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YumFaq

Faq

Q. 1: What is this?

   A. A yum faq.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 2: Where do I find a repository to update my system which is running
distribution <XYZ>?

   A. We have no idea. Your distribution should maintain their own list on this
   subject. If they don't support yum but you want to use it anyway you are
   probably going to have to make your own repository.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 3: How do I upgrade my machine from release X to release Y?

   A. We have little idea. If you are using Fedora, check out [9][WWW] this
   guide  written by Fedora Developers and Contributors. If you are using
   something else, try looking at their docs or asking on their mailing lists.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 4: How can I get yum to keep package "foo" at a certain version in a fashion
similar to pinning provided by apt?

   A. There are several ways you can do this.
     * One  is  to exclude it from your updates list (see man yum.conf or
       [10][WWW] http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/ManYumConf)
     * Another way is to use the versionlock plugin to yum which performs a
       similar function. See [11][WWW] this post from Panu Matilainen for more
       details.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 5: I get an "[Errno -1] Header is not complete." error from yum - what the
heck is going on?

   A. It's probably a proxy somewhere between you and the repository. You may
   not think that a proxy is in the way even though it really is.

   You can try doing a "trace" with this command:

   echo  -e  "TRACE  /  HTTP/1.1\nHost:  yum-server.example.com\n\n" | nc
   yum-server.example.com 80

   Which should give you some more information about the network between you
   and the repository. Also, be sure to replace yum-server.example.com with
   whatever your yum repository server is.

   Another diagnosis step is to get the box off of that network (not always
   entirely possible, but port forwarding, VPN, or dialup can simulate the
   experience) and see if you still have the problem.

   The solutions to this problem are:
    1. Get your proxy software/firmware updated so that it properly implements
       HTTP 1.1
    2. Use an FTP repository, where byte ranges are more commonly supported by
       the proxy
    3. Create a local mirror with rsync and then point your yum.conf to that
       local mirror
    4. Don't use yum
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 6: I'm upgrading and I get "Error: Missing Dependency:" messages like
"Error: Missing Dependency: libgcj.so.5 is needed by package junit" and then
yum quits. What should I do?

   A. yum is trying to tell you that some packages that are being replaced or
   obsoleted are needed by an installed package, so yum can't do it's work. To
   interpret the example, the installed junit package requires libgcj.so.5 and
   libgcj.so.5 is being updated or obsoleted so junit would no longer work if
   yum updated the libgcj.so.5 package.

   One relatively easy way to fix this is to remove whatever package "needs"
   the packages that are about to be upgraded/obsoleted and then reinstall that
   package after you have upgraded everything else. In the example, remove
   junit, upgrade, then reinstall junit.

   Another solution is to find a repository that provides an upgraded of the
   package that "needs" the old packages and add it to your yum configuration.
   Hopefully the new version of that package will have dependencies on the
   upgraded  package,  in our case libgcj.so.5, and yum will take care of
   everything.

   For more details, see [12][WWW] this post by Garrick Staples
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 7: I installed a new version of yum (or upgraded my whole system) and now
when I run yum, I get an error saying "The yum libraries do not seem to be
available on your system for this version of python" and "Please make sure the
package you used to install yum was built for your install of python." What's
wrong with the yum package I've got, or my Python installation, and how do I
fix it?

   A.

   In pre-2.3.? yum This error message is often misleading. To see the real
   error, run python from the command line, and type import yum. The problem
   probably  isn't with your version of python at all, but with a missing
   libxml2-python, python-sqlite, or python-elementtree package.

   Yum 2.4.x provides a different error with the module import errors, so this
   will become less confusing.

   It also includes a directive to send the error to the mailing list. Really,
   you should figure out what rpm provides the module that was missing and try
   to install that.

   If you are getting a message that yum itself is the missing module then you
   probably  installed  it incorreclty (or installed the source rpm using
   make/make install). If possible, find a prebuilt rpm that will work for your
   system like one from Fedora or CentOS. Or, you can download the srpm and do
   a

   rpmbuild --rebuild yum*.src.rpm
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 8: Yum is very nice at updating my kernel, but I use the (nvidia | openafs |
other module) and yum doesn't seem to handle it well. Could you fix yum to
handle this for me?

   A. This is a known and non-trivial problem, but people are talking and
   working on it. Please read ideas on [13][WWW] this plugin and messages from
   [14][WWW] the Google search of the yum archives to get more details.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 9: How does yum handle updates/installs on x86_64 machines?

