This document will guide you through the steps required to install a functioning 1.6-series Current Server. Regular maintenance of the server will be covered later; the beginning portions of this document will only cover the steps required to get to a point where you have a valid Current server instance responding to client registration and update requests.

Please note that Current (and up2date itself) are moderately advanced systems administration topics. If you aren't comfortable with tar, RPM, general systems administration, and similar topics, you probably shouldn't be using this software. Although we want as large a user base as possible, and we hate discouraging people, this software can very easily destroy data and disable systems if it is not set up and used correctly.

You should also note that Current is still in very active development, most especially with the 1.7 series; the 1.6 series has proven relatively stable, so if you require stability, you should probably use a 1.6.x release. If you elect to proceed with the development version, you should be prepared to encounter bugs, and willing to report them to the mailing list.

Bug reports should include any and all tracebacks, the version of up2date (or rhn_register) and Current you are experiencing the problems with, and wherever possible log extracts showing the failure. You may also be asked to submit your config file for the server and details on what packages are in your database(s).

Between full releases (1.4 to 1.6 or similar), the release notes or README will include any changes or minor incompatibilities. You should definitely review the example config file (current.conf) between snapshots for changes, and you will almost certainly need to recreate your databases. As of 1.0, Current records database versions, and will complain if you attempt to run the server with an out-of-date database.