I built R-2.6.0 from the fedora distribution and was using it in my SL5 systems.
Today I noticed that when yum ran, it wanted to update that version with the old one from SL5, 2.4 . That was weird. Why install an old one? After some checking, I learned that the Epoch had been set at 2 on the RPM from the SL 5 distribution. I've been knocking around in the RPM building community for about 10 years and I've never been persuaded the epoch serves a valid purpose, especially when it comes to differentiating R-2.4 from R-2.6 or whatnot. The Epoch only frustrates people who are trying to stay up to date. The Epoch is a frustrating value in this case because so 2:2.4.1 appears to be newer than 0:2.6.0. Just singing the complaining song... -- Paul E. Johnson Professor, Political Science 1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504 University of Kansas
