Chapter 1. Red Hat Software Collections 2.3

This chapter serves as an overview of the Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 content set. It provides a list of components and their descriptions, sums up changes in this version, documents relevant compatibility information, and lists known issues.

1.1. About Red Hat Software Collections

For certain applications, more recent versions of some software components are often needed in order to use their latest new features. Red Hat Software Collections is a Red Hat offering that provides a set of dynamic programming languages, database servers, and various related packages that are either more recent than their equivalent versions included in the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux system, or are available for this system for the first time.
Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 is be available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7; selected new components and previously released components also for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. For a complete list of components that are distributed as part of Red Hat Software Collections and a brief summary of their features, see Section 1.2, “Main Features”.
Red Hat Software Collections does not replace the default system tools provided with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Instead, a parallel set of tools is installed in the /opt/ directory and can be optionally enabled per application by the user using the supplied scl utility. The default versions of Perl or PostgreSQL, for example, remain those provided by the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux system.
All Red Hat Software Collections components are fully supported under Red Hat Enterprise Linux Subscription Level Agreements, are functionally complete, and are intended for production use. Important bug fix and security errata are issued to Red Hat Software Collections subscribers in a similar manner to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for at least two years from the release of each major version. In each major release stream, each version of a selected component remains backward compatible. For detailed information about length of support for individual components, refer to the Red Hat Software Collections Product Life Cycle document.

1.1.1. Red Hat Developer Toolset

Red Hat Developer Toolset is a part of Red Hat Software Collections, included as a separate Software Collection. For more information about Red Hat Developer Toolset, refer to the Red Hat Developer Toolset Release Notes and the Red Hat Developer Toolset User Guide.

1.2. Main Features

Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 provides recent stable versions of the tools listed in Table 1.1, “Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 Components”.

