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I'm new to Postgresql Database. We have an old Fedora 8 Server where we have postgresql database server 8.2.11-1.fc8, Would like to know if we can upgrade this version of postgresql database server to the latest version 9.2?

In case of upgrade, how to proceed?

Will this edition of Fedora supports the latest Postgresql Databse?

Big Data
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1 Answers1

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Don't. Really, don't.

Fedora 8 went end-of-life on Jan 7, 2009. This means that you're over four years past the end-of-life of that OS. You're vulnerable to any number of exploits and bugs, none of which will ever be fixed. You'll be using versions of tools that are way out of date; postgresql is one of them, but there will be many others.

You can probably get away with it this time, and compile postgresql from source. Next time, you may find that a newer C compiler is needed, so you'll have to recompile gcc before you can recompile the postgresql-after-9.2. That will turn out to need a newer libc, so you'll have to build and maintain that alongside the pre-existing one. Eventually, you'll be hand-maintaining every component part of your platform, and you'll still be insanely insecure and unsupportable.

The fact that you're noticing the age of the OS toolchain is the writing on the wall. It's trying very hard to tell you that your platform OS is crazily outdated, and you need to upgrade. Pay attention to what it says.

If you're in the mood to take further advice, then while you're doing your big migration, change OS. I love Fedora, and I use it on all my desktops, but it makes a lousy server OS because it only has an 18-month lifespan. Also, it only support upgrades of two version numbers, so to get current you'll have to go 8-10-12-14-16-18-19, and even if that doesn't break along the way, you'll find things have changed out of all recognition when you get to the end of the path. Most who use Fedora on desktops, are conversant with yum and happy with the RedHat way, and are cheapskates - I tick all those boxes - use CentOS on servers, and it does a very good job, too; but there are other server-class Linux distros you can use if you don't like that logic.

MadHatter
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  • Thanks MadHatter, that really helps. We understand the risk of running the out dated Os. Same time I would like to know if all the other Linux platforms like CentOS, Redhat, Amazon Linux and Ubuntu etc has a lifespan similar to fedora? Do we need to upgrade or patch these above mentioned Os platforms periodically because I afraid how to manage when it is a production server? – Big Data Aug 01 '13 at 09:26
  • Thanks for taking it so well! Everything needs patching, but as for upgrades, one of the characteristics of server-class OSes is that the lifespan is longer; 7 years for CentOS, 10 years for RedHat, I don't know about AL, and I understand Ubuntu has some releases intended for comparably long support periods. You will still run into problems with toolchains going out of date - search on SF for people wanting new PHP versions on RHEL5, for example - but community-based solutions arise to that. In comparison, I suspect the list of people wanting new postgresql on F8 is very short indeed. – MadHatter Aug 01 '13 at 09:40