Currently RHEL 5 comes with smartmontools 5.36, while the latest one (currently 5.38) appears to have a lot more entries in device database (183 vs 135) and probably some useful bugfixes as well.
P.S. Also, having to use an explicit "-d ata" is kind of annoying and it's nice that 5.38 no longer requires that.
I'm not against the rebasing of smartmontools. However this decision must be approved by the product management.
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux maintenance release. Product Management has requested further review of this request by Red Hat Engineering, for potential inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update release for currently deployed products. This request is not yet committed for inclusion in an Update release.
*** Bug 445728 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 447978 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 457374 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I have closed other asks for rebase (regarding the CCISS controllers) as duplicates of this one.
The unofficial testing packages can be found here: http://tsmetana.fedorapeople.org/smartmontools/
Release note added. If any revisions are required, please set the "requires_release_notes" flag to "?" and edit the "Release Notes" field accordingly. All revisions will be proofread by the Engineering Content Services team. New Contents: The smartmontools package has been upgraded to the version 5.38. The new version has a larger known devices database and improves device autodetection. The configuration files are compatible with the previous version.
this bug fix is now documented in the RHEL5.3 release notes. please refer to the following link within the next 24 hours or so to view the most current build: http://documentation-stage.bne.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5.3/html-single/Release_Notes/
Release note updated. If any revisions are required, please set the "requires_release_notes" flag to "?" and edit the "Release Notes" field accordingly. All revisions will be proofread by the Engineering Content Services team. Diffed Contents: @@ -1 +1,3 @@ -The smartmontools package has been upgraded to the version 5.38. The new version has a larger known devices database and improves device autodetection. The configuration files are compatible with the previous version.+smartmontools has been re-based to version 5.38. This update improves autodetection of hardware devices, improves support for CCISS RAID arrays, and features a larger database of supported devices. + +This update also fixes a bug wherein SELinux prevented smartmontools from monitoring 3ware RAID devices. smartmontools can now monitor such devices properly.
*** Bug 476137 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem described in this bug report. This report is therefore being closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files, please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report if the solution does not work for you. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHEA-2009-0089.html