Table 1.1. Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 Components

Component Software Collection Description
Red Hat Developer Toolset 6.0 devtoolset-6 Red Hat Developer Toolset is designed for developers working on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. It provides current versions of the GNU Compiler Collection, GNU Debugger, and other development, debugging, and performance monitoring tools. For a complete list of components, see the Red Hat Developer Toolset Components table in the Red Hat Developer Toolset User Guide.
Eclipse 4.6.1[a] rh-eclipse46 A release of the Eclipse integrated development environment that is based on the Eclipse Foundation's Neon release train. Eclipse was previously available as a Red Hat Developer Toolset component. This Software Collection depends on the rh-java-common component.
Perl 5.20.1 rh-perl520 A release of Perl, a high-level programming language that is commonly used for system administration utilities and web programming. The rh-perl520 Software Collection provides additional utilities, scripts, and database connectors for MySQL and PostgreSQL. Also, it includes the DateTime Perl module and the mod_perl Apache httpd module, which is supported only with the httpd24 Software Collection.
Perl 5.24.0 rh-perl524 A release of Perl, a high-level programming language that is commonly used for system administration utilities and web programming. The rh-perl524 Software Collection provides additional utilities, scripts, and database connectors for MySQL and PostgreSQL. It includes the DateTime Perl module and the mod_perl Apache httpd module, which is supported only with the httpd24 Software Collection. Additionally, it provides the cpanm utility for easy installation of CPAN modules.
PHP 5.6.25 rh-php56 A release of PHP with PEAR 1.9.5 and enhanced language features including constant expressions, variadic functions, arguments unpacking, and the interactive debugger. The memcache, mongo, and XDebug extensions are also included.
PHP 7.0.10 rh-php70 A release of PHP 7 with PEAR 1.10, enhanced language features and performance improvement.
Python 2.7.8 python27 A release of Python 2.7 with a number of additional utilities. This Python version provides various new features and enhancements, including a new ordered dictionary type, faster I/O operations, and improved forward compatibility with Python 3. The python27 Software Collections contains the Python 2.7.8 interpreter, a set of extension libraries useful for programming web applications and mod_wsgi (only supported with the httpd24 Software Collection), MySQL and PostgreSQL database connectors, and numpy and scipy.
Python 3.4.2 rh-python34 A release of Python 3 with a number of additional utilities. This Software Collection gives developers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux access to Python 3 and allows them to benefit from various advantages and new features of this version. The rh-python34 Software Collection contains Python 3.4.2 interpreter, a set of extension libraries useful for programming web applications and mod_wsgi (only supported with the httpd24 Software Collection), PostgreSQL database connector, and numpy and scipy.
Python 3.5.1 rh-python35 The rh-python35 Software Collection contains Python 3.5.1 interpreter, a set of extension libraries useful for programming web applications and mod_wsgi (only supported with the httpd24 Software Collection), PostgreSQL database connector, and numpy and scipy.
Ruby 2.2.2 rh-ruby22 A release of Ruby 2.2. This version provides substantial performance and reliability improvements, including incremental and symbol garbage collection and many others, while maintaining source level backward compatibility with Ruby 2.0.0 and Ruby 1.9.3.
Ruby 2.3.1 rh-ruby23 A release of Ruby 2.3. This version introduces a command-line option to freeze all string literals in the source files, a safe navigation operator, and multiple performance enhancements, while maintaining source level backward compatibility with Ruby 2.2.2, Ruby 2.0.0, and Ruby 1.9.3.
Ruby on Rails 4.1.5 rh-ror41 A release of Ruby on Rails 4.1, a web application development framework written in the Ruby language. This version provides a number of new features including Spring application preloader, config/secrets.yml, Action Pack variants, and Action Mailer previews. This Software Collection is supported together with the rh-ruby22 Collection.
Ruby on Rails 4.2.6 rh-ror42 A release of Ruby on Rails 4.2, the latest version of the web application framework written in the Ruby language. Highlights in this release include Active Job, asynchronous mails, Adequate Record, Web Console, and foreign key support. This Software Collection is supported together with the rh-ruby23 and rh-nodejs4 Collections.
MariaDB 10.0.26 rh-mariadb100 A release of MariaDB, an alternative to MySQL for users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For all practical purposes, MySQL is binary compatible with MariaDB and can be replaced with it without any data conversions. This version adds the PAM authentication plugin to MariaDB.
MariaDB 10.1.16 rh-mariadb101 A release of MariaDB, an alternative to MySQL for users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For all practical purposes, MySQL is binary compatible with MariaDB and can be replaced with it without any data conversions. This version adds the Galera Cluster support.
MongoDB 2.6.9 rh-mongodb26 A release of MongoDB, a cross-platform document-oriented database system classified as a NoSQL database. This Software Collection includes the mongo-java-driver package version 2.14.1.
MongoDB 3.2.10 rh-mongodb32 A release of MongoDB, a cross-platform document-oriented database system classified as a NoSQL database. This Software Collection includes the mongo-java-driver package version 3.2.1.
MongoDB 3.0.11 upgrade collection rh-mongodb30upg A limited version of MongoDB 3.0 is available to provide an upgrade path from MongoDB 2.6 to MongoDB 3.2 for customers with existing MongoDB databases.
MySQL 5.6.34 rh-mysql56 A release of MySQL, which provides a number of new features and enhancements, including improved performance.
MySQL 5.7.16 rh-mysql57 A release of MySQL, which provides a number of new features and enhancements, including improved performance.
PostgreSQL 9.4.9 rh-postgresql94 A release of PostgreSQL, which provides a new data type to store JSON more efficiently and a new SQL command for changing configuration files, reduces lock strength for some commands, allows materialized views without blocking concurrent reads, supports logical decoding of WAL data to allow stream changes in a customizable format and enable background worker processes to be dynamically registered, started, and terminated.
PostgreSQL 9.5.4 rh-postgresql95 A release of PostgreSQL, which provides a number of enhancements, including row-level security control, introduces replication progress tracking, improves handling of large tables with high number of columns, and improves performance for sorting and multi-CPU machines.
Node.js 4.4.2 rh-nodejs4 A release of Node.js with npm 2.15.1 and support for the SPDY protocol version 3.1. This Software Collection gives users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux access to this programming platform.
rh-nginx 1.8.1 rh-nginx18 A release of nginx, a web and proxy server with a focus on high concurrency, performance and low memory usage. This version introduces a number of new features, including back-end SSL certificate verification, logging to syslog, thread pools support for offloading I/O requests, or hash load balancing method.
Apache httpd 2.4.18 httpd24 A release of the Apache HTTP Server (httpd), including a high performance event-based processing model, enhanced SSL module and FastCGI support. The mod_auth_kerb module is also included.
Varnish Cache 4.0.3 rh-varnish4 A release of Varnish Cache, a high-performance HTTP reverse proxy. Varnish Cache stores files or fragments of files in memory that are used to reduce the response time and network bandwidth consumption on future equivalent requests.
Thermostat 1.6.4 rh-thermostat16 A release of Thermostat, a monitoring and instrumentation tool for the OpenJDK HotSpot JVM, with support for monitoring multiple JVM instances. This Software Collection depends on the rh-mongodb32 and rh-java-common components.
Maven 3.3.9 rh-maven33 A release of Maven, a software project management and comprehension tool used primarily for Java projects. This version provides various enhancements, for example, improved core extension mechanism.
Passenger 4.0.50 rh-passenger40 A release of Phusion Passenger, a web and application server, designed to be fast, robust, and lightweight. It supports Ruby using the ruby193, ruby200, or rh-ruby22 Software Collections together with Ruby on Rails using the ror40 or rh-ror41 Collections. It can also be used with nginx 1.6 from the nginx16 Software Collection and with Apache httpd from the httpd24 Software Collection.
Git 2.9.3 rh-git29 A release of Git, a distributed revision control system with a decentralized architecture. As opposed to centralized version control systems with a client-server model, Git ensures that each working copy of a Git repository is its exact copy with complete revision history.
Redis 3.2.4 rh-redis32 A release of Redis 3.2, a persistent key-value database.
Common Java Packages 1.1 rh-java-common This Software Collection provides common Java libraries and tools used by other collections. The rh-java-common Software Collection is required by the devtoolset-4, devtoolset-3, rh-maven33, maven30, rh-mongodb32, rh-mongodb26, thermostat1, rh-thermostat16, and rh-eclipse46 components and it is not supposed to be installed directly by users.
V8 3.14.5.10 v8314 This Software Collection provides the V8 JavaScript engine and is supported only as a dependency for the mongodb24, rh-mongodb26, rh-mongodb30upg, ruby193, ror40, rh-ror41, and nodejs010 Software Collections.
[a] This Software Collection is available only for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Previously released Software Collections remain available in the same distribution channels. All currently available Software Collections are listed in the Table 1.2, “All Available Software Collections”.
See the Red Hat Software Collections Product Life Cycle document for information on the length of support for individual components. For detailed information regarding previously released components, refer to the Release Notes for earlier versions of Red Hat Software Collections.

