I have a Centos 6.3 server -- alone among all my Ubuntu servers for historical reasons -- with Upstart 0.6.5. I need to update that upstart to at least 1.4, and I'd prefer to do it through yum instead of hand compiling it.
Is a there a yum repo with a newer version I could use to update Upstart from?
Enterprise linux is different from Ubuntu: they value longevity of app certification over freshness -- software available for version X will always be compatible, throughout the support life of the OS.
What this means is that 0.6.5 will be the version for compatibility, and although you'll see some patches applied for security and very occasionally features, compatibility with the 0.6.5-compatible products is by far the chief goal. In the enterprise software space, the ISVs and customers need to know what's available on which platform, and ISVs need the simplicity of supporting "App X on Y" instead of "app X on this kernel, that windower, that C Lib, that other math lib without that patch but before this patch," etc.
Having worked through dependency hell with perl, python and experiencing the glee of ruby gem conflicts - which is fine for these languages to be in flux, like concept cars in the auto world, don't get me wrong - having a solid top-to-bottom compatibility statement (which resolves to a single number like '6' or '7') is definitely refreshing for experienced OS admins and software vendors for sure.
Yes, we don't get this week's upstart, but we don't have to worry about stuff not working at 0300 on a sunday when we're on that once-a-leap-year vacation in Malaga.