Chris Tyler - Fedora Linux

1 to enable this repository, or 0 to ignore this repository.

gpgcheck

1 to enable GPG verification of the origin of the RPM packages served by the repository, or 0 to disable GPG verification. GPG verification tests the package integrity and ensures that the package has not been tampered with (which helps to guard against Trojans and viruses).

gpgkey

URL of the GPG public key for GPG package verification. This is almost always a file:/// URL (the key is on the local system).

There are a number of repositories available in addition to the ones preconfigured in Fedora. The maintainer of the Unofficial Fedora FAQ (http://www.fedorafaq.org/) also maintains a list of available repositories. You can install configuration files for these repositories with this command:

# rpm -Uvh http://www.fedorafaq.org/yum

Rerunning this command periodically will update the repository list.

Although this command installs the repository files, most of them are disabled by default. This is because some repositories are not compatible.

The two main add-on repositories groups used in conjunction with the base, updates, and extra repositories are the Livna ( http://rpm.livna.org ) repository, and the RPMforge repositories, a group of repositories that have agreed to work together for compatibility ( http://rpmforge.net ). There have been compatibility issues between these two, so repositories from only one of them should be enabled.

The Livna repository is located outside of the United States and distributes packages that have license or patent issues that make them ineligible for inclusion in the Fedora or Fedora Extras repositories. This may include usage restrictions (such as personal use only) or U.S. patent encumbrances. Check the licenses carefully to ensure that you can legally use the software in your circumstances in your jurisdiction.

The FedoraFaq repository configuration files have livna enabled and the other repos disabled by default.

You can manually edit the files in /etc/yum.repos.d/ and change the lines that read:

enabled=0

to read:

enabled=1

RPM packages contain dependency information that indicates which capabilities are needed by the package and which capabilities are provided by the package. What they don't contain is information about which other packages provide or require those capabilities. Packages can't contain that information because the other packagesthe ones that provide and require capabilitieschange over time.

yum contains the logic to search repositories based on these capabilities. It can therefore resolve dependencies automatically.

There are three levels of information managed by yum : a list of packages available from the repositories, including capabilities provided by those packages; the headers for packages, which contain the metadata for those packages, including the capabilities required by those packages; and the packages themselves, which include both the metadata and the file archive. All of this information is stored in /var/cache/yum .

The first level of information, the list of available files, is updated automatically whenever yum (or one of the graphical tools) is started. The second level, headers, is retrieved when yum needs to determine dependencies. The actual packages are retrieved only after the decision to install or update the software has been confirmed.

The update icon is managed by the puplet monitor, which receives update information from the yum-updatesd services over the desktop communication bus (dbus).

The Livna repository provides RPM-packaged versions of the ATI and NVIDIA drivers. For the ATI drivers, install kmod-fglrx (or kmod-fglrx-smp for a multiprocessor/multicore kernel); for the NVIDIA drivers, install kmod-nvidia (or kmod-nvidia-smp ).

For example, to install the NVIDIA drivers on a single-core, single-processor system:

# yum install kmod-nvidia

Each vendor's video control tools will be installed into the application menus. During the installation, the appropriate changes will be made to the Drivers lines in the X server configuration file /etc/X11/xorg.conf , and those changes will automatically be undone if the proprietary drivers are removed.

Each proprietary video driver requires a kernel module, so you may need to wait until a day or two after a new kernel is released before upgrading to that kernel.

Software to play proprietary audio and video formats (such as MP3, WMA, and AVI) is available from the Livna repository. It is not included in Fedora Core because it does not meet the Fedora guidelines (either it is not open source, or it is patent-encumbered).

Once you have enabled the Livna repository, you can install a wide range of audio and video software and decoders (codecs) using the command:

# yum install '*mplayer*' '*xmms*' '*xine*'

To exclude packages from yum , edit /etc/yum.conf and add an exclude line. Here is an example (shown in bold); substitute globbing patterns (see Lab 4.3, "Managing Files ") that match the packages you wish to exclude:

[main]

cachedir=/var/cache/yum

debuglevel=2

logfile=/var/log/yum.log

pkgpolicy=newest

distroverpkg=redhat-release

tolerant=1

exactarch=1

retries=20

obsoletes=1

gpgcheck=1

exclude=*kernel* *xorg*

# PUT YOUR REPOS HERE OR IN separate files named file.repo

# in /etc/yum.repos.d

 The yum project page: http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/

 The manpages for pup , puplet , pirut , yum-updatesd , and yum-updatesd.conf

 The yumex project page: http://linux.rasmil.dk/cms/modules/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=yumex:yumex

 Repository pages for the RPMforge repositories ( http://rpmforge.net/ ) and the Livna repository ( http://rpm.livna.org/ )

 Fedora project documentation on managing software with yum : http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/yum/

RPM has the ability to save datafiles before erasing them, permitting installations, updates, and removals to be undone through a rollback operation. Since it can take a substantial amount of space to save data necessary for a rollback, this feature is not enabled by defaultbut it's well worth sacrificing some disk space in most cases.

In order to enable rollbacks, it is necessary to enable repackaging during the upgrading and removal of software. This can be enabled using command options, but the options have to be used consistently, and it's easy to forget them. Therefore the best approach is to configure both rpm and yum to use repackaging all the time.

To configure rpm , create the file /etc/rpm/macros and place this line in it: