Scientific Linux 6 is the newest branch of this Red Hat Enterprise Linux based operating system designed for scientists. It is an open source distribution of Linux that comes pre-installed with two main desktop environments, as well as a plethora of libre tools and applications designed for scientists.
Available for download as installable-only DVDs for mainstream platforms
The base distribution is basically Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x, recompiled from the publicly available source packages. This means that it uses the RPM Package Management system for installation, update or removal of packages from the system.
This edition is available for download as installable-only DVD ISO images of approximately 4GB in size each, suitable for either 32-bit (i386) or 64-bit (x86_64) hardware platforms.
Keep in mind though, that there are two DVD ISO images for each architecture, but you only need to download the first disc for a basic installation, as the second one includes extra applications.
Easy to follow boot instructions and a straightforward installation
The boot menu has not been changed from previous editions, as it allows the user to install or upgrade in graphical or text mode, as well as to add support for exotic devices by modifying the kernel parameters, or rescue a broken installation or another operating system.
The graphical installer is easy to use and straightforward, requiring users to choose a language for the installation process and a keyboard layout, partition the drive (disk encryption is possible), configure the network interfaces, as well as to setup the system clock and timezone.
Additionally, you must add a root (system administrator) password and choose which software packages to install. The system comes by default with the GNOME Classic desktop environment, but you can also install the KDE Plasma interface and various server and clustering related applications.
Bottom line
At the moment, Scientific Linux 6 is the most advanced and up-to-date branch of this powerful, free and open source operating system designed for scientists. Do not hesitate to check out the Live CD edition of Scientific Linux!
What is new in this release:
- External Repos:
- With SL 7.2, yum-conf files pointing to non-base SL (such as EPEL, ELRepo, SL-Extras, SL-SoftwareCollections, ZFS) have moved to a central location. Since these repos are not specific to individual releases of SL, the separate location will allow for easier adding and removing of these resources for any SL7 system. To load a resource, such as EPEL: `yum install yum-conf-repos` followed by `yum install yum-conf-epel`.
- Install Media Updates:
- The install media now features the yum-fastest-mirror plugin. The yum-fastest-mirror plugin should locate a quickly responding mirror for network installs. SL specific yum vars are now expanded as expected.
- Scientific Linux Contexts:
- SL 7.2 includes initial support for Scientific Linux Contexts which should allow for ease of creating local customization for specific computing needs.
- For more information on Scientific Linux Contexts: http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/7/contexts/README.html
- OpenAFS:
- With SL 7.2 OpenAFS has been updated to version 1.6.16 the latest upstream stable.
- Yum behavior update:
- Backported patch from upstream for yum fs-vars, per BZ#1281593
- Now yum vars set in /etc/yum/vars will be checked even in an alternate yum-root. Thanks for the bug report Lincoln Bryant!
- IPA customizations:
- The IPA packages have been customized to remove the upstream links to their support services.
- Build Fixes:
- The curl and mariadb packages were modified to ensure their unit tests for date validation worked after Oct 2015
What is new in version 7.3:
- External Repos:
- With SL 7.2, yum-conf files pointing to non-base SL (such as EPEL, ELRepo, SL-Extras, SL-SoftwareCollections, ZFS) have moved to a central location. Since these repos are not specific to individual releases of SL, the separate location will allow for easier adding and removing of these resources for any SL7 system. To load a resource, such as EPEL: `yum install yum-conf-repos` followed by `yum install yum-conf-epel`.
- Install Media Updates:
- The install media now features the yum-fastest-mirror plugin. The yum-fastest-mirror plugin should locate a quickly responding mirror for network installs. SL specific yum vars are now expanded as expected.
- Scientific Linux Contexts:
- SL 7.2 includes initial support for Scientific Linux Contexts which should allow for ease of creating local customization for specific computing needs.
- For more information on Scientific Linux Contexts: http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/7/contexts/README.html
- OpenAFS:
- With SL 7.2 OpenAFS has been updated to version 1.6.16 the latest upstream stable.
- Yum behavior update:
- Backported patch from upstream for yum fs-vars, per BZ#1281593
- Now yum vars set in /etc/yum/vars will be checked even in an alternate yum-root. Thanks for the bug report Lincoln Bryant!
- IPA customizations:
- The IPA packages have been customized to remove the upstream links to their support services.