Table 1.2. All Available Software Collections

Component Software Collection Availability
Components New in Red Hat Software Collections 2.3
Red Hat Developer Toolset 6.0devtoolset-6RHEL6, RHEL7
Eclipse 4.6.1rh-eclipse46RHEL7
Git 2.9.3rh-git29RHEL6, RHEL7
Redis 3.2.4rh-redis32RHEL6, RHEL7
Perl 5.24.0rh-perl524RHEL6, RHEL7
PHP 7.0.10rh-php70RHEL6, RHEL7
MySQL 5.7.16rh-mysql57RHEL6, RHEL7
Thermostat 1.6.4rh-thermostat16RHEL6, RHEL7
Components Updated in Red Hat Software Collections 2.3
Python 3.5.1rh-python35RHEL6, RHEL7
MongoDB 3.2.10rh-mongodb32RHEL6, RHEL7
Ruby 2.3.1rh-ruby23RHEL6, RHEL7
PHP 5.6.25rh-php56RHEL6, RHEL7
Common Java Packages 1.1rh-java-commonRHEL6, RHEL7
Components Not Updated since Red Hat Software Collections 2.2
MariaDB 10.1.16rh-mariadb101RHEL6, RHEL7
Maven 3.3.9rh-maven33RHEL6,[a] RHEL7
MongoDB 3.0.11 upgrade collection rh-mongodb30upgRHEL6, [a] RHEL7
Node.js 4.4.2rh-nodejs4RHEL6, RHEL7
PostgreSQL 9.5.4rh-postgresql95RHEL6, RHEL7
Ruby on Rails 4.2.6rh-ror42RHEL6, [a] RHEL7
Apache httpd 2.4.18httpd24RHEL6, RHEL7
Python 2.7.8python27RHEL6, RHEL7
MongoDB 2.6.9rh-mongodb26RHEL6, RHEL7
Thermostat 1.4.4thermostat1RHEL6, RHEL7
[a] This Software Collection has been made available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 since Red Hat Software Collections 2.3.
Components Not Updated since Red Hat Software Collections 2.1
Varnish Cache 4.0.3rh-varnish4RHEL6, RHEL7
nginx 1.8.1rh-nginx18RHEL6, RHEL7
Node.js 0.10nodejs010RHEL6, RHEL7
Maven 3.0.5maven30RHEL6, RHEL7
V8 3.14.5.10v8314RHEL6, RHEL7
Components Not Updated since Red Hat Software Collections 2.0
Perl 5.20.1rh-perl520RHEL6, RHEL7
Python 3.4.2rh-python34RHEL6, RHEL7
Ruby 2.2.2rh-ruby22RHEL6, RHEL7
Ruby on Rails 4.1.5rh-ror41RHEL6, RHEL7
MariaDB 10.0.26rh-mariadb100RHEL6, RHEL7
MySQL 5.6.34rh-mysql56RHEL6, RHEL7
PostgreSQL 9.4.9rh-postgresql94RHEL6, RHEL7
Passenger 4.0.50rh-passenger40RHEL6, RHEL7
PHP 5.4.40php54RHEL6, RHEL7
PHP 5.5.21php55RHEL6, RHEL7
nginx 1.6.2nginx16RHEL6, RHEL7
DevAssistant 0.9.3devassist09RHEL6, RHEL7
Components Not Updated since Red Hat Software Collections 1
Git 1.9.4git19RHEL6, RHEL7
Perl 5.16.3perl516RHEL6, RHEL7
Python 3.3.2python33RHEL6, RHEL7
Ruby 1.9.3ruby193RHEL6, RHEL7
Ruby 2.0.0ruby200RHEL6, RHEL7
Ruby on Rails 4.0.2ror40RHEL6, RHEL7
MariaDB 5.5.53mariadb55RHEL6, RHEL7
MongoDB 2.4.9mongodb24RHEL6, RHEL7
MySQL 5.5.52mysql55RHEL6, RHEL7
PostgreSQL 9.2.18postgresql92RHEL6, RHEL7
RHEL6 — Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
RHEL7 — Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
The tables above list the latest versions available through asynchronous updates.
Note that Software Collections released in Red Hat Software Collections 2.0 and later include a rh- prefix in their names.

