Using yum for Fedora Core 4

yum (Yell dog Updater, Modified) is an automated package management program which may be used to install, remove, and update packages on an RPM based system. It will help you to keep your system up to date and is included in Fedora Core 4.

Note that following these instructions (specifically installing the legacy-yumconf rpm) will also update your up2date configuration. This will allow up2date users to continue to get security updates from Fedora Legacy by following these instructions. This happens because up2date uses YUM to perform updates.

Step 1: Preliminaries

Linux prevents ordinary users from installing, removing, or modifying system software, libraries, and important configuration information. So you must have root access to proceed. You may either login as the root user, or use the su (or sudo) commands to become the root user on the machine.

Note: Be careful when running as root! Be sure to logout of the root account as soon as you are done. Running as root is dangerous, and should only be used when needed. Typos or mistakes can destroy your system or or Legacy/Syour data, so it is important that you be careful when running as root.

When you are running as root, your prompt will be changed to the # character. In the command examples below, we include this prompt, however you should not type the # character when entering a command!

Step 1.1: Determine your hardware version

Fedora Core 4 supports both the traditional 32-bit X86 machines (known as i386 machines) as well as newer 64-bit X86 machines (known as x86_64 machines). It is important to know which of these hardware versions you have, so you can download the correct software for your hardware.

To find out which hardware you have, login to the machine and type the following command:

The above command should return one of two values; either i386 or x86_64. Below, when instructions or URL's differ based on the hardware, use the instructions labeled for your hardware as output by the above command.

Step 1.2: Check for gnupg package installation

Fedora Legacy's yum policy depends on the gnupg package being installed, which may not be installed on your system. To be sure you have it installed, you can execute one of the following commands as root. (Doing this won't hurt anything if it is already installed.)

i386:

x86_64:

Step 1.3: Check for yum package installation

Chances are yum is already installed on your system. But, to be sure, you can try to install it now (it won't hurt anything if it is already installed). To install yum, use the following command as the root user on your machine. (Note: the following will work for both i386 and x86_64 machines.)

Step 1.4: Add the GPG keys to root's keyring

All Fedora Legacy packages are signed with GPG keys. All packages should be verified using these keys. See http://www.fedoralegacy.org/about/security.php for more information.

In order to properly verify the packages, you need to add the appropriate PGP keys to your system. To import the keys, use the following commands as the root user:

Step 2: Configure yum for Fedora Legacy

yum from Fedora Core 4 is not configured to use Fedora Legacy for updates. You will need to reconfigure it to use Fedora Legacy in order to continue to receive updates. You can do this configuration via an RPM from our web site. To do so, execute the following command as root. (The following will work for both i386 and x86_64 machines.)

Step 3: Update your system

Once you have installed the yum package, you should run the following command as the root user on your system to update your system:

This command will first check for and download any new update headers (header files contain information about packages, including dependency information) to your system's yum cache, and check if any updates are available for packages already installed on your system. If no updates are available for your system, it will display messages to that effect and exit. If updates are available for your system, it will calculate which packages are needed, including any packages needed to resolve dependencies, and present this list to you. At this point, it will ask you if you want to proceed, by prompting you with the question:

Is this ok [y/N] :

Answer with "y" (followed by the Enter key) to proceed with the updates, or "n" (followed by the Enter key) to abort the updates. (Note that the default reply is "n", so that simply pressing the Enter key without entering "y" will be the same as entering "n").

If you answer "y" then yum will download all the actual RPM packages needed to your system's yum cache, check for sufficient disk space to install the updates, and then apply them to your system. (If you answer "n", nothing will be done).

Warning: This may take some time on your first use of yum, depending on how up to date your system is and the speed of your internet connection!

Step 4: Decide if you want automatic updates

yum has the ability to automatically apply (download/verify/install) all updates to your system, but this feature is disabled by default. Please refer to the discussion at http://fedoralegacy.org/docs/autoupdates.php to see if automatic updates are right for you, and additional information about automatic updates. If you want to enable that functionality, please enter the following command as the root user on your system:

After typing the last line, you should see a message on the screen confirming that nightly updates are now enabled. After that, yum will update your system through the cron job Archive:Legacy/YumFC4Detailed/etc/cron.daily/yum.cron, which will run every night (or later through anacron, if your system isn't running all the time).

Please note that the above depends on a working cron setup on your machine! You can check the cron log file /var/log/cron to verify it is working. There should be at least one hourly entry each hour, and one daily entry each day.

You can check what yum updates are being done by looking at the yum log file /var/log/yum.log for recent entries.

Step 5: Subscribe to fedora-legacy-announce

You may subscribe to the fedora-legacy-announce mailing list at http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-legacy-announce/ to be informed by e-mail when new updates become available. This step is optional, but highly recommended.

Step 6: Please help us with our service!

The Fedora Legacy project is always in the need of helping hands. Please check the LegacyParticipate page to see what you can do to help us. As we're a community project, our success will heavily depend on helping hands – possibly you!

If you find a problem with an update published by The Fedora Legacy Project, or in The Fedora Legacy Project documentation, please let us know!

Step 7: Optionally learn additional features of yum

Below is a summary of some of the more advanced features of yum for those who wish to know more. You do not need to know these commands to keep your system updated; they are simply provided for those who want to learn more about using yum to its fullest.

yum list
List all available software.
yum check-update
See if there are updated packages available.
yum update
Update all installed packages that have a newer version available.
yum install <packagename>
Install specific package(s) (and its dependencies, if missing any).
yum search <word>
Search all known packages entries (descriptions etc) for <word>.
yum info <packagename>
Show basic information about a package.