- Build Fixes:
- The curl and mariadb packages were modified to ensure their unit tests for date validation worked after Oct 2015
What is new in version 7.2 / 7.3 RC1:
- External Repos:
- With SL 7.2, yum-conf files pointing to non-base SL (such as EPEL, ELRepo, SL-Extras, SL-SoftwareCollections, ZFS) have moved to a central location. Since these repos are not specific to individual releases of SL, the separate location will allow for easier adding and removing of these resources for any SL7 system. To load a resource, such as EPEL: `yum install yum-conf-repos` followed by `yum install yum-conf-epel`.
- Install Media Updates:
- The install media now features the yum-fastest-mirror plugin. The yum-fastest-mirror plugin should locate a quickly responding mirror for network installs. SL specific yum vars are now expanded as expected.
- Scientific Linux Contexts:
- SL 7.2 includes initial support for Scientific Linux Contexts which should allow for ease of creating local customization for specific computing needs.
- For more information on Scientific Linux Contexts: http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/7/contexts/README.html
- OpenAFS:
- With SL 7.2 OpenAFS has been updated to version 1.6.16 the latest upstream stable.
- Yum behavior update:
- Backported patch from upstream for yum fs-vars, per BZ#1281593
- Now yum vars set in /etc/yum/vars will be checked even in an alternate yum-root. Thanks for the bug report Lincoln Bryant!
- IPA customizations:
- The IPA packages have been customized to remove the upstream links to their support services.
- Build Fixes:
- The curl and mariadb packages were modified to ensure their unit tests for date validation worked after Oct 2015
What is new in version 7.2:
- External Repos:
- With SL 7.2, yum-conf files pointing to non-base SL (such as EPEL, ELRepo, SL-Extras, SL-SoftwareCollections, ZFS) have moved to a central location. Since these repos are not specific to individual releases of SL, the separate location will allow for easier adding and removing of these resources for any SL7 system. To load a resource, such as EPEL: `yum install yum-conf-repos` followed by `yum install yum-conf-epel`.
- Install Media Updates:
- The install media now features the yum-fastest-mirror plugin. The yum-fastest-mirror plugin should locate a quickly responding mirror for network installs. SL specific yum vars are now expanded as expected.
- Scientific Linux Contexts:
- SL 7.2 includes initial support for Scientific Linux Contexts which should allow for ease of creating local customization for specific computing needs.
- For more information on Scientific Linux Contexts: http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/7/contexts/README.html
- OpenAFS:
- With SL 7.2 OpenAFS has been updated to version 1.6.16 the latest upstream stable.
- Yum behavior update:
- Backported patch from upstream for yum fs-vars, per BZ#1281593
- Now yum vars set in /etc/yum/vars will be checked even in an alternate yum-root. Thanks for the bug report Lincoln Bryant!
- IPA customizations:
- The IPA packages have been customized to remove the upstream links to their support services.
- Build Fixes:
- The curl and mariadb packages were modified to ensure their unit tests for date validation worked after Oct 2015
What is new in version 7.1:
- .Updates to sl-release
- Several community members uncovered a bug with our use of $slreleasever within the yum repos. This bug should now be resolved.
- .Updates to sl-indexhtml
- Several community members noticed the links in the default SL index.html pointed towards an obsolete URL. The page has been updated to reflect our new website.
What is new in version 6.6 / 5.11:
- OpenAFS:
- OpenAFS has been updated to version 1.6.10 from openafs.org
- xorg-x11-server:
- Features a new ABI, this was a security errata so it should be available to earlier releases.
What is new in version 5.10:
- Scientific Linux 5.10 provides updated versions, specifically versions 5.1 and 5.5, of the MySQL packages as software collections. In order to migrate from MySQL 5.0 to 5.5, you must first update to MySQL 5.1. Note that the MySQL 5.1 packages are not supported and are provided only for the purposes of migration to MySQL 5.5. You should not use MySQL 5.1 on any of your production systems.
- As a result of this update, we will not issue any more security advisories for the MySQL 5.0 packages (mysql-5.0.* and related packages). Security advisories will be provided only for MySQL 5.5.
What is new in version 4.9:
- Scientific Linux 4.9 contains almost 2 years of security and bug fixes. There are no new features or packages, but it is a nice stable release.
- Scientific Linux release 4.9 is based on the rebuilding of RPMS out of SRPMS's from Enterprise 4, including Update 9.
What is new in version 4.7:
- Scientific Linux 4.7 has been released. It doesn't have any exciting new features, it is just a nice, stable release. Scientific Linux release 4.7 is based on the rebuilding of RPMs out of SRPMs from Enterprise 4, including Update 7. It also includes all errata and bug fixes up until September 03, 2008.
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