Then who provides security and bug fixes for that snapshot for the ten years during which a RHEL version is supported? EPEL is basically what you're asking for,

Then who provides security and bug fixes for that snapshot for the ten years during which a RHEL version is supported? EPEL is basically what you're asking for, but limited to packages where someone is willing to make that commitment. "RHEL 6 was first released in 2010 and there's still Python 2.6 on that" Or Python 2.7 or 3.3 can be installed via Software Collections. These have a predictable release cycle- a new version is released every 18 months, and each version is supported for three years. https://access.redhat.com/site/support/policy/updates/errata/ https://access.redhat.com/site/support/policy/updates/errata... https://access.redhat.com/site/support/policy/updates/rhscl/ https://access.redhat.com/site/support/policy/updates/rhscl/