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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
