How can I install software (nginx, in this case) from source to effectively overwrite and replace a previously installed package in Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Question

So I inherited a production box running

Linux version 2.6.9-023stab048.6-enterprise (root@rhel4-32) (gcc version 3.4.520051201 (Red Hat 3.4.5-2)) #1 SMP Mon Nov 17 19:09:18 MSK 2008

the following outdated nginx package is installed (via yum list | grep nginx)

nginx.i386 0.6.39-1.el5 installed

We've had a lot of difficulties working with this outdated version and I want to upgrade it, but this is apparently the newest available version via yum.

Unfortunately, this is on a production box that I inherited, so I don't know what files this package installed or what scripts were subsequently written that are dependent on nginx files being in a certain location. So here are my questions to you:

Can I access a different set of repositories with yum that would have a newer version (0.7.*)?

Failing that is there any yum command that would let me view exactly what files were installed with the package?

What would be the best and cleanest way to remove the package version and replace it with nginx 0.7.* installed from source?

Is there a way to do this without taking the server offline for an extended period of time (more than 15 mins or so)?

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Check out some of the other RPM repositories like rpmforge or epel, you might find newer pre-built packages there. Alternatively, grab a source RPM for the version you're after (a quick google search has found one for 0.7.61) and build it (rpmbuild --rebuild <foo>.src.rpm)

Answer 2

First, if you want to see the packages installed with nginx:

rpm -ql nginx

There are rpm packages of nginx 0.7 and 0.8 but I can't say they are reliable. Instead my recommendation is that you build your own rpm package based on source. First time is hard figuring out the spec but then all the upgrades will be very easy to make. If you want a minimal dowtime you will need to test the migration in another box. For experience I would tell that upgrading nginx must be a clean process but still you need to test before doing that.