Using Yum to Install rpm Packages

The Yellow dog Updater, Modified, or Yum program can be downloaded (as an rpm package) from http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/download.ptml.

After downloading this package, you can install it like any other rpm package with the command:

 #rpm -ivh yum* 

You may need to update the repository you would like to use to download your rpm packages from. See the list of available Yum repositories for Fedora at http://www.fedoratracker.org. To switch to a different repository, download one of these files and install it as your /etc/yum.conf file.

Now we can tell Yum to report all packages stored in the Yum rpm Internet repositories that are available for install with the command:

 #yum list 

Installing a New rpm Package with Yum

In this example, we'll install a new GLIBC package. Install the latest GLIBC and all of its dependencies with the simple command:

 #yum update glibc 

If all goes well, the Yum program will automatically detect, download, and install any rpm packages that are required for the latest GLIBC package that was built for your distribution (not necessarily the latest version of the GLIBC package that is available^[4]).

You can also look for a package to install using the list argument to Yum and the grep command. For example, to look for a package with SNMP in the name, you would enter:

 #yum list | grep snmp 

This returns a report that looks like this:

 php-snmp                           i386        <version> ucd-snmp                           i386        <version> ucd-snmp-devel                     i386        <version> ucd-snmp-utils                     i386        <version> 

You can now easily download and install all of these rpm packages using Yum.

^[4]Use the GLIBC shared library package version number that is approved for your distribution or you risk installing a version of the GLIBC package that does not work with the dynamic executables required for normal system operation.