'yum --enablerepo' command (Newbie).

[Dan]

Brian Durant wrote:
> James Wilkinson wrote:
>> Brian Durant wrote:
>>
>>> 1) Where is the file located that you add repositories to?
>>
>>
>> As mentioned, you usually put per-repo files in /etc/yum.repos.d, but
>> most repositories will have RPMs you can install that will put the right
>> file in the right place for you.
>>
>>
>>> 2) If I stumble across or find a FAQ about how to get "x" eller "y" 
>>> lib, program, etc. can I follow those instructions and let yum sort 
>>> out whether a ppc or ppc64 version is available, or do I have to 
>>> specify some sort
>>> of syntax when adding repositories so that yum can sort out if there
>>> is ppc or ppc64 version?
>>
>>
>> Usually, the repo file will include lines somewhat like
>> baseurl=http://distro.example.org/fedora/$releasever/$basearch/
>> and yum knows to replace $basearch with the appropriate architecture.
>>
>>
>>> These questions are very important for ppc users as there doesn't seem
>>> to be a lot of FAQ's, HowTo's, etc. that are specifica to FC5 and the
>>> ppc platform. A typical question in this area is exactly, as was
>>> mentioned by another poster to my thread:
>>
>>
>> These particular questions are ones that x86-64 users have to deal with,
>> too.
>>
>> As far as I can see, there are only three areas where Power/PowerPC
>> users could experience problems that won't apply equally to x86 or
>> x86-64:
>>
>>  * There is some very unusual hardware that Fedora on Power supports
>>    (largely because RHEL supports it), some of which needs unusual
>>    handling;
>>
>>  * Power and PowerPC have different firmware interfaces, different
>>    partitioning formats, and different software for talking to those
>>    interfaces (yaboot, etc.)
>>
>>  * Not all third-party repos or closed source software supports Linux on
>>    Power. *Most* open-source software should simply be able to be
>>    recompiled, but you might not get the advantages of yum updates.
>>
>> Apart from that, there really are very few differences -- which is not
>> too surprising, given the history of Unix and open source.
>>
>> James.
>
> Thanks for the info. I am still unsure about whether yum sorts out 
> itself about ppc and/or ppc64 packages being installed from the 
> repository and not packages for another platform.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Brian
>
Yum will install whatever packages it sees; usually, the repository's 
baseurl will contain the variable $basearch, which resolves to your 
architecture; thus, yum will be directed to a folder containing only the 
packages for your architecture. You can manually add a repo for a 
different architecture if you want to, in fact x86_64 machines come with 
updates-i386 and such repos by default, though they are disabled.
-Dan