why doesn't yum cache anything?

[Jamie Zawinski]

Here's a typical use case for yum with me:

  - notice that "xmtr" is not installed (but "mtr" is)
  - yum list '*mtr*'
  - wait through ~60 seconds of:

    Setting up Repo:  base
    repomd.xml                100% |=================| 1.1 kB   
00:00     
    Setting up Repo:  updates-released
    repomd.xml                100% |=================|  951 B   
00:00     
    Reading repository metadata in from local files
    base      : ############################################# 2622/2622
    updates-re: ############################################# 405/405

  - yum -y install mtr-gtk
  - wait through that same ~60 seconds of junk before it actually
    starts downloading the package.

So my questions are:

  - Is there some way to make yum cache all that crap?  I'd be 
    perfectly ok with it just reusing the same repository data
    for days at a time.  Certainly there's no need to re-download
    it every single time I invoke yum.

  - If there's no way to do that... how can you guys stand it?
    Do you really suffer through this every time, or do you just
    not use yum?  Is there something else I should be using instead?

-- 
Jamie Zawinski         jwz at jwz.org                  http://www.jwz.org/
                       jwz at dnalounge.com      http://www.dnalounge.com/
                                            http://jwz.livejournal.com/