Dealing with Yum

Yum is a package manager for linux. Yum is a nicer and higher level tool that sits on top of RPM. Recently an even higher level thing called package kit has come on the scene.

Package Kit

I don't like package kit. Maybe I am old and cranky and set in my ways, but I don't like having something pop up unexpectedly when I want to get work done. I also want to see what packages are getting installed, not work in the blind. Rumor has it that the easiest approach is: 
yum erase PackageKit
Rumor also has it that it may come back. This will eradicate a bunch of packages, including gnome-packagekit which may be the most critical one. After doing this, the files /usr/sbin/packagekitd and /usr/bin/pkcon disappeared, which is a good sign.

Yum basics

The commands I use the most often are: 
yum list
yum install package
yum update
yum erase
There is also yum remove which is identical to yum erase. Note also that all of the above (except yum list) must be done as root.

Yum details

The file /etc/yum.conf may be worth looking at.
Also, the directory /etc/yum has some files that should be looked at.
The directory /etc/yum.repos.d has the all important collection of "repo" files that specify where the repositories are that yum pulls packages from.

The file /var/log/yum.log is a log of yum activity, both automatic and requested by command.

Automatic YUM updates

To get this going, install the package: 
yum install yum-cron
yum-cron is a "service" you can stop and start: 
service restart yum-cron
This runs the script /etc/rc.d/init.d/yum-cron. All the script really does is to fiddle with a lockfile /var/lock/subsys/yum-cron. Also take a look at /etc/sysconfig/yum-cron. The meat of the action is done via the script /etc/cron.daily/yum.cron. This script exits immediately if the lockfile does not exist.
Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Adventures in Computing / tom@mmto.org