In the beginning there was RPM (and Debian packages) and it was good. Certainly, Linux packaging has solved many problems and pain points for system admins and developers over the years -- but as software development and deployment have evolved, new pain points have cropped up that have not been solved by traditional packaging. In this talk, Joe Brockmeier will run through some of the problems that admins and developers have run into, and some of the solutions that organizations should be looking at to solve their issues with developing and deploying software. This includes Software Collections, Docker containers, OStree and rpm-ostree, Platform-as-a-Service, and more.

1. SSoollvviinngg tthhee PPaacckkaaggee PPrroobblleemm
JJooee BBrroocckkmmeeiieerr
jjzzbb@@rreeddhhaatt..ccoomm
TTwwiitttteerr:: @@jjzzbb
hhttttpp::////ddiissssoocciiaatteeddpprreessss..nneett//
OOppeenn SSoouurrccee CCoommmmuunniittyy @@ RReedd HHaatt
TTwwiitttteerr:: @@RReeddHHaattOOppeenn
hhttttpp::////ccoommmmuunniittyy..rreeddhhaatt..ccoomm//
1

2. 2
WWhhoo''ss tthhiiss gguuyy??

3. 3
Solving tthhee PPaacckkaaggee PPrroobblleemm
● TThhee PPaacckkaaggiinngg PPrroobblleemm WWee FFaaccee
● SSooffttwwaarree CCoolllleeccttiioonnss
● rrppmm--oossttrreeee
● DDoocckkaahh,, DDoocckkaahh,, DDoocckkaahh
● QQuueessttiioonnss

4. 4
IInn tthhee BBeeggiinnnniinngg......

5. 5
DDiissttrriibbuuttiioonnss aass tthhee
CCeenntteerr ooff tthhee UUnniivveerrssee

6. 6
Developers ddoo nnoott wwaanntt ttoo bbee
lliimmiitteedd ttoo ssyysstteemm vveerrssiioonnss ooff
ssooffttwwaarree

7. 7
Developers wwaanntt eeaassiieerr wwaayyss ttoo ddeeppllooyy
ccoommpplleexx ssooffttwwaarree ffrroomm ddeesskkttoopp ttoo
sseerrvveerr

8. 8
AAuuttoommaattee AALLLL TTHHEE TTHHIINNGGSS

9. 9
Software Collections, rrppmm--oossttrreeee,, aanndd
DDoocckkeerr ((oohh mmyy))

10. Let's talk about SSooffttwwaarree CCoolllleeccttiioonnss
SCALE 12x

11. 11
Do not rreeqquuiirree cchhaannggeess ttoo RRPPMM

12. SSooffttwwaarree CCoolllleeccttiioonnss aarree nnoott jjuusstt aa ddiiffffeerreenntt
12
vveerrssiioonn ppaacckkaaggeedd ffoorr yyoouurr OOSS

13. 13
Do not oovveerrwwrriittee ssyysstteemm ffiilleess

14. Example: PHP 5.4
OOnn CCeennttOOSS 66..xx
PPHHPP 55..44 ppaacckkaaggee iiss php54
TThhiiss ppuullllss iinn::
php54­php­cli.
x86_64
php54­php­common.
x86_64
php54­php­pear.
noarch
php54­php­process.
x86_64
php54­php­xml.
x86_64
php54­runtime.
x86_64
LLiivveess iinn:: /opt/rh/php54/root
14

15. 15
Avoid ccoonnfflliiccttss wwiitthh ssyysstteemm ffiilleess

16. 16
RReeqquuiirree mmiinnoorr cchhaannggeess ttoo yyoouurr eexxiissttiinngg
ssppeecc ffiilleess

17. Do not conflict wwiitthh uuppddaatteess oonn yyoouurr ssyysstteemm
17

18. 18
NNiiffttyy:: CCaann ddeeppeenndd oonn ootthheerr SSCCLLss

19. Let's ttaallkk aabboouutt uussiinngg SSCCLLss
SCALE 12x

20. 20
SSooffttwwaarree CCoolllleeccttiioonnss CCuurrrreennttllyy
● Red Hat Software Collections went GA on 12 Sept
2013
● CentOS announced SCLs 19 February 2014
● Fedora has SCLs on Fedora Hosted since 2013:
https://fedorahosted.org/SoftwareCollections/

