[rad] Re: pseudo-newbie exec scripts and session-time

[Alan DeKok]

Charles Gregory wrote:
> Why do you LET RedHat use the old version if it is so unsupported?

  There appears to be a fundamental misconception in that sentence:

	We don't control RedHat.

  So... RedHat does whatever the heck makes them happy.  And it makes
them happy to keep their customers happy.  And their customers are happy
using versions of software that are supported by RedHat.  And Redhat
doesn't want to upgrade their software every 6 months.

  As a result, the software shipped by RedHat (and therefore CentOS), is
often years out of date.

  Why does this happen?  The people who PAY REDHAT for support want it
this way.  And I can understand why.

  The people who DO NOT PAY for support are out of luck.  If you want to
leverage (for free) the work that RedHat has done to create a stable
system, then you use software that is out of date.  If you want to
leverage (for free) the work that we have done to create an up to date
version of FreeRADIUS, then you don't have a version "blessed" by RedHat.

  There is a simple fix: pay someone for support.  See the "support"
link on http://freeradius.org for support specific to FreeRADIUS.  Or,
ask RedHat for a support contract for the entire OS and packages.

> Quite right. CentOS supports their OS, not the component packages. So I
> cannto ask *them* a FreeRADIUS question. They tell me to come HERE.

  Exactly.  They build CentOS and can *for free*, answer questions about
their work.  We build FreeRADIUS, and can *for free* answer questions
about it.

  But the free answers might not always be what you want to hear.

> Now, in the spirit of the sarcasm with which your comment was offered,
> I reply, gee, I think I *am* on the wrong list.

  Yes.  You want *guaranteed* support for an older version of the
server.  The only question now is, do you want to pay for it, or do you
want it for free?

> I am looking for a FreeRADIUS *USERS* forum. Obivously, with FreeRADIUS
> 1.x in wide deployment in RHEL and CentOS there HAS to be a 'community'
> of 1.x users, or at the least a community of FreeRADIUS users who, even
> if they have migrated to later versions themselves, still *remember* the
> basic syntax of a version of FreeRADIUS that they must have been using
> *very* recently (for anyone getting a decent life-expectancy out of
> servers and OS's, three years is 'recent'). I had thought that *this*
> forum would have many people like this. 

  Sure.  Anyone using 1.x is able to subscribe to this list, and to
answer questions about it.  There is no one stopping them from
supporting you *for free*.

  But sadly, there doesn't seem to be a great crush of people supporting
1.x.  Maybe you would be willing to stay on this list and help others?

> So, at the risk of sounding like a whiner, why the *HECK* am I stuck
> with something "not easier and better" in a CURRENT release? 

  Because that's what you chose to install.  We can't help that.

  Alan DeKok.