Oracle Linux Playground

The Oracle Linux playground is a yum repository based on the latest mainline kernel release.  This kernel is not meant for deployment on production systems, however it is a snapshot of the latest activities happening upstream for those who are interested in learning more about the features and improvements occurring with each mainline version.  Here's an overview of the Oracle Linux Playground channel.

What we do...
Each time there is a new stable release of the Linux mainline kernel, Oracle will build and test the RPMs as part of our standard operational activities.  Oracle evaluates and tests each kernel release to track changes in performance, stability and also to review new feature functionality.  Once we have completed our initial validation of the kernel release, we will publish to the playground channel.  The kernel found in the playground channel can be installed on any Oracle Linux 6, 64-bit system you have in your testing environment.  This will allow you to test your existing applications against the most recent stable kernel.  As new kernel releases occur, the channel will be updated with the latest release.  We have made setup very simple and within a few short minutes you can easily have your Oracle Linux 6 test machine running the latest kernel, here's what you'll need to do:

Setup Instructions

  1. Make sure you have an Oracle Linux 6 system installed.   You can download the ISO for free here.
  2. Remember, this is for testing only.  DO NOT INSTALL ON YOUR PRODUCTION SYSTEMS!
  3. Get the latest yum repository file from the Oracle Linux yum server at this link.
  4. Copy to /etc/yum.repos.d on your Oracle Linux 6 server. This will replace the current file with the latest file.
  5. Enable the playground repo by editing the yum.repos.d conf file with your favorite editor (like vi). You'll want to set the enabled option from 0 to 1. Here an example:
    6. 
[ol6_playground_latest]
name=Latest mainline stable kernel for Oracle Linux 6 ($basearch) - Unsupported 
baseurl=//yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL6/playground/latest/$basearch/
 gpgkey=//yum.oracle.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle-ol6
 gpgcheck=1 
enabled=1
  6. The last step is to update your system by typing yum update from the command line.
  7. Finished!

    8. Blogs:

    Introducing the Oracle Linux Playground yum repo

    Oracle Linux Playground Channel Sample