21. 21
What's Packaged ffoorr SSooffttwwaarree CCoolllleeccttiioonnss
● Ruby 1.9.3
● Python 2.7
● Python 3.3
● PHP 5.4
● Perl 5.16.3
● Tech preview Node.js 0.10
● MariaDB 5.5
● MySQL 5.5
● PostgreSQL 9.2

22. 22
GGeettttiinngg SSttaarrtteedd
● Assuming using a SLC with CentOS
● yum install centos­release­SCL
● yum install php54 (or whatever...)
● scl enable php54 “application ­­option”
● Your application now uses PHP 5.4 ... the rest of the
system ignores it.
● Python & Django with SCL (by Langdon White):
● http://red.ht/scldjango
● Find packages for CentOS here:
http://mirror.metrocast.net/centos/6.5/SCL/x86_64/

23. 23
Packaging SCLs
● Grab the necessary ppaacckkaaggeess ((CCeennttOOSS oorr FFeeddoorraa
oorr RRHHEELL 66..55))::
yum install scl­utils
scl­utils­build
● IInnssttrruuccttiioonnss oonn ccoonnvveerrttiinngg aann eexxiissttiinngg ppaacckkaaggee::
http://bit.ly/scl­spec­file
● FFoorr CCoonnvveerrssiioonn:: spec2scl
● GGeenneerraall iinnssttrruuccttiioonnss oonn ppaacckkaaggiinngg SSCCLLss::
http://bit.ly/pkging­scls

24. SSooffttwwaarreeCCoolllleeccttiioonnss..oorrgg
SCALE 12x

25. 25
What is SoftwareCollections.org?
● Upstream community for development of SCLs.
● Build and hosting services for collections.
● Resources (documentation, forums, mailing lists) for
developers/packagers.
● An index of packaged software for users of CentOS,
Fedora, RHEL, and other RPM-based distributions.

26. 26
The Lifecycle of Collections
● SCLs can be used to provide newer software support
on older releases, or (going forward) to provide legacy
support on newer releases:
● Example: Application using Ruby on Rails N deployed
on CentOS 6, via SCL. Same application deployed on
CentOS 7 (when released) using SCL.
● OpenShift leverages SCLs for its cartridges using
RHEL supported and non-supported components.
● SCLs can be used inside Docker containers to simplify
container deployment.

27. rrppmm--oossttrreeee
SCALE 12x

28. 28
The Problem with Packages
● RPM (and dpkg) are designed to go one way: forward
● Upgrades are difficult to “roll back” in the event
something goes wrong
● Switching between two distinct OSes / versions is
more or less impossible

29. 29
What is rpm-ostree?
● Derived from ostree
● Initially conceived of as a way to parallel install multiple
UNIX-like OSes (e.g., Fedora Rawhide and Fedora 20)
● “git for operating system binaries”
● Creates an installable tree from RPMs
● Not a package manager, but does take on some of the
role from package managers

30. 30
What rpm-ostree Enables
● Install one or more operating system trees to a system
● Gives “atomic” updates
● An update is, essentially, one unit – it succeeds or fails
● An update can be rolled back
● Allows switching between “trees”
● Provides tools for creating tree composes

31. 31
Current Limitations
● Currently, an rpm-ostree “tree” is an immutable system
● Doesn't allow for adding packages to a system w/out
rebuilding the tree
● Build tools are still being developed, but moving
quickly

32. So, anybody heard ooff tthhiiss DDoocckkeerr tthhiinngg??
SCALE 12x

33. 33
The Problem with Packages
● Deploying complex services / applications is difficult
with packages
● Packages aren't as portable as we'd like
● Application is developed on CentOS 6, but production is
using CentOS 7?
● Packaging guidelines can be ... difficult
● Packages don't provide any solution for running
containerized applications...

34. 34
Docker: It's Like Deluxe Super Awesome
Packaging
● Docker is application-centric
● Docker containers are portable
● Supports versioning for an entire container
● Components can be re-used
● Allows for supplying ready-to-run services rather than
half-configured packages
● Buzzword compliant

35. 35
Docker to the Rescue?
● Docker containers: relatively easy to work with
● Provide far more “services” than package systems
● Application isolation
● Image format, sharing, API
● Allows “layering” of applications
● One group provides base image
● Another group provides base image +
framework/service (e.g., Apache)
● Another group provides base image + framework +
finished application ready to deploy

36. TThhaannkkss!!
JJooee BBrroocckkmmeeiieerr
jjzzbb@@rreeddhhaatt.ccoomm
TTwwiitttteerr:: @@jjzzbb