov/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind1904 
>
> =SCIENTIFIC-LINUX-USERS=817
> 
>Bonnie King

Problematic 'yum' repository paths using --installroot option

[Peter Willis]

Hello,

I am attempting to build an exported file system for diskless nodes.

My distribution is  SL 7.7 and the command I am using is:

yum install @Base kernel dracut-network nfs-utils --installroot=/node_root 
--releasever=/

The repository problem manifests as a mistranslation of the  '$slreleasever'   
environment variable.
 
This makes all the FTP repositories used by YUM malformed. The value 
'$slreleasever'  appears to be inserted to the URLs rather than the proper 
value  '7x'. Hence the URLs read:

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ftp.scientificlinux.org_linux_scientific_-2524slreleasever_x86-5F64_os_Packages_=DwIFAg=gRgGjJ3BkIsb5y6s49QqsA=gd8BzeSQcySVxr0gDWSEbN-P-pgDXkdyCtaMqdCgPPdW1cyL5RIpaIYrCn8C5x2A=_XPWQWNwUeu0ZFKH219isUWT6M2TPEo7FIuWwhY0wjM=-7jDic-Wp04OefvpIx3KLdPeLmRh7bYielU8ZO8vb2w=
 .

Rather than :

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ftp.scientificlinux.org_linux_scientific_7x_x86-5F64_os_Packages_=DwIFAg=gRgGjJ3BkIsb5y6s49QqsA=gd8BzeSQcySVxr0gDWSEbN-P-pgDXkdyCtaMqdCgPPdW1cyL5RIpaIYrCn8C5x2A=_XPWQWNwUeu0ZFKH219isUWT6M2TPEo7FIuWwhY0wjM=UKg8rHPPmAJWsAUGj3Sw9Xgc2ybKBgIYkQkEmYV6HmU=
 


Has anyone encountered this issue with yum before?

Is there a solution? 

I have tried   'yum clean all'and friends.

Thanks for any help,

pwillis