Need to update Rsyslog to version 8.19 from 8.4

SUSE Product Topics SLES Updates
1

Hi - I am a newbe to Linux and Suse Enterprise Server. I am working on a project and need to upgrade / update Rsyslog to version 8.19 from the currently installed version, 8.4. Here is what I have done so far:

I have downloaded the 8.19 tar.gz and extracted the rsyslog-8.19.0 folder.
From within the rsyslog-8.19.0 folder I have opened a terminal.
I raised it to a root terminal with the sudo su command
I then ran the following command: sudo zypper install rsyslog and here is the output I got:

linux-kr6t:/home/admin/Downloads/rsyslog-8.19.0 # sudo zypper install rsyslog
Refreshing service ‘Advanced_Systems_Management_Module_12_x86_64’.
Refreshing service ‘Certifications_Module_12_x86_64’.
Refreshing service ‘Containers_Module_12_x86_64’.
Refreshing service ‘SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_12_SP1_x86_64’.
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
‘rsyslog’ is already installed.
No update candidate for ‘rsyslog-8.4.0-11.1.x86_64’. The highest available version is already installed.
Resolving package dependencies…

Nothing to do.

What do I need to do to get this upgraded?

Thanks,
Mike

2

On 06/21/2016 10:44 AM, mkfeff999 wrote:[color=blue]

Hi - I am a newbe to Linux and Suse Enterprise Server. I am working on
a project and need to upgrade / update Rsyslog to version 8.19 from the
currently installed version, 8.4. Here is what I have done so far:[/color]

Before we get into the technical bits, I would recommend always including
a business case for the “I have to do X by time Y” types of
statements/questions. For example, “Because of security vulnerability Z
in version W, I need to upgrade X from Y to V.” Without a business case
the answers may be less-useful to you.
[color=blue]

I have downloaded the 8.19 tar.gz and extracted the rsyslog-8.19.0
folder.
From within the rsyslog-8.19.0 folder I have opened a terminal.
I raised it to a root terminal with the sudo su command[/color]

I see a lot of people do this, but generally it’s because of a lack of
understanding of sudo. Just run ‘sudo -i’ and you can become root without
the redundancy of ‘sudo su’ or ‘sudo su -’. Better yet, considering your
install command below, do not become root interactively as it’s
more-dangerous.
[color=blue]

I then ran the following command: sudo zypper install rsyslog and here
is the output I got:[/color]

A few things stand out as being wrong with this approach.

  1. SLES is an Enterprise distribution, meaning you should only get
    software from the vendor in order to keep support from the vendor. I am
    guessing, getting code from a .tar.gz, that this is NOT what you did. If
    it is, then that’s interesting; please post a link to the download you
    used for us.

  2. You did not feed zypper an RPM; zypper works with RPMs, and
    repositories of RPMs. All you gave it was ‘rsyslog’ which is a string
    that would, presumably, point to a package in a repository, or a file in
    the current directory. Unless you have an file, in RPM format, in the
    current directory named just ‘rsyslog’ (not even with the customary .rpm
    extension), then this command will go to the repository (not your
    filesystem) to find rsyslog, which you already have installed. As a
    result, the command tells you it is already installed and does nothing.

  3. You are already ‘root’ (see above) but you are using ‘sudo’ again for
    the zypper command. Stay as a non-root user and use sudo; it’s a better
    practice in general.
    [color=blue]

linux-kr6t:/home/admin/Downloads/rsyslog-8.19.0 # sudo zypper install
rsyslog
Refreshing service ‘Advanced_Systems_Management_Module_12_x86_64’.
Refreshing service ‘Certifications_Module_12_x86_64’.
Refreshing service ‘Containers_Module_12_x86_64’.
Refreshing service ‘SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_12_SP1_x86_64’.
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
‘rsyslog’ is already installed.
No update candidate for ‘rsyslog-8.4.0-11.1.x86_64’. The highest
available version is already installed.
Resolving package dependencies…

Nothing to do.[/color]

  1. Provide the business case mentioned above.

  2. Preferably (unless you do not care about support or ongoing patches of
    your system) get the rsyslog package(s) from SUSE directly.

  3. If you are going to forget about support/patches ongoing for some
    reason (really odd, and almost certainly the wrong thing to do) then you
    should get the source files (maybe your .tar.gz) and compile them, then
    remove the old rsyslog packages and install the new rsyslog from source,
    then configure it. This is almost certainly a bad idea for you, but it
    all depends on that business case.

–
Good luck.

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3

Thanks for you quick response. I will assume then that since Rsyslog 8.19 is not available from Suse that we will need to stick with the current version.

Thanks for the insight and knowledge.

Mike

4

Hi
Further to Aaron’s comments, looking at the OBS build it was only
updated 17 days ago, you could always grab the src rpm and rebuild that
as it will be much more SUSE friendly than just building from source.
https://build.opensuse.org/package/show?project=Base%3ASystem&package=rsyslog

Likewise if the reason is security (as in your security tools only
look at versions and not CVE’s), then check the changelog, I see patches
from 8.17.x backported to 8.4.x.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° LFCS, SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE Leap 42.1|GNOME 3.16.2|4.1.21-14-default
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