De DE/EPEL/FAQ

= EPEL verstehen =

Was ist EPEL?
EPEL (Extra Pakete für Enterprise-Linux) ist eine Leistung von Freiwilligen aus der Gemeinschaft des Fedoraprojekts, ein Repository von zusätzlichen und qualitativ hochwertigen Paketen in Ergänzung für das Fedora-basierte Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) und seine Derivate wie CentOS und Scientific Linux anzubieten.

Wie Fedora selbst sind alle EPEL-Pakete 100% free/libre open source software (FLOSS) - also frei und quelloffen.

Warum unterstützt das Fedoraprojekt EPEL?
Viele Anwender und Beitragende sowohl von Fedora als auch von Enterprise Linux wollen in Fedora mitarbeiten, um diese Pakete zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Das Fedoraprojekt ist selbst ein Nutzer der EPEL-Pakete innerhalb der Fedora-Infrastruktur. Daher weiß es selbst, wie es ist, nicht die gewünschte Software in der RHEL-Distribution zu haben. Aber es weiß auch, was man unternehmen kann. Obwohl RHEL von Fedora abgeleitet ist, wird nur ein kommerziell unterstützter Teil von Fedora damit ausgeliefert. Mit der Unterstützung für das EPEL-Projekt profitieren die Anwender und die zu Fedora Beitragenden in mehrerer Hinsicht.

Wird EPEL kommerziell von Red Hat unterstützt?
Nein. EPEL ist eine freiwillige Leistung der Fedora-Community. Wie für Fedora hält Red Hat die Infrastruktur für dieses Projekt vor, und Red-Hat-Ingenieure sind als Leiter und Paket-Verantwortliche involviert. Aber es gibt keine kommerziellen Verträge oder Service Level Agreements mit Red Hat für Pakete in EPEL.

Inwiefern unterscheidet sich EPEL von anderen Drittanbieter-Repositories für RHEL und seine Derivate?

 * EPEL adheres to the Fedora Packaging guidelines, which RHEL has started following; this ensures good integration.
 * EPEL is purely a complimentary add-on repository and does not replace packages in RHEL or layered products.
 * EPEL has a large team of contributors including Red Hat engineers and volunteer community members working together to maintain the repository.
 * EPEL only provides FLOSS unencumbered by patents or any legal issues.

Sind die EPEL-Pakete nur für RHEL oder auch für seine kompatiblen Derivate?
Die Pakete sind frei verfügbar und es ist ausdrückliches Ziel des Projekts sicherzustellen, dass die Pakete auf RHEL-basierten Distributionen wie CentOS oder Scientific Linux verwenbar sind.

Ersetzt EPEL mit RHEL ausgelieferte Pakete?
Nein. EPEL ergänzt lediglich.

What is the policy on updates for packages in EPEL?
Refer to the EPEL package maintenance and updates  policy for all the details -- for a short overview, read the digest:

How does Fedora Project ensure the quality of the packages in EPEL?
Packages are peer reviewed against extensive packaging guidelines before being imported into the repository. Only updates that fix important bugs get pushed to the stable repository directly. Other updates hit a testing repository first and get released as an EPEL scheduled update in parallel with the EL scheduled updates. Packages often are tested in Fedora, too. The Fedora Packaging Guidelines and QA team back up all these efforts, helping to avoid errors. There are also discussions for more strict QA policies. Do participate and help us.

How long are EPEL packages updated?
The plan is for EPEL packages to get updates as long as the corresponding RHEL release is supported. That is seven years after the initial release currently.

How can we be sure that someone will maintain the packages until end of life of the distribution the packages were built for?
The only way to be sure is to do it yourself, which is coincidentally the reason EPEL was started in the first place.

Software packages in EPEL are maintained on a voluntary basis. If you to want ensure that the packages you want remain available, get involved directly in the EPEL effort. More experienced maintainers help review your packages and you learn about packaging.

We do our best to make this a healthy project with many contributors who take care of the packages in the repository, and the repository as a whole, for all releases until RHEL closes support for the distribution version the packages were built for. That is seven years after release (currently) -- a long time frame, and we know a lot can happen in seven years. Your participation is vital for the success of this project.

= Using EPEL =

How can I install the packages from the EPEL software repository?
There are repository rpm packages for RHEL4 and RHEL5. The repository package installs the repo details on your local system for  or   to use. Then you can install packages with your usual method, and the EPEL repository is included.

su -c 'rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-2.noarch.rpm' ... su -c 'yum -y install foo'

Where is the software repository located?
EPEL packages are located at master mirror. There are mirrors available at mirror list.

Where can I find help or report issues?
You can find help or discuss issues in the epel-devel-list or #epel Freenode IRC channel. Report issues against EPEL to via bugzilla.

What about compatibility with other third party repositories?
Mixing different RPM repositories that were not designed to be mixed can lead to incompatibilities that often result in dependency resolving problems in yum or up2date. Sometimes it even happens that software is not working as expected if libraries and applications come from different repositories. EPEL is designed as add-on repository for RHEL and compatible derivatives. Avoiding mixing EPEL with other third party repositories with conflicting packages on 0