   A. There are times when it is beneficial to have both 32 and 64 bit versions
   of a package installed on a machine such as when another package only has a
   32bit version and needs to access 32bit libraries of something that you
   would normally only install the 64bit package. So, if you do "yum install
   foo" then you will get both foo.i386.rpm and foo.x86_64.rpm installed on
   your system. This is the desired behavior in most cases even if it takes up
   more disk space. If you do a "yum install foo.x86_64" then you will only get
   the x86_64 package.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 10: How can I search the mailing list archives?

   A. One easy way is to use the google site: keyword pointed at the server for
   the  mailing  list  [15][WWW]  thusly.  Of  course, you should replace
   "your_search_term" in that example to your search term.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 11: How can I create a yum repository?

   A. First, are you sure you want to create a repository and not just mirror
   an existing one? If all you want is a mirrored local copy of someone else's
   repository, just make sure that your rsync script (or whatever mirroring
   process you are using) includes the repodata directory from the mirror's
   source.

   If you really want to make your own yum repository, the command depends on
   the version of yum that you are going to use with this repository, but the
   method is basically the same.

   for 2.0.X or earlier:
   yum-arch /path/to/where/you/want/the/repo/made

   for 2.2.x or later:
   createrepo /path/to/where/you/want/the/repo/made

   You may also be served by reading [16][WWW]
   http://linux.duke.edu/projects/metadata/ and even searching the yum list
   archives [17][WWW] as described in question 10.

   Note that you do not need yum to create a repo for 2.2.x or later. You can
   use the createrepo package available from a variety of places including the
   Duke  Metadata  link  given  above or available from places like Dag's
   repository.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 12: How can I get help?

   A. Well, you're on this page so that's a start. And you've already passed
   most of the technical faqs and the advice on [18][WWW] using Google to
   search the mailing list. If you've made it this far and haven't solved your
   problem you should know about the [19][WWW] support options. Basically, ask
   questions on the [20][WWW] mailing list and file bugs in [21][WWW] the
   bugzilla.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 13: If the most recent version of a package is available in multiple
repositories, how can I instruct yum to consistently pull it from a specific
repository? Stated differently, how can I give priority to a certain mirror or
my local repositories?

   A. yum will get the package from the repository listed first in the yum.conf
   file. You can read more in [22][WWW] this explanation.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 14: How can I tell yum to download a source package (i.e., a .src.rpm file)?

   A. The main yum program doesn't do this -- it's not within the scope of the
   program's  design  goals.  But, since it's a very useful function, the
   yumdownloader program from the yum-utils package is available for doing this
   very thing. Simply run something like:
  yumdownloader --source yum

   and you'll get the yum src.rpm in your current directory.

   In  order  to  keep  yum's  interface  (and  internal  code) clean and
   straightforward, this will not be added to yum proper. And yumdownloader
   works well.
     _________________________________________________________________

Q. 15: I'm behind a Microsoft proxy using NTLM authentication. What can I do?

   A. Some people have had luck using [23][WWW] the NTLM APS project.
     _________________________________________________________________

   [24]CategoryYum

   last edited 2006-03-30 17:20:33 by GregKnaddison

References

   1. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/RecentChanges?action=rss_rc&ddiffs=1&unique=1
   2. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/FrontPage
   3. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/YumFaq?action=raw
   4. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/YumFaq?action=print
   5. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/FindPage
   6. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/TitleIndex
   7. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/WordIndex
   8. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/HelpOnFormatting
   9. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/YumUpgradeFaq
  10. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/ManYumConf
  11. https://lists.dulug.duke.edu/pipermail/yum/2005-August/007194.html
  12. https://lists.dulug.duke.edu/pipermail/yum/2005-July/006994.html
  13. https://lists.dulug.duke.edu/pipermail/yum-devel/2005-June/thread.html#1232
  14. http://www.google.com/search?q=yum+kernel+module+site:lists.dulug.duke.edu&num=20&hl=en&lr=&start=20&sa=N
  15. http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&q=your_search_term+site%3Alists.dulug.duke.edu&btnG=Search
  16. http://linux.duke.edu/projects/metadata/
  17. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/YumFaq#Q10
  18. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/YumFaq#Q10
  19. http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/support.ptml
  20. https://lists.dulug.duke.edu/mailman/listinfo/yum
  21. https://devel.linux.duke.edu/bugzilla
  22. https://lists.dulug.duke.edu/pipermail/yum/2005-May/006564.html
  23. http://ntlmaps.sourceforge.net/
  24. http://wiki.linux.duke.edu/CategoryYum