1.3. Changes in Red Hat Software Collections 2.3

1.3.1. Overview

New Software Collections

Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 adds these new Software Collections:

Updated Software Collections

The following components have been updated in Red Hat Software Collections 2.3:

Software Collections Newly Available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

The following Software Collections were released with Red Hat Software Collections 2.2 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and are now available also for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6:
  • rh-maven33
  • rh-mongodb30upg
  • rh-ror42
For detailed information on these components, see the Red Hat Software Collections 2.2 Release Notes.
The following Software Collections are also newly available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 but have been updated with Red Hat Software Collections 2.3:
  • rh-python35
  • rh-mongodb32
  • rh-ruby23
For recent changes, see below; for changes introduced in Red Hat Software Collections 2.2, refer to the Red Hat Software Collections 2.2 Release Notes.

Red Hat Software Collections Container Images

The following container images are new in Red Hat Software Collections 2.3:
  • rhscl/devtoolset-6-toolchain-rhel7
  • rhscl/devtoolset-6-perftools-rhel7
  • rhscl/mysql-57-rhel7
  • rhscl/perl-524-rhel7
  • rhscl/php-70-rhel7
  • rhscl/redis-32-rhel7
  • rhscl/thermostat-16-agent-rhel7
  • rhscl/thermostat-16-storage-rhel7
The following container images have been updated in Red Hat Software Collections 2.3:
  • rhscl/mongodb-32-rhel7
  • rhscl/php-56-rhel7
  • rhscl/python-35-rhel7
  • rhscl/ruby-23-rhel7
For detailed information regarding Red Hat Software Collections container images, see Section 3.4, “Red Hat Software Collections Container Images”.

1.3.2. Changes in Red Hat Developer Toolset

Red Hat Developer Toolset 6.0 includes a new component, make 4.1, a tool for controlling the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program from the program's source files.
The following components have been upgraded in Red Hat Developer Toolset 6.0 compared to the previous release of Red Hat Developer Toolset:
  • GCC to version 6.2.1
  • binutils to version 2.27
  • elfutils to version 0.167
  • GDB to version 7.12
  • strace to version 4.12
  • SystemTap to version 3.0
  • Valgrind to version 3.12.0
  • Dyninst to version 9.2.0
Red Hat Developer Toolset 6.0 introduces support for the following architectures on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7:
  • The 64-bit ARM architecture
  • IBM POWER, big endian
  • IBM POWER, little endian
  • IBM z Systems
For detailed information on changes in Red Hat Developer Toolset 6.0, see Red Hat Developer Toolset User Guide.

1.3.3. Changes in Eclipse

The rh-eclipse46 Software Collection, available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, includes Eclipse 4.6.1, which is based on the Eclipse Foundation's Neon release train. This integrated development environment (IDE) was previously available as a part of Red Hat Developer Toolset.
This update contains a number of bug fixes and new features, including new plug-ins. Most notably, the Webtools plug-ins have been added, which provide support for editing file types, such as XML, HTML, and CSS, support for developing Java EE applications, web services, and support for developing Javascript applications.
Improvements to the IDE include:
  • Startup times and support for GTK3 have been improved compared to the previous Red Hat Developer Toolset version.
  • The Eclipse Linux Tools plug-in collection adds support for the Docker Compose tool, adds the Dockerfile editor, and provides improved support for container registries.
  • The Eclipse Platform adds real support for word-wrapping and automatic saving of modified files in editors.
  • The Eclipse CDT plug-in, which provides C and C++ development tooling, introduces improved debugging capabilities and improved New Project wizards.
  • The Eclipse JDT plug-in, which contains Java development tools, provides improved support for null analysis and enhanced content assist and code-template features.
  • The Eclipse EGit plug-in adds improved support for Git submodules and nested repositories, and improved git-flow and Gerrit support.
  • The Eclipse Python plug-in provides improved pyunit and pytest integration.
  • The Eclipse Mylyn plug-in contains significant improvements to its task list features.
For information on usage of the rh-eclipse46 Software Collection, see Section 4.2, “Eclipse 4.6.1”.

