How To Downgrade RHEL CentOS To Previous Minor Release
Have you upgraded your kernel and redhat-release packages and you are encountering some issues. Do you want to downgrade to a lower minor release. In this article, we will describe how to do downgrade RHEL or CentOS version to previous minor version.
How To Downgrade RHEL CentOS To Previous Minor Release
A minor version is a release of RHEL that does not (in most cases) add new features or content. It focuses on solving minor problems, typically bugs or security issues. Most of what makes a specific minor version is included in the kernel, so you will need to find out which kernels are supported as part of the minor version you are targeting.
For the purpose of this article, we will show how to downgrade from 7.6 to 7.5. Before we proceed, note that the kernel version for 7.5 is 3.10.0-862. Got to Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release Dates for a complete list of minor releases and associated kernel versions.
Then downgrade the redhat-release package to complete the process. The command below targets the latest minor version that is lower than the current running one, such as from 7.6 to 7.5, or from 7.5 o 7.4.
In Yum 3.2.22, which come with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4, there is a downgrade option. This will downgrade a package to the previously highest version or you can specify the whole version and release number for the package to downgrade. For example:
when I try your command. I get:[root@usatlelaweb01 ]# yum downgrade php-5.4Loaded plugins: downloadonly, rhnplugin, securitySetting up Downgrade Process -epel/5/i386/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: [Errno ftp error] (111, 'Connection refused')Trying other mirror.epel 3.6 kB 00:00epel-source 3.0 kB 00:00remi 2.5 kB 00:00rhel5_32_base_20131231 1.3 kB 00:00No package php-5.4 available.Nothing to do[root@usatlelaweb01 ]#
Dear Red Hat, recommend this article be updated to include a more current example of a minor version warning. The current article mentions a warning for RHEL 6 which has surpassed Maintenance Support II and it would help Red Hat customers to have warnings covering minor-release downgrades examples covering current supported editions of Red Hat Linux such as major releases 7, 8 and 9. While this article certainly covers current editions of RHEL, the example for downgrading a minor release mentions RHEL 6 which is not relevant anymore.
In a minor version release, there are no new features and software, but only fixing of existing problems and improvement of existing system performance. You can follow these steps to downgrade within the same major version (e.g. 7.6 to 7.5) but not across major versions (e.g. 7.0 to 6.9).
We will learn how to downgrade from CentOS 7.6 to 7.5 for kernel version 3.10.0-862. Before you proceed, it is important to understand that each minor release in RHEL/CentOS is compatible with only a given set of kernels. So it is necessary that your system has the compatible kernel version before your downgrade your Linux. Otherwise it will lead to software incompatibility issues.
Next, run the yum downgrade command to downgrade your RHEL/CentOS. It will downgrade your Linux to the immediate minor version. For example, if it is 7.6 it will be downgraded to 7.5, if it is 7.5 it will be downgraded to 7.4.
In this article, we have learnt how to downgrade RHEL/CentOS system to the immediately previous minor version. You can use these steps to downgrade RHEL/CentOS/Fedora/SUSE Linux systems. If you want to downgrade to two previous minor versions (7.6 to 7.4) just run the yum downgrade command twice, as long as the kernel version is compatible with it. Here is a list of all minor releases and their associated kernel versions.
If you find that your kernel is not compatible with the minor version, then install the compatible kernel first and then run the yum downgrade command. Again please note, these steps only allow you to downgrade from one minor release to another (e.g. 7.6 to 7.5) in the same major version (e.g. 7.0). It will not allow you to downgrade from one major version to another.
I am trying to downgrade my CentOS 7.6 to the previous minor release 7.5. I am currently on kernel version 3.10.0-957.10.1.el7.x86_64. For the downgrade I need to install kernel version 3.10.0-862 (7.5 release).
