Scientific Linux 6

LEPP is in the process of transitioning to 64-bit Scientific Linux 6 (SL6). Any code built on an earlier SL distribution should run on 64-bit SL6. However, code built on 64-bit SL6 should only be run on 64-bit SL6. For notes on 64-bit computing, please see Lnx64Bit.

Package and Driver Changes

For a list of package and driver changes between RHEL5 and RHEL6, please see http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Migration_Planning_Guide/chap-Migration_Guide-Package_Changes.html .

gnome-terminal

When right-clicking on the desktop, the "Open Terminal" option opens a new terminal window in the current directory. Previously, when this option was chosen from the Desktop, the new terminal window location defaulted to the user's home directory. However, in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, the default behavior opens the Desktop directory (i.e. ~/Desktop/). To enable the previous behavior, use the following command to set the desktop_opens_home_dir GConf boolean to true:

• gconftool-2 -s /apps/nautilus-open-terminal/desktop_opens_home_dir --type=bool true

PDF and Postscript viewing

evince should be used to view PDF and Postscript file on SL6. On SL6 (as well as on SL5), ghostview (gv) was replaced by evince.

Emacs

On SL6, emacs is upgraded to version 23.1. emacs 23 is stricter than emacs 21 about using [DEL] as a key. Instead, you must use [\d].

If you see warnings when starting emacs and haven't made any customizations, you may want to remove your ~/.emacs file. Otherwise, you may need to add additional requires to your ~/.emacs file.

For example, if you see the following warning when starting emacs:

Symbol's value as variable is void: c-font-lock-keywords-2

You should add the following line to the top of ~/.emacs.

(require 'cc-mode)

Java

SL6 ships with the open-source OpenJDK, version 1.7.0 and the IcedTea-Web Java web browser plugin. To use the system-installed JDK:

• export JAVA_HOME=/etc/alternatives/java_sdk
  • The jre is inside of the JDK, and can also be referenced using /etc/alternatives/jre