1.3.4. Changes in Git

The new rh-git29 Software Collection includes Git 2.9.3, which provides numerous bug fixes and new features compared to the git19 Collection shipped in Red Hat Software Collections 1.
The following changes affect backward compatibility:
  • Since Git 2.0, when using the git push [$there] command and not specifying what to push, the default semantics used is simple. Contrary to the previously used matching semantics, where all branches were pushed if branches of the same names existed as remote, Git now pushes only:
    • The current branch to the branch with the same name, and only when the current branch is set to integrate with that remote branch, if you are pushing to the same remote branch as you fetch from, or
    • The current branch to the branch with the same name, if you are pushing to a remote branch that is not where you usually fetch from.
    To preserve the previous behavior, set the push.default configuration variable to matching.
  • When the git add -u and git add -A commands are run inside a subdirectory without specifying which paths to add, they now operate on the entire tree for consistency with git commit -a and other commands. Previously, these commands operated only on the current subdirectory. To limit the operation to the current directory, use the git add -u . or git add -A . commands.
    Additionally, the git add path command is now equal to git add -A path, so git add dir/ now tracks paths removed from the directory and records the removal. In previous versions of Git, the git add path command ignored such removals. To achieve the previous behavior, use git add --ignore-removal path, which adds only added or modified paths in path.
  • The -q option to the git diff-files command, which was used for ignoring deletion while comparing files, has been removed. To ignore deletion, use git diff-files --diff-filter=d instead.
  • The git request-pull command, which generates a summary of pending changes, has been modified to reduce the probability of mistakes.
  • The default prefix for the git svn command has changed since Git 2.0. Previously, git svn created its remote-tracking branches directly in the refs/remotes/ directory, whereas now it places them in refs/remotes/origin/. To change this behavior, use the --prefix option.
  • The output of the git log --decorate command and the %d format specifier used in the --format=string parameter to the git log family of commands has been changed. Previously, it listed the HEAD commit similarly to branches, for example:
    $ git log --decorate -1 master
    commit bdb0f6788fa5e3cacc4315e9ff318a27b2676ff4 (HEAD, master)
    This update changes the output slightly when HEAD refers to a branch, which is also shown in the output. The example from above is now displayed as:
    $ git log --decorate -1 master
    commit bdb0f6788fa5e3cacc4315e9ff318a27b2676ff4 (HEAD -> master)
  • The phrasing of the git branch command has been updated to conform with the phrasing used by git status in case of a detached HEAD commit:
    • When HEAD is at the same commit as when it was originally detached, both commands now display:
      detached at commit
    • When HEAD has moved since it was originally detached, both commands now display:
      detached from commit
    Previously, the git branch command always displayed from.
  • The high-level commands in the git diff and git log family now enable the detection of renaming by default. To disable this behavior, use the diff.renames configuration variable.
  • Merging two branches that have no common ancestor with the git merge command is now disabled by default to prevent creating such an unusual merge by mistake.
  • The output format of the git log command, which indents the commit log message by 4 spaces, now expands horizontal tabs in the log message by default. Use the --no-expand-tabs option to disable this behavior.
  • The git commit-tree low-level command previously required the user to always sign its result when the user set the commit.gpgsign configuration variable. This behavior has been corrected. If a script that uses git commit-tree requires this behavior, pass the -S option as necessary.
Additionally, the remote-helper bridges to access data stored in Mercurial or Bazaar are not part of the rh-git29 Software Collection.
For detailed changes, see the upstream release notes. See also the Git manual page for version 2.9.3.

1.3.5. Changes in Perl

The new rh-perl524 Software Collection includes Perl 5.24.0, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previously released rh-perl520 Software Collection. Notably, it adds the rh-perl524-perl-App-cpanminus package, which contains the cpanm utility for getting, extracting, building, and installing modules from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) repository.

1.3.6. Changes in PHP

PHP 7.0.10

The new rh-php70 Software Collection includes PHP 7.0.10. This version provides numerous bug fixes and enhancements, for example, enhanced language features and an important performance improvement regarding speed and memory consumption. For detailed changes, see the upstream change log for version 7.0.10 and earlier.

PHP 5.6.25

The rh-php56 Software Collection has been upgraded to version 5.6.25, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the version shipped with Red Hat Software Collections 2.2. For details, refer to the upstream change log for version 5.6.25 and earlier.

1.3.7. Changes in MySQL

The new rh-mysql57 Software Collection includes MySQL 5.7.16, which provides numerous bug and security fixes and enhancements. Notably, after initialization, a random password is now set for the root user, which the server stores in a log file.
For detailed changes, see the upstream documentation.

1.3.8. Changes in Thermostat

The new rh-thermostat16 Software Collection includes Thermostat 1.6.4. This version provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the thermostat1 Collection.

New Features

  • Stack trace profiler to highlight hotspots in the stack frame
  • Statistics on compiler and compiled classes
  • VM-specific Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) information for NUMA-enabled systems
  • Information on input and output done by Java virtual machines (JVMs)
  • A new local command for CLI, which enables users to quickly run storage, agent, and GUI locally at once without doing any other setup or running any other commands
  • Metaspace information from OpenJDK 8 is now recorded and displayed
  • Tree map for profiler results
  • A new find-vm command for CLI and shell to find VMs with extensive search criteria
  • Support for the Shenandoah garbage collector in the vm-gc plug-in

Bug Fixes

  • Improved support for the latest MongoDB 3.2
  • Correct garbage collector time recorded for OpenJDK 8
  • Instrumentation profiler no longer uses standard output and standard error from applications
  • Fixed registration of thread back ends; intermittent failure could previously result in no VMs being monitored
  • Errors are now prevented when there is no data to show
  • Fixed setup of the classloader thread context setup for embedded Jetty

API addition

  • Support for certain queries using just a VM ID

Experimental API additions

  • Support for treemap-based graphics
  • API for graphs (vertices and edges)
Note that the these experimental additions are not guaranteed to be backwards compatible in the future.

