How to smartly manage Scientific Linux repositories

[Mrkvonic]

I've written a very important and useful tutorial explaining how to safely manage Scientific Linux third-party repositories, including enabling them automatically or manually, importing GPG keys, setting repository priority and protection, resolving conflicts, and more. This is a must-read article for any RHEL, CentOS and Fedora users, but Scientific Linux fans get a special treatment. Enjoy.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/scientific-linux-repos.html


Cheers,
Mrk

[Trespasser]

A lot of good information, Mrk. And, well written and presented, as usual.

Have you ever written any books before? The reason I ask is because, obviously, you've got the writer in you. :).

Thanks, Mrk.

Later...

[Mrkvonic]

Well, I did write a few books, but I didn't publish much yet.
I have a self-published book, if that counts.
There's gonna be a fantasy-genre book toward the end of the year.
And I'm always negotiating, low-intensity, with all kinds of publishers.

Cheers,
Mrk

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "I've written a very important and useful tutorial explaining how to safely manage Scientific Linux third-party repositories, including enabling them automatically or manually, importing GPG keys, setting repository priority and protection, resolving conflicts, and more. This is a must-read article for any RHEL, CentOS and Fedora users, but Scientific Linux fans get a special treatment. Enjoy.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/scientific-linux-repos.html


Cheers,
Mrk" }-

Scary stuff for Linux newbies.

As you've recommended elsewhere (http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux-cleaning.html),-{ Quote: "First, let the system run in its pristine, unchanged state. See if it works for you. Then, try to observe differences between Linux and Windows, see how the two align and where they veer apart. Third, learn more about the internals. Once you're confident with your understanding of mechanisms at hand, you can slowly, gradually start introducing changes, including cleanup, one fix at a time. And most importantly, BACKUP your system and data. There's data backup and there's system image backup. Do yourself a favor and practice both. And that's all. " }-

I'd would add, "and stay with one mainstream distro" for as long as possible!

[Ocky]

-{ Quote: "Scary stuff for Linux newbies.

As you've recommended elsewhere (http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux-cleaning.html),

I'd would add, "and stay with one mainstream distro" for as long as possible!" }-

vasa1, you are so right there - remember 'jack of all trades; master of none."
RHEL is of course mainstream - big time. :)

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "vasa1, you are so right there - remember 'jack of all trades; master of none."
RHEL is of course mainstream - big time. :)" }-

But RHEL is more for corporates, isn't it?

[mack_guy911]

thanks Mrkvonic

like Trespasser said lot of great stuff + i like to add i didnt know about yum-protectbase never used it thats for putting light on it as well.

Again many many thanks great stuff :)

[Ocky]

-{ Quote: "But RHEL is more for corporates, isn't it?" }-

Sure, but many 'private' users with server setups swear by it. Also there are those pretty clueless beyond a certain level of linuxdom, like me, who have found the RHEL clones like
CentOS and Scientific Linux quite straightforward and not outside anyone's capabilities in a non-server setup, especially if you are already familiar with Ubuntu(s).
Besides the repo stuff and yum/rpm it's all basically the same.

To date I have my sights set on either SL or Kubuntu to eventually be my default distro and take pride of place
on my first hard drive instead of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. (I emphasise 'to date' as change is ever present in the linux world it seems.)

[Ocky]

-{ Quote: "thanks Mrkvonic

like Trespasser said lot of great stuff + i like to add i didnt know about yum-protectbase never used it thats for putting light on it as well.

Again many many thanks great stuff :)" }-
Damn, forgot to thank Mrk. for looking after us SL users. Thanks !

I personally prefer using priorities.
Whatever you use it is important to edit all .repo files in /etc/yum.repos.d with protect=1 or protect=0 unless you know that you will never enable a currently disabled repo.
I have assigned priorities to every .repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d, even those that are disabled,
just in case I find something of interest in say a testing repo.

[wilbertnl]

Very VERY wonderful, I was contemplating a minimal CentOS server as music server and I found the missing mpd application in rpmForge (http://pkgs.repoforge.org/mpd/).
Now I' m confident that I can go ahead without spending hours trying to rpmbuild the missing software.

Thank You!
I serve you a beer when you are in my neck of the woods.

By the way, it's common that repository providers offer an easy way to add their repo by installing their configuration file.
RpmForge: http://pkgs.repoforge.org/rpmforge-release/
ATrpms: http://packages.atrpms.net/dist/el6/atrpms-repo/
EPEL: http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/6/x86_64/repoview/epel-release.html

[Ocky]

Just a note - not nitpicking.

I see Mrk mentions install of both protectbase and priorities.
This is not recommended at all ..

-{ Quote: "You should pick either the protectbase or the priorities plugin, they should not be used at the same time. Since priorities can do the same thing as protectbase, but has more than two groups, it is recommended for all except the simplest of setups" }-

http://wiki.centos.org/PackageManagement/Yum/ProtectBase

(As mentioned in my previous post I only use priorities and assign them to every .repo file.)