This section contains general information on how to revert to an earlier versionof a package.cautionYou must at least have a database backup created under the version you aredowngrading to. Ideally, you should have afull backup archiveon hand.The example below demonstrates the downgrade procedure when downgrading between minorand patch versions (for example, from 13.0.6 to 13.0.5).When downgrading between major versions, take into account thespecific version changes that occurred when you upgradedto the major version you are downgrading from.These steps consist of:Stopping GitLabRemoving the current packageInstalling the old packageReconfiguring GitLabRestoring the backupStarting GitLabSteps:Stop GitLab and remove the current package:# If running Pumasudo gitlab-ctl stop puma# Stop sidekiqsudo gitlab-ctl stop sidekiq# If on Ubuntu: remove the current packagesudo dpkg -r gitlab-ee# If on Centos: remove the current packagesudo yum remove gitlab-eeIdentify the GitLab version you want to downgrade to:# (Replace with gitlab-ce if you have GitLab FOSS installed)# Ubuntusudo apt-cache madison gitlab-ee# CentOS:sudo yum --showduplicates list gitlab-eeDowngrade GitLab to the desired version (for example, to GitLab 13.0.5):# (Replace with gitlab-ce if you have GitLab FOSS installed)# Ubuntusudo apt install gitlab-ee=13.0.5-ee.0# CentOS:sudo yum install gitlab-ee-13.0.5-ee.0.el8Reconfigure GitLab:sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigureRestore GitLabto complete the downgrade. Help & feedbackDocsEdit this pageto fix an error or add an improvement in a merge request.Create an issueto suggest an improvement to this page.Show and post commentsto review and give feedback about this page.ProductCreate an issueif there's something you don't like about this feature.Propose functionalityby submitting a feature request.Join First Lookto help shape new features.Feature availability and product trialsView pricingto see all GitLab tiers and features, or to upgrade.Try GitLab for freewith access to all features for 30 days.Get HelpIf you didn't find what you were looking for,search the docs.If you want help with something specific and could use community support,post on the GitLab forum.For problems setting up or using this feature (depending on your GitLabsubscription).
1. Most of what makes a specific minor version is included in the kernel, so you will need to determine which kernels are supported as part of the minor version you are targeting. If you have an existing RHEL system with the minor version you are targeting, you can use the same package version shown there and skip to step 3. Otherwise, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release Dates for a complete list of minor releases and associated kernel versions.
5. Downgrade the the redhat-release package to complete the process. The command below targets the latest minor version that is lower than the current running one, such as from 6.5 to 6.4, or from 6.4 o 6.3:
Alex Iribarren was concernedabout "pulling the plug" right on December 31 and suggested that"an extra month or so would be nice, particularly given the holiday period". CentOS release managerJohnny Hughes saidthat the holiday will delay the switch a bit because people will not beworking on those days, but that security updates will not happen past thatpoint in any case. While the dates are still fluid, he described the planin some detail:[...] Our goal is, so long as RHEL 8.5 releases before 31 DEC2021, we will get the files from 8.5 released before we remove CentOSLinux 8 from the mirrors. We will not be adding any updates from RHELsource code released after 31 DEC 2021 to CentOS Linux 8.This release will be put into at least vault.centos.org/8.5.xxxx/(where xxxx is the date). Of course, if the RHEL 8.5 release happensafter 01 Jan 2022, we would not be doing that release in CentOS Linux 8.New items (to CentOS Stream 8) will be being built and still going intoCentOS Stream 8 after 01 JAN 2022 until CentOS Stream 8 EOLs 5 yearsafter the RHEL 8 release (EOL is 31 May 2024).
I hope for the CentOS folks sake that, if Red Hat produce 8.5 in about November, that they'll at least be able to package that.There appear to be at least two CentOS/clone communities out there: one of which assumes that CentOS successors will have to march to the beat of the Red Hat drum and provide updates for whatever is possible for however long is possible, the other of which asserts that they'll provide the traditional 10 year support even if Red Hat don't.I'm listening out on IRC to the channels for each of Red Hat/CentOS/Almalinux/Rocky Linux: the same people are in several of them which is interesting. For myself, I think Red Hat fired the first footgun when they cancelled CentOS 8 December last, the second footgun has been the continuing lack of clarity round the continuty of the CentOS project within Red Hat and the personnel working on it [What exactly happens to the SIGs / what's the overlap with Fedora] and the third footgun will be the stability of Streams for those people who get caught out.For me (as a long time Debian user at home and RHEL/CentOS user at work), I've always been amazed that there was no procedure for stable updates between major versions for CentOS and none for Red Hat until very recently: the advice was always "wipe and reinstall" On IRC, I was advised that there would be no way to move from CentOS Streams to RHEL.For security's sake, I'd almost advocate moving CentOS 8 to vault.centos.org and then removing it from every mirror worldwide and putting a big blanket web announcement on the top of every webpage on every mirror or making the last yum update install a script to change /etc/issue or release version or whatever. If I were a web hosting company / CERN, I'd be panicking like mad right now. Planning the CentOS 8 endgame Posted Jul 15, 2021 14:43 UTC (Thu) by mattdm (subscriber, #18) [Link]