Efficiency improvements

  • Support for cut, copy, and paste within the GUI
  • Reduced query amounts for improved performance
For detailed changes, see the upstream change log. For information on usage, refer to the Thermostat User Guide.

1.3.9. Changes in Python

The rh-python35 Software Collection, containing Python 3.5.1, has been updated to a later version, which provides a number of bug and security fixes and enhancements. Notably, the rh-python35-python-PyMySQL package has been added, which contains the PyMySQL library for interaction with MySQL and MariaDB databases from within Python.
The rh-python35 Software Collection is now available also for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. For changes introduced in Red Hat Software Collections 2.2, refer to the Red Hat Software Collections 2.2 Release Notes.

1.3.10. Changes in MongoDB

The rh-mongodb32 Software Collection has been updated to version 3.2.10, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. Notably, the rh-mongodb32-mongo-cxx-driver package has been added, which contains the shared library for the MongoDB legacy C++ Driver. See the Knowledgebase article about limitations of mongo-cxx-driver usage.
The rh-mongodb32 Software Collection is now available also for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. In addition to MongoDB 3.2, the Collection contains packages that cannot be used from the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 system, namely rh-mongodb32-libunwind and rh-mongodb32-gpeftools.
The rh-mongodb30upg Software Collection has also been included for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Apart from MongoDB 3.0.11, providing the upgrade path from MongoDB 2.6 to MongoDB 3.2, the Collection contains packages that cannot be used from the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 system, namely rh-mongodb30upg-boost, rh-mongodb30upg-libunwind, and rh-mongodb30upg-gpeftools.
For changes introduced in Red Hat Software Collections 2.2, refer to the Red Hat Software Collections 2.2 Release Notes.

1.3.11. Changes in Ruby

The rh-ruby23 Software Collection has been upgraded to version 2.3.1, which provides a number of bug fixes over the previous version.
The rh-ruby23 Software Collection is now available also for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. For changes introduced in Red Hat Software Collections 2.2, refer to the Red Hat Software Collections 2.2 Release Notes.

1.3.12. Changes in the Common Java Packages

The rh-java-common Software Collection has been updated and extended to comply with the changes in the dependent components.

1.4. Compatibility Information

Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 is available for all supported releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 on AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures. Certain components are available also for all supported releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 on AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures.
For a full list of available components, see Table 1.2, “All Available Software Collections”.

