[Yum] new boring features

Robert G. Brown rgb at phy.duke.edu
Fri Aug 23 19:32:15 UTC 2002


On 23 Aug 2002, seth vidal wrote:

> so if I attempt a: yum update pkg_i_dont_have_installed
> it will install the package even though I don't have it installed - the
> behavior then remains consistent with rpm. Just like if I attempt to yum
> install pkg_i_have_installed_but_have_an_older_version yum realizes I've
> already got it installed but that there is a newer version and switches
> to an update for that package.
> 
> Having said that I can see how that might be confusing - I'm open to
> other opinions on this, at the moment. My general rule is - if you want
> updates just run yum update - if you want to install stuff you can use
> update or install.

I've of course been using update for install as well, but Connie's
arguments make sense to me.  After all, install might well be a
deliberate choice distinct from update, especially if update uses
wildcard rules on both ends and only updates packages that BOTH match
already installed packages AND are available.  One could add a "refresh"
command that does what she likes, although it makes as much sense to
make install mean INSTALL and update mean UPDATE.

If you do implement Connies notion of an update, you might add an
interactive tell-me-twice so that it updates everything that matches but
also gives you one of those "package foo-rab not installed.  Install
(y/n)?" messages when you enter yum update foo* to update your foo-bar
and foo-arb packages.  As always, running yum -q should surpress the
interactivity so in a script it would still do exactly what she likes.

   rgb

> 
> > So why was I doing this wildcard test.  It is because I had some rpms
> > that would not update that showed in "yum list updates".  So I decided to
> > select all of what I needed except the bad rpm.  So this leads to the idea
> > of a "ignore/exclude" list and maybe a "force" option.  I really do not
> > want yum to upgrade the kernel on most of my systems.  This is because
> > they are not my systems and kernel upgrading can cause problems.  So I
> > want the end uses to decide.  So with the current yum I am forced to leave
> > the kernel out of the updates area because if I do not the yum cron job
> > will upgrade it.
> 
> so excludes are already supported - just check out the man page - search
> for exclude.
> 
> I'm not sure if command-line excludes are a wise decision or not - it
> could make life hard.
> 
> just add:
> excludes=kernel kernel-smp kernel-source
> 
> to the [main] section of your yum.conf.
> 
> -sv
> 
> 
> 

Robert G. Brown	                       http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb at phy.duke.edu






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