MRG-Supported Third-Party Software

Red Hat Enterprise MRG includes a realtime kernel for running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to provide deterministic latency and response times. A key advantage of MRG is that application compatibility with standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 has been preserved. Application binaries built to run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 are fully compatible. The foundation of this strong compatibility is due to the fact that the runtime libraries for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 are unchanged.

While applications are fully compatible with standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, Red Hat will also be working to gain full, certified support by its third-party ISVs. More details:

• The decision on whether a third-party ISV application is supported in conjunction with MRG is ultimately made by the application provider.
• There are no additional ISV certification requirements beyond the standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 practices.
• Red Hat will support applications from an operating standpoint and treat regressions on MRG as a bug.
• Red Hat will be working with certain ISV partners to garner enhanced endorsement of support when running latency-sensitive applications with MRG Realtime.

An exception to the above includes applications which ship kernel binary modules. Due to the fact that the kernel is different between standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and the MRG Realtime, it would be necessary to deliver separate kernel modules specifically built for the MRG Realtime. These would be required to be rebuilt to match the ongoing errata stream of the MRG Realtime, as the kernel-specific abi/api is subject to change.

*Note: this refers exclusively to kernel modules. The abi/api of the system call layer between applications and the kernel remains fully compatible.