1.5. Known Issues

rh-ruby23 component
Determination of RubyGem installation paths is dependent on the order in which multiple Software Collections are enabled. The required order has been changed in Ruby 2.3.1 shipped in Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 to support dependent Collections. As a consequence, RubyGem paths, which are used for gem installation during an RPM build, are invalid when the Software Collections are supplied in an incorrect order. For example, the build now fails if the RPM spec file contains scl enable rh-ror42 rh-nodejs4. To work around this problem, enable the rh-ror42 Software Collection last, for example, scl enable rh-nodejs4 rh-ror42.
rh-perl524, httpd24 components, BZ#1382706
CGI scripts cannot execute the perl command from the rh-perl524 Software Collection. To work around this problem, set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to /opt/rh/rh-perl524/root/usr/lib64 in the CGI script.
redis component, BZ#1275246, BZ#1348471
When the Redis Sentinel service from the rh-redis32 Software Collection is used, the functionality is restricted by SELinux policy if using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 or earlier. To work around this problem, switch the redis domain to permissive mode by running the following command as root:
semanage permissive -a redis_t
eclipse component
The Eclipse Docker Tooling introduces a Dockerfile editor with syntax highlighting and a basic command auto-completion. When the Build Image Wizard is open and the Edit Dockerfile button is pressed, the Dockerfile editor opens the file in a detached editor window. However, this window does not contain the Cancel and Save buttons. To work around this problem, press Ctrl+S to save your changes or right-click in the editor to launch a context menu, which offers the Save option. To cancel your changes, close the window.
eclipse component
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2, a bug in the perf tool, which is used to populate the Perf Profile View in Eclipse, causes some of the items in the view not to be properly linked to their respective positions in the Eclipse Editor. While the profiling works as expected, it is not possible to navigate to related positions in the Editor by clicking on parts of the Perl Profile View.
python27 component, BZ#1330489
The python27-python-pymongo package has been updated to version 3.2.1 in Red Hat Software Collections 2.3. Note that this version is not fully compatible with the previously shipped version 2.5.2. For details, see https://api.mongodb.org/python/current/changelog.html.
httpd24 component, BZ#1327548
The mod_ssl module does not support the Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation (ALPN) protocol on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Consequently, clients that support upgrading TLS connections to HTTP/2.0 only using ALPN are limited to HTTP/1.1 support. Clients that support the NPN protocol in addition to ALPN (such as Mozilla Firefox) are able to successfully upgrade to HTTP/2.0.
httpd24 component, BZ#1329639
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, running the service httpd24-httpd configtest command fails with an error message. To work around this problem, run the following command:
scl enable httpd24 'apachectl configtest'
rh-maven33 component
When the user has installed both the Red Hat Enterprise Linux system version of maven-local package and the rh-maven33-maven-local package, XMvn, a tool used for building Java RPM packages, run from the rh-maven33 Software Collection tries to read the configuration file from the base system and fails. To work around this problem, uninstall the maven-local package from the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux system.
rh-nodejs4 component, BZ#1316626
The /opt/rh/rh-nodejs4/root/usr/share/licenses/ directory is not owned by any package. Consequently, when the rh-nodejs4 collection is uninstalled, this directory is not removed. To work around this problem, remove the directory manually after uninstalling rh-nodejs4.
rh-mysql57, rh-mysql56, rh-mariadb100, rh-mariadb101 components, BZ#1194611
The rh-mysql57-mysql-server, rh-mysql56-mysql-server, rh-mariadb100-mariadb-server, and rh-mariadb101-mariadb-server packages no longer provide the test database by default. Although this database is not created during initialization, the grant tables are prefilled with the same values as when test was created by default. As a consequence, upon a later creation of the test or test_* databases, these databases have less restricted access rights than is default for new databases.
Additionally, when running benchmarks, the run-all-tests script no longer works out of the box with example parameters. You need to create a test database before running the tests and specify the database name in the --database parameter. If the parameter is not specified, test is taken by default but you need to make sure the test database exist.
httpd24 component, BZ#1224763
When using the mod_proxy_fcgi module with FastCGI Process Manager (PHP-FPM), httpd uses port 8000 for the FastCGI protocol by default instead of the correct port 9000. To work around this problem, specify the correct port explicitly in configuration.
rh-passenger40 component, BZ#1196555
When Passenger from the rh-passenger40 Software Collection is run as a module for httpd, the functionality is restricted by SELinux policy. To work around this problem, switch the passenger domain to permissive mode by running the following command as root:
semanage permissive -a passenger_t 
Standalone server and nginx integration are not affected by this issue.
mongodb24 component
The mongodb24 Software Collection from Red Hat Software Collections 1.2 cannot be rebuilt with the rh-java-common and maven30 Software Collections shipped with Red Hat Software Collections 2.3. Additionally, the mongodb24-build and mongodb24-scldevel packages cannot be installed with Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 due to unsatisfied requires on the maven30-javapackages-tools and maven30-maven-local packages. When the mongodb24-scldevel package is installed, broken dependencies are reported and the yum --skip-broken command skips too many packages. Users are advised to update to the rh-mongodb26 Software Collection.
perl component
It is impossible to install more than one mod_perl.so library. As a consequence, it is not possible to use the mod_perl module from more than one Perl Software Collection.
nodejs010 component
Shared libraries provided by the nodejs010 Software Collection, namely libcares, libhttp_parser, and libuv, are not properly prefixed with the Collection name. As a consequence, conflicts with the corresponding system libraries might occur.
nodejs-hawk component
The nodejs-hawk package uses an implementation of the SHA-1 and SHA-256 algorithms adopted from the CryptoJS project. In this release, the client-side JavaScript is obfuscated. The future fix will involve using crypto features directly from the CryptoJS library.
postgresql component
The postgresql92, rh-postgresql94, and rh-postgresql95 packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 do not provide the sepgsql module as this feature requires installation of libselinux version 2.0.99, which is not available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
httpd, mariadb, mongodb, mysql, nodejs, perl, php55, rh-php56, python, ruby, ror, thermostat, and v8314 components, BZ#1072319
When uninstalling the httpd24, mariadb55, rh-mariadb100, mongodb24, rh-mongodb26, mysql55, rh-mysql56, nodejs010, perl516, rh-perl520, php55, rh-php56, python27, python33, rh-python34, ruby193, ruby200, rh-ruby22, ror40, rh-ror41, thermostat1, or v8314 packages, the order of uninstalling can be relevant due to ownership of dependent packages. As a consequence, some directories and files might not be removed properly and might remain on the system.
mariadb, mysql, postgresql, mongodb components
Red Hat Software Collections 2.3 contains the MySQL 5.7, MySQL 5.6, MariaDB 10.0, MariaDB 10.1, PostgreSQL 9.4, PostgreSQL 9.5, MongoDB 2.6, and MongoDB 3.2 databases. The core Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 provides earlier versions of the MySQL and PostgreSQL databases (client library and daemon). The core Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 provides earlier versions of the MariaDB and PostgreSQL databases (client library and daemon). Client libraries are also used in database connectors for dynamic languages, libraries, and so on.
The client library packaged in the Red Hat Software Collections database packages in the PostgreSQL component is not supposed to be used, as it is included only for purposes of server utilities and the daemon. Users are instead expected to use the system library and the database connectors provided with the core system.
A protocol, which is used between the client library and the daemon, is stable across database versions, so, for example, using the PostgreSQL 9.2 client library with the PostgreSQL 9.4 or 9.5 daemon works as expected.
The core Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 do not include the client library for MongoDB. In order to use this client library for your application, you should use the client library from Red Hat Software Collections and always use the scl enable ... call every time you run an application linked against this MongoDB client library.
mariadb, mysql, mongodb components
MariaDB, MySQL, and MongoDB do not make use of the /opt/provider/collection/root prefix when creating log files. Note that log files are saved in the /var/opt/provider/collection/log/ directory, not in /opt/provider/collection/root/var/log/.
httpd component
Compiling external applications against the Apache Portable Runtime (APR) and APR-util libraries from the httpd24 Software Collection is not supported. The LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable is not set in httpd24 because it is not required by any application in this Software Collection.
python27 component
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, when the user tries to install the python27-python-debuginfo package, the /usr/src/debug/Python-2.7.5/Modules/socketmodule.c file conflicts with the corresponding file from the python-debuginfo package installed on the core system. Consequently, installation of the python27-python-debuginfo fails. To work around this problem, uninstall the python-debuginfo package and then install the python27-python-debuginfo package.

Other Notes

eclipse component
The Eclipse SWT graphical library on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 uses GTK 3.x. Eclipse Dark Theme is not yet fully stable on GTK 3.x, so this theme is considered a Technology Preview and not supported. For more information about Red Hat Technology Previews, see https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/techpreview/.
rh-ruby22, rh-ruby23, rh-python34, rh-python35, rh-php56, rh-php70 components
Using Software Collections on a read-only NFS has several limitations.
  • Ruby gems cannot be installed while the rh-ruby22 or rh-ruby23 Software Collection is on a read-only NFS. Consequently, for example, when the user tries to install the ab gem using the gem install ab command, an error message is displayed, for example:
    ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Errno::EROFS)
        Read-only file system @ dir_s_mkdir - /opt/rh/rh-ruby22/root/usr/local/share/gems
    
    The same problem occurs when the user tries to update or install gems from an external source by running the bundle update or bundle install commands.
  • When installing Python packages on a read-only NFS using the Python Package Index (PyPI), running the pip command fails with an error message similar to this:
    Read-only file system: '/opt/rh/rh-python34/root/usr/lib/python3.4/site-packages/ipython-3.1.0.dist-info'
  • Installing packages from PHP Extension and Application Repository (PEAR) on a read-only NFS using the pear command fails with the error message:
    Cannot install, php_dir for channel "pear.php.net" is not writeable by the current user
This is an expected behavior.
httpd component
Language modules for Apache are supported only with the Red Hat Software Collections version of Apache httpd and not with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux system versions of httpd. For example, the mod_wsgi module from the rh-python35 Collection can be used only with the httpd24 Collection.
all components
Since Red Hat Software Collections 2.0, configuration files, variable data, and runtime data of individual Collections are stored in different directories than in previous versions of Red Hat Software Collections.
coreutils, util-linux, screen components
Some utilities, for example, su, login, or screen, do not export environment settings in all cases, which can lead to unexpected results. It is therefore recommended to use sudo instead of su and set the env_keep environment variable in the /etc/sudoers file. Alternatively, you can run commands in a reverse order; for example:
su -l postgres -c "scl enable rh-postgresql94 psql"
instead of
scl enable rh-postgresql94 bash
su -l postgres -c psql
When using tools like screen or login, you can use the following command to preserve the environment settings:
source /opt/rh/<collection_name>/enable
php54 component
Note that Alternative PHP Cache (APC) in Red Hat Software Collections is provided only for user data cache. For opcode cache, Zend OPcache is provided.
python component
When the user tries to install more than one scldevel package from the python27, python33, rh-python34, and rh-python35 Software Collections, a transaction check error message is returned. This is an expected behavior because the user can install only one set of the macro files provided by the packages (%scl_python, %scl_prefix_python).
php component
When the user tries to install more than one scldevel package from the php54, php55, rh-php56, and rh-php70 Software Collections, a transaction check error message is returned. This is an expected behavior because the user can install only one set of the macro files provided by the packages (%scl_php, %scl_prefix_php).
ruby component
When the user tries to install more than one scldevel package from the ruby193, ruby200, rh-ruby22, and rh-ruby23 Software Collections, a transaction check error message is returned. This is an expected behavior because the user can install only one set of the macro files provided by the packages (%scl_ruby, %scl_prefix_ruby).
perl component
When the user tries to install more than one scldevel package from the perl516, rh-perl520, and rh-perl524 Software Collections, a transaction check error message is returned. This is an expected behavior because the user can install only one set of the macro files provided by the packages (%scl_perl, %scl_prefix_perl).
nginx component
When the user tries to install more than one scldevel package from the nginx16 and rh-nginx18 Software Collections, a transaction check error message is returned. This is an expected behavior because the user can install only one set of the macro files provided by the packages (%scl_nginx, %scl_prefix_nginx).
nodejs component
When installing the nodejs010 Software Collection, nodejs010 installs GCC in the base Red Hat Enterprise Linux system as a dependency, unless the gcc packages are already installed.